Sam Peckinpah(1925-1984)
- Writer
- Director
- Producer
"If they move", commands stern-eyed
William Holden, "kill 'em". So
begins The Wild Bunch (1969), Sam
Peckinpah's bloody, high-body-count eulogy to the mythologized Old
West. "Pouring new wine into the bottle of the Western, Peckinpah
explodes the bottle", observed critic
Pauline Kael. That exploding bottle also
christened the director with the nickname that would forever define his
films and reputation: "Bloody Sam".
David Samuel Peckinpah was born and grew up in Fresno, California, when
it was still a sleepy town. Young Sam was a loner. The child's greatest
influence was grandfather Denver Church, a judge, congressman and one
of the best shots in the Sierra Nevadas. Sam served in the US Marine
Corps during World War II but - to his disappointment - did not see
combat. Upon returning to the US he enrolled in Fresno State College,
graduating in 1948 with a B.A. in Drama. He married
Marie Selland in Las Vegas in 1947 and
they moved to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in the graduate Theater
Department of the University of Southern California the next year. He
eventually took his Masters in 1952.
After drifting through several jobs -- including a stint as a
floor-sweeper on
The Liberace Show (1952) --
Sam got a job as Dialogue Director on
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
for director Don Siegel. He worked for Siegel
on several films, including
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956),
in which Sam played Charlie Buckholtz, the town meter reader. Peckinpah
eventually became a scriptwriter for such TV programs as
Gunsmoke (1955) and
The Rifleman (1958) (which he
created as an episode of
Dick Powell's
Zane Grey Theatre (1956)
titled "The Sharpshooter' in 1958). In 1961, as his marriage to Selland
was coming to an end, he directed his first feature film, a western
titled
The Deadly Companions (1961)
starring \Brian Keith and
Maureen O'Hara. However, it was
with his second feature,
Ride the High Country (1962),
that Peckinpah really began to establish his reputation. Featuring
Joel McCrea and
Randolph Scott (in his final
screen performance), its story about two aging gunfighters anticipated
several of the themes Peckinpah would explore in future films,
including the controversial "The Wild Bunch". Following "Ride the High
Country" he was hired by producer
Jerry Bresler to direct
Major Dundee (1965), a
cavalry-vs.-Indians western starring
Charlton Heston. It turned out to be a
film that brought to light Peckinpah's volatile reputation. During hot,
on-location work in Mexico, his abrasive manner, exacerbated by booze
and marijuana, provoked usually even-keeled Heston to threaten to run
him through with a cavalry saber. However, when the studio later
considered replacing Peckinpah, it was Heston who came to Sam's
defense, going so far as to offer to return his salary to help offset
any overages. Ironically, the studio accepted and Heston wound up doing
the film for free.
Post-production conflicts led to Sam engaging in a bitter and
ultimately losing battle with Bresler and Columbia Pictures over the
final cut and, as a result, the disjointed effort fizzled at the box
office. It was during this period that Peckinpah met and married his
second wife, Mexican actress
Begoña Palacios. However, the reputation
he earned because of the conflicts on "Major Dundee" contributed to
Peckinpah being replaced as director on his next film, the
Steve McQueen film
The Cincinnati Kid (1965), by
Norman Jewison.
His second marriage now failing, Peckinpah did not get another feature
project for two years. However, he did direct a powerful adaptation of
Katherine Anne Porter's
'Noon Wine" for
Noon Wine (1966)).
This, in turn, helped relaunch his feature career. He was hired by
Warner Bros. to direct the film for which he is, justifiably, best
remembered. The success of "The Wild Bunch" rejuvenated his career and
propelled him through highs and lows in the 1970s. Between 1970-1978 he
directed
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970),
Straw Dogs (1971),
Junior Bonner (1972),
The Getaway (1972),
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973),
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974),
The Killer Elite (1975),
Cross of Iron (1977) and
Convoy (1978). Throughout this period
controversy followed him. He provoked more rancor over his use of
violence in "Straw Dogs", introduced
Ali MacGraw to Steve McQueen in "The
Getaway", fought with MGM's chief
James T. Aubrey over his vision for "Pat
Garrett & Billy the Kid" that included the casting of
Bob Dylan in an unscripted role as a character
called "Alias." His last solid effort was the WW II anti-war epic
"Cross of Iron", about a German unit fighting on the Russian front,
with Maximilian Schell and
James Coburn, bringing the picture
in successfully despite severe financial problems.
Peckinpah lived life to its fullest. He drank hard and abused drugs,
producers and collaborators. At the end of his life he was considering
a number of projects including the
Stephen King-scripted "The
Shotgunners". He was returning from Mexico in December 1984 when he
died from heart failure in a hospital in Inglewood, California, at age
59. At a standing-room-only gathering that held at the Directors Guild
the following month, Coburn remembered the director as a man "who
pushed me over the abyss and then jumped in after me. He took me on
some great adventures". To which Robert Culp
added that what is surprising is not that Sam only made fourteen
pictures, but that given the way he went about it, he managed to make
any at all.
William Holden, "kill 'em". So
begins The Wild Bunch (1969), Sam
Peckinpah's bloody, high-body-count eulogy to the mythologized Old
West. "Pouring new wine into the bottle of the Western, Peckinpah
explodes the bottle", observed critic
Pauline Kael. That exploding bottle also
christened the director with the nickname that would forever define his
films and reputation: "Bloody Sam".
David Samuel Peckinpah was born and grew up in Fresno, California, when
it was still a sleepy town. Young Sam was a loner. The child's greatest
influence was grandfather Denver Church, a judge, congressman and one
of the best shots in the Sierra Nevadas. Sam served in the US Marine
Corps during World War II but - to his disappointment - did not see
combat. Upon returning to the US he enrolled in Fresno State College,
graduating in 1948 with a B.A. in Drama. He married
Marie Selland in Las Vegas in 1947 and
they moved to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in the graduate Theater
Department of the University of Southern California the next year. He
eventually took his Masters in 1952.
After drifting through several jobs -- including a stint as a
floor-sweeper on
The Liberace Show (1952) --
Sam got a job as Dialogue Director on
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
for director Don Siegel. He worked for Siegel
on several films, including
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956),
in which Sam played Charlie Buckholtz, the town meter reader. Peckinpah
eventually became a scriptwriter for such TV programs as
Gunsmoke (1955) and
The Rifleman (1958) (which he
created as an episode of
Dick Powell's
Zane Grey Theatre (1956)
titled "The Sharpshooter' in 1958). In 1961, as his marriage to Selland
was coming to an end, he directed his first feature film, a western
titled
The Deadly Companions (1961)
starring \Brian Keith and
Maureen O'Hara. However, it was
with his second feature,
Ride the High Country (1962),
that Peckinpah really began to establish his reputation. Featuring
Joel McCrea and
Randolph Scott (in his final
screen performance), its story about two aging gunfighters anticipated
several of the themes Peckinpah would explore in future films,
including the controversial "The Wild Bunch". Following "Ride the High
Country" he was hired by producer
Jerry Bresler to direct
Major Dundee (1965), a
cavalry-vs.-Indians western starring
Charlton Heston. It turned out to be a
film that brought to light Peckinpah's volatile reputation. During hot,
on-location work in Mexico, his abrasive manner, exacerbated by booze
and marijuana, provoked usually even-keeled Heston to threaten to run
him through with a cavalry saber. However, when the studio later
considered replacing Peckinpah, it was Heston who came to Sam's
defense, going so far as to offer to return his salary to help offset
any overages. Ironically, the studio accepted and Heston wound up doing
the film for free.
Post-production conflicts led to Sam engaging in a bitter and
ultimately losing battle with Bresler and Columbia Pictures over the
final cut and, as a result, the disjointed effort fizzled at the box
office. It was during this period that Peckinpah met and married his
second wife, Mexican actress
Begoña Palacios. However, the reputation
he earned because of the conflicts on "Major Dundee" contributed to
Peckinpah being replaced as director on his next film, the
Steve McQueen film
The Cincinnati Kid (1965), by
Norman Jewison.
His second marriage now failing, Peckinpah did not get another feature
project for two years. However, he did direct a powerful adaptation of
Katherine Anne Porter's
'Noon Wine" for
Noon Wine (1966)).
This, in turn, helped relaunch his feature career. He was hired by
Warner Bros. to direct the film for which he is, justifiably, best
remembered. The success of "The Wild Bunch" rejuvenated his career and
propelled him through highs and lows in the 1970s. Between 1970-1978 he
directed
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970),
Straw Dogs (1971),
Junior Bonner (1972),
The Getaway (1972),
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973),
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974),
The Killer Elite (1975),
Cross of Iron (1977) and
Convoy (1978). Throughout this period
controversy followed him. He provoked more rancor over his use of
violence in "Straw Dogs", introduced
Ali MacGraw to Steve McQueen in "The
Getaway", fought with MGM's chief
James T. Aubrey over his vision for "Pat
Garrett & Billy the Kid" that included the casting of
Bob Dylan in an unscripted role as a character
called "Alias." His last solid effort was the WW II anti-war epic
"Cross of Iron", about a German unit fighting on the Russian front,
with Maximilian Schell and
James Coburn, bringing the picture
in successfully despite severe financial problems.
Peckinpah lived life to its fullest. He drank hard and abused drugs,
producers and collaborators. At the end of his life he was considering
a number of projects including the
Stephen King-scripted "The
Shotgunners". He was returning from Mexico in December 1984 when he
died from heart failure in a hospital in Inglewood, California, at age
59. At a standing-room-only gathering that held at the Directors Guild
the following month, Coburn remembered the director as a man "who
pushed me over the abyss and then jumped in after me. He took me on
some great adventures". To which Robert Culp
added that what is surprising is not that Sam only made fourteen
pictures, but that given the way he went about it, he managed to make
any at all.