If you asked anyone of my generation namely anyone born before 1960 to name their top fifty films a Sam Peckinpah film would undoubtedly be on the list.
But
it almost certainly wouldn’t be the same film on every list such was the
diversity of his work.
Equally
if you were to ask the same people to name their top fifty worst films.
Peckinpah
would be on that list as well.
He
will be forever remembered as one of Hollywood's most difficult directors, but
I think he was more than that.
He
was born in Fresno, California and after serving in the Marine Corps he went on
to earn a master's degree from the University of Southern California in 1950.
He
spent his early career was spent as a theatre and television director of
sufficient repute to gain him the position as an assistant to director Don
Siegel on a handful of picture’s.
One
of the pictures was the 1956 movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
in
which Peckinpah played a small part.
About
the same time he became associated with western’s, writing and directing a
number of episodes of popular shows like "Gunsmoke," "The
Rifleman," "The Westerner" and many other’s.
He
then turned his hand to directing movies in his own right with
The
Deadly Companions (1961), Ride the High Country (1962) and
Major
Dundee (1965).
However
disagreement and a long running feud over final cuts and content of Major
Dundee led to him being blacklisted for three years.
But
he returned with a vengeance with The Wild Bunch (1969) and this was followed
with very regular output.
The
Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
Straw
Dogs (1971)
Junior
Bonner (1972)
The
Getaway (1972)
Pat
Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
Bring
Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
The
Killer Elite (1975)
Cross
of Iron (1977)
Convoy
(1978)
Until
his final film The Osterman Weekend (1983).
Sam
Peckinpah died in Inglewood, California on December 28, 1984.
His
work was not always well received and he was often criticized for the excessive
violence and his demeaning portrayal of women as well as his glorification of
masculine exploits.
He
will always be remembered for his slow motion action scenes used to great
effect though overused later to the point of cliché.
When
I heard the news of his death and the announcer said “Hollywood director Sam
Peckinpah died today” I expected him to continue “and he was buried in slow
motion”.
No comments:
Post a Comment