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

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Tom Thurman

Writer:

Tom Marksbury (writer)

Release Date:

25 July 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Western

Plot:

Spattered with blood and controversy, Sam Peckinpah's Westerns revolutionized their genre. SAM PECKINPAH'S...

Plot Keywords:

Filmmaker | Character Name In Title

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Sam Peckinpah	...	Himself (archive footage)
Kris Kristofferson	...	Narrator / Himself (also archive footage)
Fern Lea Peter	...	Herself
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Himself
Matthew Peckinpah	...	Himself
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Himself
L.Q. Jones	...	Himself
Garner Simmons	...	Himself
David Thomson	...	Himself
David Weddle	...	Himself
Garth Craven	...	Himself
Paul Seydor	...	Himself
Elvis Mitchell	...	Himself
Michael Madsen	...	Himself
Roger Ebert	...	Himself

Runtime:

USA:89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Finland:K-18 (self applied) | USA:TV-14

Company:

FBN Productions

Quotes:

[last lines]
Narrator: He left us a lasting body of orignial and haunting work and in the end, Sam Peckinpah entered his house justified.

Movie Connections:

References Straw Dogs (1971)

Touching Tribute to a Debauched Iconoclast

Debuted on the Westerns Channel on 25 July, and features interviews with those who worked with him, and sometimes played with him. Short on the E!-type scandal-approach, although little is spared about Peckinpah's often depraved life. It focuses on the Westerns he made, a genre he (and although not mentioned, Sergio Leone) reinvented. Much is made of his problematic employability due to an unwillingness to submit to studio authority. (Wonder what his USMC service was like?!?) Lots of behind the scenes stills and footage from "Deadly Companions," "Ride the High Country," "Major Dundee," "The Wild Bunch," "The Ballad of Cable Hogue," "Junior Bonner," "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid," and the love-it-or-revile-it "Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia." Narrated by Kris Kristofferson, with contributions from, among others, the late James Coburn and the late Ben Johnson, as well as Billy Bob Thornton and, inexplicably, the mumbling Michael Madsen, whose sole connection to anything involving Peckinpah was his participation in the unnecessary 1994 re-make of "The Getaway," a Peckinpah non-Western. In all, this touching tribute should do much to spur DVD sales of the man's work, particularly "Director's Cut" editions.