COCKFIGHTER is a western-style movie from director Monte Hellman, who brings some of his trademark gravitas to the production, but to be fair it's hard to warm to a film with such a bloodthirsty sport at its heart (I'd be the same if watching a film about foxhunting or the life of a matador). Warren Oates is typically intriguing playing a small-time hustler and washed-up character who bets his life and fortune on a single, prize-winning cockerel. The film is one of those character-focused slowburners that doesn't do anything particularly wrong, but the endless footage of the sport, as well directed as it is, was repellent to me.
Review of Cockfighter
