Peckinpah

I always loved his ww2 movie Iron Cross, but don't know if it's considered to be an essential It's one of the rare movies told from german perspective.

The Getaway,
Junior Bonner,
there's a sweet boxed set coming in january--the Peckinpah westerns collection: new Wild bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Ride the High Country aaaand Ballad of Cable Hogue!

Straw Dogs

Every feature he made from Ride the High Country ('62) to Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia ('74) is essential.

The only exception is The Getaway, a middling Jim Thompson adaptation and OK road movie reportedly hated by Peckinpah in it's release cut, which was overseen by McQueen. It can be a fun movie, and is probably his most accessible, but it doesn't stand up at all to his best stuff.

(The Getaway: originally a Peter Bogdanovich film with Thompson scripting. Thompson was fired and replaced with Walter Hill; Bogdanovich quit and was replaced by Peckinpah, who had always wanted to film the book.)

After Alfredo Garcia it gets pretty bad. Convoy, The Killer Elite and The Osterman Weekend are last resorts once you've seen everything else. Convoy might be worth a look for the Kristofferson fan in everyone.

Cross of Iron is in that post-Alfredo Garcia batch, too, and it's on the line -- a pretty cool film that (in the cut I saw) really felt like it has been treated like a street whore by the studio. Worth it to see Coburn as a German, but I don't remember it being as good as many people claim it is. Maybe there's now a DVD with a better cut; I haven't looked for one in a long time. Great cast, though.

Real recommendations, though:

Straw Dogs is a sister film to Alfredo Garcia -- every bit as dire and uncomfortable, but made with a total mastery of physical space (the farmhouse is essentially a character) and a diabolical willingness to fuck with the audience.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue is a 180 turn from The Wild Bunch, an almost wistful elegy to the wild west and a very different take on how the advent of business changed the frontier. It's also got one of Jason Robards' best performances. The upcoming box set is worth it for this movie alone, but the fact that it's got Pat Garret and Billy the Kid too makes it impossible to pass up.

"Straw Dogs" is amazing, and immensely uncomfortable. Its one of the most disturbing and difficult films I've ever seen, but I can't deny the skill of Peckinpah in achieving the desired effect and literally lulling the audience to comfort, only to shatter them.

Much love for Pat Garret and Billy the Kid - especially if you can find the director's cut (not hard to find). But my favourite is Straw Dogs (again, only the uncut version, which has been available for a few years now). Hoffman is absolutely amazing in this and, while it feels very theatrical in places, it builds and builds and builds and has been ripped off by pretty much every stalker film (Dead Calm, Fatal Attraction) since, to much lesser an effect. Not exactly high praise, but the film does contain the most ambiguous rape scene i've ever scene and the whole film is brilliantly edited and performed. The siege at the climax is fantastic, as is the scene in the town hall where Susan George reflects on what happened. What's really interesting is, as mentioned above, what a very real sense of a specific time and place the film evokes, exaggerated ever so slightly for an outsider's point of view - the local pub, the villagers and their ideas and the house itself. This really is THE essential Peckinpah, after The Wild Bunch.

Avoid the 'Osterman Weekend'...actually 'avoid' is a tad strong, but it's not Peckinpah at his best.

I like the killer elite it a fun movie. it got ninjas in it
It just wacky fun

For the last few months Convoy has been in frequent circulation on cable and it's no essential, but still entertaining. Bring Me the Head of Afredo Garcia is my favorite Peckinpah. Love the performance by Warren Oates, which is a rather detailed riff on Sam Peckinpah himself. It's amazing Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is as good a film as it is; the stories about the troubles on the shoot and Peckinpah's out of control drugs and booze fueled behavior are epic.

It reads like you're taking a dump while typing...especially the "Wow...that was uh...fucking a. *PLOOP*)

I agree that after "Garcia" the quality of Peckinpah's work goes downhill quite a bit.
"Cross of Iron" is pretty good but flawed.
'The Killer Elite" is just plain silly. I think he was trying to do something tongue in cheek but failed to pull it off.
'Convoy" is OK but you would never would have guessed if the name was taken off the credits that Peckinpah directed it.

And "Major Dundee" is a interesting film that does not quite make it.
I disagree strongly with the review posted here that basically blames Heston for the film's flaws. Heston's performance is one of this best. I think what you had is that Peckinpah and the studio had two different films in mind.

By which you mean it's only 75% shit?

Any Peckinpah film is worth watching, even the ones that don't live up to the classic status because they're full of lessons about effective filmmaking and how ideas can fail or succeed on film.

A solid knowledge of Peckinpah is compulsory for anyone who wants to understand the history of the last 30 years of film.

Pat Garret and Billy the Kid has my favorite Peckinpah moment ever. Right before Pat goes in for Billy at the end, and the coffinmaker (played by sam) asks him what he is waiting for.

I've recently finished a Peckinpah kick myself when I found this thread.

I had seen The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs a few years ago, but I had never seen Cable Hogue, The Getaway, Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid, and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia before. At the end of the day I'd say Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is my favorite, but I'm really enamored with all of them (save for The Getaway, which I found a little boring.)

His films are difficult and challenging in many ways, I've seen Straw Dogs three times now and I'm still grappling with everything in the film and what it all means, especially in regards to Dustin Hoffman's character.

After seeing him in Sunset Boulevard and Sabrina, I found it hard to believe that Pike was played by William Holden. The guy aged like a man, and he's a mean fucking bastard in Wild Bunch, far away from the suave, dashing characters he played in the Wilder films. I really have nothing more to add that hasn't already been said, but I love the characters especially Dutch and Deke Thornton. The last stand against Mapache is incomparable.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue is an absolute delight. I loved Jason Robards in Once Upon A Time in the West, and Cable Hogue shares some similarities with Cheyenne, but enough to make them different. It's got some genuinely funny moments and David Warner's always fucking awesome.

I fucking loved Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. While Bob Dylan's presence as an actor is a bit awkward, his contributions to the soundtrack are downright amazing. Slim Pickens death set to Knockin on Heaven's door has got to be one of the most tender, beautiful moments I've see on film, and it's a moment that really underscores the film's themes. It's a truly perfect moment and one that I think will stick with me forever. James Coburn delivers a really terrific performance, I really feel the weight of change and the inevitable showdown with the Kid dragging him down, and tearing him apart. Beautiful film.

And on to Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. I don't even know what to say except that Warren Oates performance commands a great deal of empathy. I feel a yearning inside him, the desire for escape, but not knowing for what or knowing where to go. He's a lost soul and the world offers no solace.

After thinking about it, all of Peckinpah's films that I've seen are about change and escape. Sometimes quite literally, other times not. I think all of his film's characters are either dissatisfied with the lives they lead, or they aren't able to keep with the tides of time. Feelings of sadness and yearning run deep in his films, and underneath the graphic violence there's a great deal of vulnerability. I love them.

You include MAJOR DUNDEE among the essentials and only half-heartedly recommend THE GETAWAY? Hopefully you've given this post a long, hard look in the past five years.

I was just watching The Getaway last night and it's still an awesome movie with a bunch of bloody carnage throughout that is surprising given it's PG rating.

I know Peckinpah was pissed that Jerry Fielding's score was rejected in favor of the Quincy Jones one that McQueen favored, but I love that Jones score and wish that it was finally released in it's entirety.

I also have a fondness for The Killer Elite. I just wish that the original R-rated cut would be found somewhere and released.

Yeah it has great action, and I love the shootout at the motel, and the ending with Slim Pickens, but I feel like watching it its kind of evident that Peckinpah was brought in as a replacement director. And Steve McQueen had final cut not him, so it feels more like a Steve McQueen picture, not a Peckinpah. It's still good, but I wouldn't put it up against Pat Garrett or Alfredo Garcia.

Of the Peckinpah movies I have seen, The Wild Bunch is my favorite. I liked Ride the High Country, Major Dundee, and The Ballad of Cable Hogue. I liked Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, but I think it should have been a little longer. I haven't seen Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia all the way through, but I liked what I did see. I'll have to track down Straw Dogs and The Getaway and watch them sometime.

The Ballad Of Cable Hogue is the closest Peckinpah ever got to making a flat out comedy. For a guy who was mostly known for violent action movies, he sure did have a flair for comedy. It's a great movie, and Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia is a masterpiece.

Check out Straw Dogs and The Getaway as soon as you can, Matrix.

I have a soft spot for The Killer Elite if only for the performances. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is one of my all time top 5 films. It saddens me that so many of my friends just do not understand my love for that film. There's something about Warren Oates in a sleazy white leisure suit that's covered in grave dirt and the blood of a Mexican prostitute he loved that resonates with me. *sigh* And they said romance was dead.