Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage ReviewPeckinpah, written by Garner Simmons and published by the Universtity of Texas Press in 1982,is a no-nonsense, non-opinionated look at the life and work of director Sam Peckinpah. The first few chapters are devoted to his early life: parents, childhood, growing up, early TV work, etc. The rest of the book is presented in a movie-by-movie format, with one chapter being devoted to each film. The chronological discussion of each film pays great attention to detail form pre to post production. Lots of good insight from cast and crew members help make this book really special! There is little info on Peckinpah's final film, "The Osterman Weekend", as it had not been released at the time of this book's publication. The book is dedicated to the memory of Jerry Fielding, the extremely talented composer who worked with Peckinpah on several films.Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage Overview"Sam Peckinpah is, by his own admission and that of almost everyone else in this richly entertaining book, a director who needs adversity to get the juices flowing. As shooting goes on, complications multiply and tensions increase. The wild man, fortified by booze and shots of vitamin B12, rides the whirlwind he creates firing the incompetents beneath him, baiting the ones over him, and bullying and testing and goading the rest...[This book gives] a nuts and bolts account of the...complex interplay of power and art or movie and myth-making as practiced by an idiosyncratic but skillfull manipulator." -New York Times Book Review

Want to learn more information about Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

If They Move . . . Kill 'Em: The Life and TImes of Sam Peckinpah Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy If They Move . . . Kill 'Em: The Life and TImes of Sam Peckinpah? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on If They Move . . . Kill 'Em: The Life and TImes of Sam Peckinpah. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

If They Move . . . Kill 'Em: The Life and TImes of Sam Peckinpah ReviewDavid Weddle's fine biography of director Sam Peckinpah "If They Move...Kill'em!" is a harrowing book, detailing an extraordinary professional life wrought with alcoholism, drug addiction, rage and eventually paranoia. This book doesn't attempt to brush Peckinpah off the mountain he will forever possess, but it does detail his inspirations, influences and life-long battle with the demons within. Peckinpah was indeed tortured, an Ernest Hemingway or even Jack Kerouac of his time. He was also one heck of an SOB.
As a fan of Peckinpah's extaordinary films, including "The Wild Bunch," "Cross of Iron," "Straw Dogs" and "The Getaway," I was always perplexed by the erratic quality of the films later in his career and his eventual disappearance from the filmmaking scene. I suppose Weddle's work provides an uneasy answer to these questions, and I think his arguments about Peckinpah living the life of the characters he created in his films is valid.
Peckinpah's legend has always overshadowed Peckinpah's work, which is why such underrated jewels as "Noon Wine," "Junior Bonner" and "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" have been overlooked. I appreciate Weddle's attempts at exposing this myth, and revealing the troubled inspirations and obsessions of Peckinpah. I have problems with the way Weddle skims the surface of many of his films, rarely providing much critical insight or interpretation. But to do so would be treading on the groundbreaking territory of Garner Simmons' ultimate work "Peckinpah, A Portrait in Montage." Weddle should be applauded for avoiding areas that perhaps have already been covered.
To support his argument, Weddle ignores films from Peckinpah's resume, and makes several generalizations which are not entirely accurate. As the years go by, curious viewers will eventually realize that "Cross of Iron" was one of his great films, just as they will also begin to appreciate the gritty greatness of "The Getaway." These films will never serve as examples of the eroding talent of Peckinpah. Though I do agree with Weddle that "Bring Me the Head of Alfred Garcia, "The Osterman Weekend" and "Convoy" are hollow shells of a once-great talent.
"If They Move...Kill'Em!" is eye-opening and disturbing. It needed to be written. Many artists who rose to prominence during the 1960s and 1970s suffered a similar Peckinpah fate - cocaine addiction, alcoholism, a life of excess. That he was still able to make his films was a stunning achievement. That he took 10 years and 5 films off of his life (at the very least), is an American tragedy. Weddle has done a good job at revealing a man who not only was his own worst enemy, but who lived the ignoble life of the tortured artist to the extreme. To know Peckinpah the man, is to eventually understand his utterly unique films.If They Move . . . Kill 'Em: The Life and TImes of Sam Peckinpah Overview

Want to learn more information about If They Move . . . Kill 'Em: The Life and TImes of Sam Peckinpah?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...