[62], Largely ignored upon its initial release, The Ballad of Cable Hogue has been rediscovered in recent years and is often held up by critics as exemplary of the breadth of Peckinpah's talents. For his next film, he chose The Killer Elite (1975), an action-filled espionage thriller starring James Caan and Robert Duvall as rival American agents. And a documentary has surfaced online that allows you to go even deeper with the filmmaker. [24] He wrote one episode "The Town" (December 13, 1957) for the CBS series, Trackdown. Also during his final weeks as a Marine, he applied for discharge in Peking, so he could marry a local woman, but was refused. The 82-minute 1993 documentary Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron utilizes vintage footage of the filmmaker along with interviews from collaborators such as Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw, James Coburn, Monte Hellman and more to paint a portrait of the hard-living director. [75] McQueen played Doc McCoy, a convicted robber who colludes with corrupt businessman Jack Beynon (Ben Johnson) to be released from prison and later masterminds a bank heist organized by Beynon. It's taken me quite a few years to track down a Dvd copy of this Sam Peckinpah documentary as it seems like director Mike Siegel did all of this on his own without any real financial backing. [68] The film was for many years banned on video in the UK.[69][70][71]. The year 1973 marked the beginning of the most difficult period of Peckinpah's life and career. A documentary about Sam Peckinpah's CROSS OF IRON. He felt the same perverse affection for them that his collaborators clearly did for him. "As a filmmaker I must look at both sides of the coin, and do my best as a storyteller. Reportedly, Fitzsimons refused to allow Peckinpah to give direction to O'Hara. But during the summer of 1981, his original mentor Don Siegel gave him a chance to return to filmmaking. [LoSceicco1976]. Peckinpah's films deal with the conflict between values and ideals, as well as the corruption and violence in human society. At one point, Peckinpah's mean streak and abusiveness towards the actors so enraged Heston that the normally even-tempered star threatened to run the director through with his cavalry saber if he did not show more courtesy to the cast. Unable to rewrite the screenplay or edit the picture, Peckinpah vowed to never again direct a film unless he had script control. While not suffering from the cocaine abuse which marked The Killer Elite, Peckinpah continued to drink heavily, causing his direction to become confused and erratic. Speak to his collaborators and they all describe a man whose behaviour was erratic, sadistic and self-pitying. Resentment of David's presence by the locals slowly builds to a shocking climax when the mild-mannered academic is forced to violently defend his home. SAM PECKINPAH'S WEST: LEGACY OF A HOLLYWOOD RENEGADE goes in search of the man behind these legendary films. The basic ingredients are the same, he said of his films late in his life. Peckinpah was unfaithful to the women in his life. Sam Peckinpah's 'The Wild Bunch' is savage poetry; one of the great The Westerner, which has since achieved cult status, further established Peckinpah as a talent to be reckoned with. TCM original documentary looks at the life & career of the celebrated director from the viewpoint of his daughter, Lupita Peckinpah. [59], The Wild Bunch was re-released for its 25th anniversary, and received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. Sam Peckinpah - Interview in Malibu, 1982 - YouTube Peckinpah rewrote the existing screenplay, inspired by the books African Genesis and The Territorial Imperative by Robert Ardrey, which argued that man was essentially a carnivore who instinctively battled over control of territory.