Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2004)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Great Film overall

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This lengthy documentary about Sam Peckinpah and his movies is included on the bonus disc for "The Wild Bunch". It is narrated by Kris Kristofferson and includes lots of interviews with folks who knew and worked with him.I must admit up front that I am not a huge fan of Sam Peckinpah's films. A few (such as "Ride the High Country") are classics--a few are just gross ("Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia") and so I am probably not the best person to review this documentary. However, for the most part, I did enjoy the film. It featured lots of interviews and didn't flinch when it came to discussing Peckinpah's self-destructiveness. My only serious problem with the film was when it came to the latter part of his career where instead of an in-depth look like there'd been on his other films, it was just glossed over too quickly. So, while the film went on and on about "The Ballad of Cable Hogue", Peckinpah's later films like "Cross of Iron", "Convoy" and "The Osterman Weekend" (arguably pretty bad films) are ignored. So, in this sense, it's not a complete look at his movies. Overall, it is quite good--but also woefully incomplete.By the way, one part of the film irritated me a bit. When discussing his film "The Wild Bunch", the film talked about how groundbreaking it was in style. I would argue that this is NOT completely the case, but the film was an American copy of an Italian western. So, the violence and antihero elements of the film were NOT created by Peckinpah--folks like Sergio Leone and Sergio Carbucci had been making films like this for a few years before "The Wild Bunch" debuted.

I wanted to say something meaningful, and although usually not want for abundant verbiage, I cannot add much to the four very accurate, candid and totally perceptive reviews already written here. Kudos to the writers.The review comments about Michael Madsen's appearance in the Peckinpaugh documentary amused me. I thought I might be the only person who felt this way, and wrote it off to Madsen's appearance in so many totally violent films himself, albeit only one (irrelevant) movie (the remake of "The Getaway") that even remotely involved Peckinpah.The Peckinpah documentary periodically runs on the Western Channel; set your DVR. . . . . it's, indeed, worth it just to hear Kris Kristofferson's morning after drinking voice.

The westerns of filmmaker Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984) are discussed by movie critics, relatives, friends, former employees and actors. As directed by Tom Thurman for the Encore channel, and narrated by "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" co-star Kris Kristofferson (in his grizzled, early morning whiskey voice), this special never quite gets at what was eating at Peckinpah for the twenty years he spent behind the camera. He had his biggest commercial success with his most brutal film, 1969's "The Wild Bunch", though he preferred to quickly put that picture behind him and focus on more elegiac stories (such as "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" from 1970). Footage from a rare "Cable Hogue" documentary is used to give us a glimpse of Peckinpah in action, but this rather backfires (mostly it's footage of star Stella Stevens in various seductive poses). Peckinpah was dismayed that when he removed himself from violent on-screen action (such as with "Junior Bonner"), viewers abandoned him. He couldn't find success telling straight stories, and so eventually went back to supplying the bloodshed audiences seemed to want but critics crucified him for. Yet Peckinpah understood this helpless dichotomy better than anyone...whether or not he was able to work out his demons on film is a matter only the artist could ever answer.

Tom Thurman's thorough and informative, yet honest and objective documentary paints a fascinatingly vivid portrait of the tortured soul, brilliant mind, and romantic, but fatalistic and self-destructive spirit of legendary renegade iconoclastic director Sam Peckinpah, who revolutionized the Western genre with the landmark masterpieces "Ride the High Country," "The Wild Bunch," and "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid." Sam's son Mathew, daughter Lupika, and sister Fern Lee Peter are very candid in their comments about Sam. Biographer David Weddle likewise has a lot of meaningful stuff to bring to the table. Critics Roger Ebert, Elvis Mitchell and David Thomson offer their astute opinions and observations. Stella Stevens, L.Q. Jones, R.G. Armstrong and Harry Dean Stanton share their experiences acting in pictures for Sam. Billy Bob Thornton, Benicio Del Toro, Paul Schrader and Michael Madison toss in their two cents worth as well. Kris Kristofferson's warm, husky, folksy narration does the trick beautifully well. Peckinpah's best films were transitional works about troubled individuals struggling to maintain their place in a rapidly changing world. One of his principal themes was failure, which was as much a huge part of his life as it was a key aspect of his work. This documentary sharply nails the ragged glory and desperate fury of Peckinpah's life and work. It neither glorifies nor vilifies Sam. Instead this documentary shows you Peckinpah as he was: gifted and intelligent, sometimes kind and funny, occasionally cruel and mean, the type of fellow who was one hell of a guy to know. Essential viewing for Sam Peckinpah fans.