The Passion of Sam Peckinpah

Excerpts From the Austin Film Society's Peckinpah Monograph

"...saying that he thought what Austin needed was a Sam Peckinpah retrospective, I wholeheartedly agreed and sent him over..."

Oct. 22, 1999 Screens Feature by Marjorie Baumgarten

Pauline Kael Remembers Sam Peckinpah

Pauline Kael discusses the myths surrounding the work of Sam Peckinpah in this excerpt from the monograph that accompanies the Peckinpah retrospective sponsored by the Austin Film Society.

"...The Sam Peckinpah film series, which began in October and continues..."

Nov. 19, 1999 Screens Feature by Marjorie Baumgarten

Peckinpah Tv

"...Directed by: Sam Peckinpah. This eight-part film series dedicated to a reassessment..."

Nov. 24, 1999 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Getaway

The story comes from Jim Thompson’s book, and the screenplay was written by Walter Hill. The star wattage is all McQueen and MacGraw, while the propulsion is all Peckinpah.

"...Directed by: Sam Peckinpah. Starring: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Bo..."

Nov. 11, 1999 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Straw Dogs

Rod Lurie remakes Sam Peckinpah's 1971 bloodbath-classic about a home invasion and tapping into man's inner rage monster.

"...Holland. Forty years after the original film version by Sam Peckinpah burst into theatres and shocked audiences with its..."

Sept. 23, 2011 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Beware 'The Visitor'

Drafthouse Films brings space oddity to screens tonight

"...of Avatar Aang imitators. Exploding basketballs. Creepy birds. Drunk Sam Peckinpah. Demon kids doing gymnastics. And it's probably Alec..."

Nov. 1, 2013 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

The Proposition

The Western is alive and well in the Australian outback, as this gritty film with a screenplay and score by musician Nick Cave demonstrates.

"...gloom Nick Cave, follows in the gritty tradition of Sam Peckinpah, John Huston, and Robert Aldrich – American filmmakers..."

June 9, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Devil's Rejects

A viciously entertaining psycho-road-movie-revenge-‘n’-wreckage-romance.

"...until the film’s final moments, well calculated to make Sam Peckinpah grin in his grave. You can already hear..."

July 22, 2005 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Chasers

"...why, as it ended, I could swear I heard Sam Peckinpah's ghost chuckling away...."

April 29, 1994 Movie Review by Robert Faires

The Bodyguard

"...become a predictable, herky-jerky mess where Cape Fear meets Sam Peckinpah meets Casablanca. The Bodyguard is one of Lawrence..."

Nov. 27, 1992 Movie Review by Pamela Bruce

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot

"...wouldn't be because it was directed by Spottiswoode, one-time Sam Peckinpah film editor (Straw Dogs, The Getaway, Pat Garrett..."

Feb. 28, 1992 Movie Review by Louis Black

The Killer

This is the film that made John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat household names within action-crazed American households. Elements of conventional melodrama and criminal double-crosses blend in this story about a hitman conducting one last job to earn the money to restore the eyesight of a woman he had previously blinded.

"...blood drenched ballet as choreographed by Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah. Where there's death, there's love. The Killer is..."

April 19, 1991 Movie Review by Kathleen Maher

The Wild Bunch

"...Directed by: Sam Peckinpah. Starring: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond..."

March 31, 1995 Movie Review by Louis Black

Ride the High Country

"...Directed by: Sam Peckinpah. Starring: Randolph Scott, Joel Mccrea, Mariette Hartley, Edgar..."

Oct. 14, 1999 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

A Glorious High

"...if she'd like to contribute around 750 words on Sam Peckinpah, she responded by telling me that she didn't..."

Nov. 19, 1999 Screens Feature by Pauline Kael

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is a profound existential adventure, twistedly comic and openly bitter, brought to life by those two maniacs: Peckinpah and Oates. An ugly, vicious film about not very glamorous people engaged in ugly, vicious activities, it’s more black comedy than anything. – Louis Black

"...Directed by: Sam Peckinpah. Starring: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Gig Young, Robert..."

Dec. 2, 1999 Movie Review by Louis Black

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

"...Directed by: Sam Peckinpah. Starring: Jason Robards, Stella Stevens, David Warner, Strother..."

Oct. 28, 1999 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Wild Bunch: The Director's Cut

"...Directed by: Sam Peckinpah. Starring: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond..."

July 15, 1999 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Sam Peckinpah's Legendary Westerns Collection

"...SAM PECKINPAH'S LEGENDARY WESTERNS COLLECTION..."

Jan. 27, 2006 Screens Review by Steve Uhler

Straw Dogs

"...Directed by: Sam Peckinpah. Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.p...."

Nov. 4, 1999 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Cross of Iron

"...Directed by: Sam Peckinpah. Starring: James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, Senta Berger, James..."

Dec. 9, 1999 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Monograph Introduction

"...a buoy in a sea change of writing on Sam Peckinpah. During his lifetime, the media always found the..."

Oct. 22, 1999 Screens Feature by Louis Black

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

"...your nose in the stink and sweat of Mexico, Sam Peckinpah's earthiest haven from the Dream Factory. Playing Head's..."

Oct. 22, 1999 Screens Feature by Kathleen Murphy

New on DVD

Sam Peckinpah attracted controversy as reliably as a dog attracts fleas. Upon their release, each of his films would stimulate new debate about the uses of onscreen violence and his manhandling of women, as was the case with 1971's Straw Dogs.

"...Sam Peckinpah attracted controversy as reliably as a dog attracts..."

April 11, 2003 Screens Feature by Marjorie Baumgarten

Scanlines

Zulu Dawn

"...scene is unfolding (two concrete definitions of this are Peckinpah's opening and closing scenes in The Wild Bunch). The..."

April 2, 1999 Screens Feature

Hollywood's Outlaw Saint

"...minutes. No surprises there. People were walking out on Sam Peckinpah his whole life, his whole career. And most..."

Oct. 22, 1999 Screens Feature by Louis Black

Page Two

Peckinpah rides again at the Alamo Drafthouse.

"...Out of this shot came the cinema of Sam Peckinpah. Ford, along with such directors as Anthony Mann..."

Oct. 22, 1999 Column by Louis Black

The Hi-Lo Country

"...Stephen Frears. Starring: Woody Harrelson, Billy Crudup, Patricia Arquette, Sam Elliott, Penelope Cruz, Cole Hauser, James Gammon, Enrique Castillo..."

Jan. 22, 1999 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Page Two

'Sin City' may offer almost no suggestion of a moral substructure. But it insists there is morality, no matter how fragmented.

"...screening of Sin City, as soon as I mentioned Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, his eyes lit up as..."

April 15, 2005 Column by Louis Black

Ride the High Country

"...Capote was "the most perfect writer" of his generation. Sam Peckinpah combined the best of both of them and..."

Oct. 22, 1999 Screens Feature by Michael Sragow

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