I think, next to The Wild Bunch, this is Peckinpah’s best film. It’s bleak, goddamnit. Really bleak. It’s one of the most nihilistic movies I’ve ever seen. There is no beauty in Peckinpah’s war. Everything seems drained. The excitement from violence isn’t like it was in The Wild Bunch. I’d argue that this is one of the greatest war films ever made, and it’s so little-known. It has one of my favourite endings ever. It’s one of Coburn’s best performances. More people have to see this movie. I’d call it a masterpiece…for whatever that’s worth. I hope the Orson Welles story is true… that he sent Peckinpah a letter in the mail saying it was the greatest war film ever made.