Karl Wiederaenders

9Oct09

David Samuel Peckinpah was born in Fresno, California in 1921. A loner as a child he grew up in a family of Lawyers and from and early age was taught that right and wrong was never always clear. Also growing up he spent much of his time out in the woods hunting and doing ranch work for his grandfather. This up bringing would have a major affect on his future films. After spending his high school year enrolled at the San Rafael military Academy he enlisted in the Marine Corps and Spent do years without ever seeing combat. Upon returning to the states he enrolled at the University of Southern California where he majored in theatre. After this he spent time working many odd jobs until landing a job as a gopher for Don Siegel who he worked with for the next couple of years before he began writing for television. In the realm of television he spent most of his time working on westerns. He was one of the creators of “The Rifleman” but left the show over creative differences with the studio. After that he created “The Westerner” which though being well received only ran for thirteen episodes. But his work in television would not go unrewarded. In 1961 he would get his first directing job on “The Deadly Companions” but he was not given the freedom he needed to truly improve the film. So the following year he directed what could be considered to be his first classic in “Ride the High Country” (1962), the film was centered around the final job of two aging gunmen played by Hollywood legends, Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott. The film was extremely received by critics but do to poor planning from the studio failed to reach a wide audience. Then in 1965 he was handed the reigns to his first epic “Major Dundee” originally budgeted at ten million dollars with a three month shooting schedule but at the last second slashed to five million with a two month schedule. Despite these and other set backs Peckinpah forged ahead making his film until pressure from the studio coupled with his heavy drinking begun to make him paranoid. After shooting ended the studio took the film from Sam and cut apart his original work the ran some 156 minutes and condensed it down 123 minutes. Thanks to this move by the studio the film was a commercial and critical failure, which coupled with Peckinpah’s supposedly abusive on set behavior got him black listed from work for a good couple of years until he manage to break back into Hollywood with his truly classic 1969 film “The Wild Bunch”. The story of aging outlaws in the final days of the old west quickly drew audience and critics attention for its tremendous bloodbath of a finale. Shortly after its release the studio took it and recut it removing several key scenes that add to the character of the bunch this along with the lack of studio backing made sure that “The Wild Bunch” would be forgotten in time for the Oscars. His next film was “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” (1970) a wonderful little film that spoke to how Sam truly saw the old west. He followed it up with “Straw Dogs” (1971) this thriller starring Dustin Hoffman gathered a Cult following although being almost universally panned but is now considered a classic for it’s violence and look into the inner trappings of the masculine ethos. This was followed by his work with Steve McQueen in the wonderful “Junnior Bonner” (1971) and “The Getaway” (1972) which was highly successful at the box office. He would then return to the western with “Pat Garret and Billy the Kid” (1973) which explored the final days of the legendary characters. But once again studio interference would cloud his work as they took the film and recut it down to simply scenes of violence and because of this the film was a all around failure, though wit the release on DVD of his original directors cut it has been reevaluated and is now considered one of the best of the genre. From here he would go on to make “Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia” (1974) a dark and nihilistic action movie starring Warren Oates a Peckinpah regular.Upon release the film was called one of the worst films ever made, but it has since been vindicated and praised as yet another masterpiece among his brilliant career. After that he began to slip and his final masterpiece was 1977’s “Cross of Iron” his only war film, today it is hailed as one of the best anti war films ever made. Sam died in 1984 at the age of 59. His films today are hailed as being among the best not just of the western genre but also among the best ever made. His common themes of brotherhood, the changing of times, the lost of the “Old west”, and the merciless advance of technology as it worsens the world still reverberate to this day among many filmgoers.