This is a solid look at the man, but tends to gloss over the movies themselves, barely speaking of them at all, with few clips or mentions of their making. Seems like a lost opportunity even though you learn a lot about the demons he was dealing with.
3 Reviews
Illuminating documentary
Woodyanders24 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Sam Peckinpah was a legendary renegade maverick director who was just as notorious for his hard-living macho attitude towards life as he was for the brutal violence and often confrontational nature of his movies. Peckinpah came from a huge family that was in the lumber business and was put in a military school due to the fact that he frequently skipped class so he could out in the woods to hunt and shoot guns. Among the things we learn about Peckinpah was that he could be very abusive to women (Ali MacGraw speculates that Sam had a strong feminine side that he made him love and fear women at the same time), he liked to throw knives into either doors or walls, he enjoyed unnerving people (Sam purposefully made R.G. Armstrong angry on the set of "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" so he could elicit the right furious emotion from Armstrong in a key scene), his business life was a mess, he was only alive in front of a camera, and for Peckinpah workaday reality was more of a fantasy while film was his preferred reality.
Kris Kristofferson admits that he always identified with Peckinpah and sings a lovely ballad that he wrote about him. Peckinpah's assistant Katherine Haber notes that Peckinpah was troubled by the violence he saw in the everyday world. Jason Robards reads out loud several letters that Peckinpah wrote with marvelously crusty aplomb. Monte Hellman points out that Peckinpah had an excellent understanding of the old west. MacGraw reveals that she was glad that she never got personally involved with Peckinpah. L.Q. Jones comments that Peckinpah knew every shot in every scene that he filmed well in advance. Writer James R. Silke shares a poignant story about visiting Peckinpah in the hospital after he had suffered a heart attack. Essential viewing for Sam Peckinpah fans.
Kris Kristofferson admits that he always identified with Peckinpah and sings a lovely ballad that he wrote about him. Peckinpah's assistant Katherine Haber notes that Peckinpah was troubled by the violence he saw in the everyday world. Jason Robards reads out loud several letters that Peckinpah wrote with marvelously crusty aplomb. Monte Hellman points out that Peckinpah had an excellent understanding of the old west. MacGraw reveals that she was glad that she never got personally involved with Peckinpah. L.Q. Jones comments that Peckinpah knew every shot in every scene that he filmed well in advance. Writer James R. Silke shares a poignant story about visiting Peckinpah in the hospital after he had suffered a heart attack. Essential viewing for Sam Peckinpah fans.
Excellent warts-and-all documentary on a gifted, complex, troubled man
grantss7 April 2024
A documentary on legendary, notorious film director Sam Peckinpah, the man who gave us such classics as The Wild Bunch, Cross of Iron and Straw Dogs. Through interviews with friends and people who worked with him, some of whom are legends in their own right, we get a picture of a complex, larger-than-life individual.
Sam Peckinpah's films are notorious for their action scenes and high levels of violence. Peckinpah's own life was as dramatic and this comes through in this documentary. Calling him complex is understating it as some of his antics are quite unbelievable.
A very honest documentary in that all his issues are brought to the fore. Many documentaries end up just being a cheerleading contest with celebrities trying to outdo each other in saying how great the person was. Here we learn of his greatness and what made him great but we also learn of his darker side and the likely reasons for this.
A very interesting and edifying documentary.
Sam Peckinpah's films are notorious for their action scenes and high levels of violence. Peckinpah's own life was as dramatic and this comes through in this documentary. Calling him complex is understating it as some of his antics are quite unbelievable.
A very honest documentary in that all his issues are brought to the fore. Many documentaries end up just being a cheerleading contest with celebrities trying to outdo each other in saying how great the person was. Here we learn of his greatness and what made him great but we also learn of his darker side and the likely reasons for this.
A very interesting and edifying documentary.
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