There is a newly founded Peckinpah forum on the net:
It’s called Earned in Blood and it’s really brand new, and maybe some of you guys are interested.
Just registered.
Thanks for the tip - a Peckinpah forum has been sorely lacking.
It was always sparsely populated but I used to visit the one here: Yahoo | Mail, Wetter, Suche, Nachrichten, Finanzen, Sport & mehrYahoo | Mail, Wetter, Suche, Nachrichten, Finanzen, Sport & mehr
Is this the official Sam Peckinpah Thread of the SWD ???
My simple question: How is Deadly Companion?
Haven’t seen it…
Why not? There isn’t another one (so I hope).
My simple question: How is Deadly Companion?
Deadly Companions is a good western with a not too typical story. Peckinpah hadn’t much control over it, so it bears only little resemblance to his personal films (which are more or less all he made thereafter except maybe The Osterman Weekend).
There is another one:
http://www.spaghetti-western.net/forum/index.php/topic,668.msg10579.html#msg10579
Then someone should melt them.
I have searched for it, but the title of the other one was obviously not Peckinpahish enough.
I have seen them all many times, so that’s it:
The Wild Bunch 10
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid 10
Cross of Iron 9
Junior Bonner 9
Major Dundee 9
Ride the High Country 9
Straw Dogs 9
Convoy 8
The Getaway 8
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia 8
The Ballad of Cable Hogue 8
The Deadly Companions 7
The Osterman Weekend 6
The Killer Elite 6
Hmm, more tricky than I thought.
The first 2 should be 12/10, and all the ones in the middle are so damn, damn close together. Why the hell is Alfredo so far down?
Ok here is my rating (current) out of 10:
The Wild Bunch 10
The Getaway 10
Pat Garret & Billy the Kid 9
Ride the High Country 9
Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia 9
Straw Dogs 9
Cross of Iron 8
Major Dundee 8
Convoy 7
Killer Elite 7
Osterman Weekend 3
Junior Bonner and Cable Hogue needed to be rewatched!
Deadly Companions I’ve not seen so far.
Come on Paco, Osterman ain’t that bad!!!
The Wild Bunch 9
Cable Hogue 9
The Deadly companions 7
The Getaway 9
Pat Garret & Billy the Kid 6
Ride the High Country 8
Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia 10
Straw Dogs 8
Cross of Iron 8
Convoy 5
Osterman Weekend 4
-
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia- A dark neo noir/ contemporary western that has a disarmingly simple premise and plot but goes so much deeper than that in terms of character developement and deconstruction. Also a grim love story. A very physcological film that feels like it came from the soul. Great filmaking.
-
Wild Bunch- Skillfully shot action drama that mixes both and comes off far more respectable and meaningful than normal action pics. The violence iseasily excused in it’s allegorical meaning. Mostly the fact that it has meaning.
-
Pat Garrett and billy the kid- Skillfully made baladic tale of two friends that covers normal Peckinpah territory but is flawed due mostly to Kristofferson’s Billy the Kid. He’s just too…unbelievable. Too cool headed and has too much ofa 70’s vocabulary. He doesn’t ever changeand while he’s cool inthe first scene, he is the same from there on.
That’s why I gave it a 3 
The Wild Bunch 10
Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia 10
Cross of Iron 9
Straw Dogs 9
The Getaway 9
Pat Garret & Billy the Kid 8
Cable Hogue 7
Major Dundee 6
Killer Elite 5
Convoy 4
Junior Bonner 1
The Osterdam Weekend 1
Need to see Ride The High Country and The Deadly companions as not seen in a while.
I’ve grown to love Peckinpah after re-watching his films, never really enjoyed them as much on the first view
Pat Garret & Billy the Kid 10
The Wild Bunch 10
Junior Bonner 10
The Getaway 10
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia 9
The Ballad of Cable Hogue 9
Straw Dogs 8
Ride the High Country 8
Convoy 8
Cross of Iron 7
Killer Elite 6.5
Interesting ratings.
I love Peckinpah, warts and all. A maverick, a tragic, erratic genius, a human car-crash. Many of the weaknesses in his films, especially the later ones, have major extenuating circumstances, ranging from his well-known addictions to booze and drugs, which hampered his direction of titles such as The Killer Elite and Convoy; his inability to compromise with producers and the studio brass (admirable in many ways, but his bloodymindedness seriously fucked up his career - he practically sabotaged some of his own films, including Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid); to budgetary problems and all the other vagaries of film-making.
Of course, nobody has to excuse the excesses and failings of some of his films, but these demand to be taken into consideration.
Anyway, here are my ratings:
The Wild Bunch 10 (as flawless as a film can get)
Cross of Iron 9.5
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid 9.5
Ride the High Country 9.5
The Getaway 9.2
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia 9.1
Straw Dogs 8.8 (much misunderstood, uniquely chilling)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue 8.8
Junior Bonner 8.5
The Killer Elite 8.3 (a childhood favourite - ninjas! Machine guns! Bo Hopkins as “the patron saint of the manic depressives”)
Major Dundee 8.2 (the reconstruction really helps, and the action scenes are among Peckinpah’s most rousing)
The Deadly Companions 7.7 (considering how the producer obstructed him at every turn, a very impressive debut)
The Osterman Weekend 6.5 (espionage was just not his milieu)
Convoy 4.8 (even I struggle with this one, but the crashes are good)
Ratings subject to change, like moods.
What I really need is to see Noon Wine, his highly regarded TV movie, and episodes from The Westerner and The Rifleman.
I have seen four of his episodes of The Westerner and one is terrific. It is, you won’t be surprised, about the impact of violence. The end is brilliantly conceived and filmed.
The other 3 are more like con-man comedy stuff. But he uses crane shots and travelling shots, which is rather unusual for an early TV show. Worth a look.
Ratings are only for fun sake of course
Nevertheless I’m a bit surprised by the high ratings of both Cross and Garcia
The (relatively) low marks for Cable Hogue and the high marks for PAT & BILLY don’t really surprise me, I know I rate them differenty from most of his fans
I think he was one of the greatest when he was at the top of his game. Count me in as a fan!
The Wild Bunch - 10/10! - in my top 5 movies of all time, the best american western [if you don’t count OUATITW]
The Ballad of Cable Hogue - 9/10 - lighthearted and sentimental, may be a shock compared to The Wild Bunch but it’s great as well
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - 9/10 - journey to the darkest corners of the human mind
The Getaway - 9/10 - well-made, fun action movie
Straw Dogs - 9/10 - still packs a punch
Major Dundee - 8/10 - some great scenes and you can see it as a warm-up to The Wild Bunch
Ride the High Country - 6/10 - i was never able to see anything great in it, i guess i have to rewatch it
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid - 5/10 - i never liked this one, it’s a mess in my opinion
Convoy - 4/10 - nothing special
The Osterman Weekend - i won’t rate it because i can’t remember anything about this movie even though i’ve seen it 2 times
I have to see his other movies, especially Cross of Iron.