Wow, a ‘new’ Sam Peckinpah western! While we await the rumored Blu-ray of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid to surface (or was Alex Cox misinformed?), correspondent Darren Gross has come across a watchable web encoding of a Peckinpah TV drama that seems to be more or less ‘lost.’ Good star performances and intense characterizations prove once again that Peckinpah could deliver superior dramatics. The home video companies should do some investigating — there’s a market out there for this one.
The Lady Is My Wife
TV episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater
CineSavant Revival Screening Review
1967 / Color / 1:33 TV / 47 min. / first Aired February 1, 1967 / Not on Home Video
Starring: Jean Simmons, Bradford Dillman, Alex Cord, Begoña Palacios, L.Q. Jones, Roberto Contreras, Alan Baxter, Jim Boles, Billy M. Greene, E.J. André, Billy M. Greene.
Cinematography: Dale Deverman
Art Director: Lloyd S. Papez
Costumes: Kay Hayden
Film Editor: Edward Biery...
The Lady Is My Wife
TV episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater
CineSavant Revival Screening Review
1967 / Color / 1:33 TV / 47 min. / first Aired February 1, 1967 / Not on Home Video
Starring: Jean Simmons, Bradford Dillman, Alex Cord, Begoña Palacios, L.Q. Jones, Roberto Contreras, Alan Baxter, Jim Boles, Billy M. Greene, E.J. André, Billy M. Greene.
Cinematography: Dale Deverman
Art Director: Lloyd S. Papez
Costumes: Kay Hayden
Film Editor: Edward Biery...
- 3/4/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Blood, gore and the smell of gunpowder! Sam Peckinpah’s booze-soaked Odyssey sends Warren Oates on a grisly fool’s errand to retrieve a rotting, fly-bitten… oh, just read the title will ya? Resolutely sordid and debased, and soaked in ugly exploitation values, the tale of ‘Machete Bennie’ nevertheless scores as Peckinpah’s last successful movie — if Edgar Allan Poe went crazy locked in a room with rotting corpses, he might have come up with this idea.
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo García
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date , 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine, Emilio Fernández, Kris Kristofferson, Chano Urueta, Jorge Russek, Enrique Lucero, Janine Maldonado, Richard Bright, Sharon Peckinpah, Garner Simmons.
Cinematography: Álex Phillips Jr.
Film Editors: Garth Craven, Dennis E. Dolan, Sergio Ortega, Robbe Roberts
Original Music: Jerry Fielding
Written by Sam Peckinpah,...
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo García
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date , 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine, Emilio Fernández, Kris Kristofferson, Chano Urueta, Jorge Russek, Enrique Lucero, Janine Maldonado, Richard Bright, Sharon Peckinpah, Garner Simmons.
Cinematography: Álex Phillips Jr.
Film Editors: Garth Craven, Dennis E. Dolan, Sergio Ortega, Robbe Roberts
Original Music: Jerry Fielding
Written by Sam Peckinpah,...
- 2/20/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Gonzalo “Chalo” Gonzalez-Rubio died March 20 at Verdugo Hospital in Glendale of complications from a bacterial infection. He was 95.
The close associate of Sam Peckinpah worked as a prop master and graduated to film roles, including in 2006’s Sundance award-winning “Quinceanera.”
Producer Katy Haber, a Peckinpah associate from 1970 to 1977 used a military term to say: “Wherever Sam was, so was Chalo. Chalo had Sam’s 6 as they say.”
David Weddle, author of “If They Move… Kill ‘Em! The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah,” writes: “Chalo Gonzalez played a pivotal role in the making of an American masterpiece, ‘The Wild Bunch.’ He was involved in all aspects of the production and was trusted implicitly by the film’s director, Sam Peckinpah. It was Chalo who advocated that the movie should be shot in Parras, Mexico, near the sites of several pivotal battles of the Mexican Revolution. This was one of the...
The close associate of Sam Peckinpah worked as a prop master and graduated to film roles, including in 2006’s Sundance award-winning “Quinceanera.”
Producer Katy Haber, a Peckinpah associate from 1970 to 1977 used a military term to say: “Wherever Sam was, so was Chalo. Chalo had Sam’s 6 as they say.”
David Weddle, author of “If They Move… Kill ‘Em! The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah,” writes: “Chalo Gonzalez played a pivotal role in the making of an American masterpiece, ‘The Wild Bunch.’ He was involved in all aspects of the production and was trusted implicitly by the film’s director, Sam Peckinpah. It was Chalo who advocated that the movie should be shot in Parras, Mexico, near the sites of several pivotal battles of the Mexican Revolution. This was one of the...
- 3/27/2020
- by Edgar Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Sam Peckinpah was a fine director of actors when the material was right, and his first collaboration with Steve McQueen is an shaded character study about a rodeo family dealing with changing times. Joe Don Baker and Ben Johnson shine, but the movie belongs to Ida Lupino and Robert Preston.
Junior Bonner
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 100 min. / Special Edition / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, Ida Lupino, Joe Don Baker, Ben Johnson, Mary Murphy, Dub Taylor, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Bill McKinney.
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Film Editors: Frank Santillo, Robert L. Wolfe
Second Unit Director: Frank Kowalski
Bud Hurlbud: Special Effects
Original Music: Jerry Fielding
Written by Jeb Rosebrook
Produced by Joe Wizan
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
I suppose there were plenty of successful rodeo-themed westerns back in the day, perhaps the kind interrupted by a cowboy song every ten minutes or so.
Junior Bonner
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 100 min. / Special Edition / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, Ida Lupino, Joe Don Baker, Ben Johnson, Mary Murphy, Dub Taylor, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Bill McKinney.
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Film Editors: Frank Santillo, Robert L. Wolfe
Second Unit Director: Frank Kowalski
Bud Hurlbud: Special Effects
Original Music: Jerry Fielding
Written by Jeb Rosebrook
Produced by Joe Wizan
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
I suppose there were plenty of successful rodeo-themed westerns back in the day, perhaps the kind interrupted by a cowboy song every ten minutes or so.
- 10/17/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Straw Dogs
Blu-ray
Criterion
1971 / 1:85 / Street Date June 27, 2017
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George
Cinematography: John Coquillon
Film Editors: Paul Davies, Tony Lawson, Roger Spottiswoode
Written by David Zelag Goodman and Sam Peckinpah
Produced by Daniel Melnick
Music: Jerry Fielding
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Adrift from civilization, an attractive young couple find themselves threatened, assaulted, and eventually compelled to defend themselves in a bloody showdown. That is the basic premise of Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, released in 1971 and inspired by some of the same movies then crowding the legendary dives of 42nd street. On its surface Straw Dogs is pure exploitation but its lasting power resides in Peckinpah’s transformation of those visceral grindhouse cliches into an appalling examination of human nature.
Straw Dogs begins with the seemingly benign introduction of David Sumner, a young man with an even younger wife, arriving in a tiny hamlet in the north of England,...
Blu-ray
Criterion
1971 / 1:85 / Street Date June 27, 2017
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George
Cinematography: John Coquillon
Film Editors: Paul Davies, Tony Lawson, Roger Spottiswoode
Written by David Zelag Goodman and Sam Peckinpah
Produced by Daniel Melnick
Music: Jerry Fielding
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Adrift from civilization, an attractive young couple find themselves threatened, assaulted, and eventually compelled to defend themselves in a bloody showdown. That is the basic premise of Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, released in 1971 and inspired by some of the same movies then crowding the legendary dives of 42nd street. On its surface Straw Dogs is pure exploitation but its lasting power resides in Peckinpah’s transformation of those visceral grindhouse cliches into an appalling examination of human nature.
Straw Dogs begins with the seemingly benign introduction of David Sumner, a young man with an even younger wife, arriving in a tiny hamlet in the north of England,...
- 7/15/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Easily the most mellow of the films of Sam Peckinpah, this relatively gentle western fable sees Jason Robards discovering water where it ain’t, and establishing his private little way station paradise, complete with lover Stella Stevens and eccentric preacher David Warner. Some of the slapstick is sticky but the sexist bawdy humor is too cute to offend . . . and Peckinpah-phobes will be surprised to learn that the movie is in part a musical.
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1970 / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date June 6, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring Jason Robards Jr., Stella Stevens, David Warner, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, R.G. Armstrong, Peter Whitney, Gene Evans, William Mims, Kathleen Freeman, Susan O’Connell, Vaughn Taylor, Max Evans, James Anderson.
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Art Direction: Leroy Coleman
Film Editor: Frank Santillo, Lou Lombardo
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by John Crawford and Edmund Penney
Produced by Sam Peckinpah...
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1970 / 1:85 widescreen / 121 min. / Street Date June 6, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring Jason Robards Jr., Stella Stevens, David Warner, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, R.G. Armstrong, Peter Whitney, Gene Evans, William Mims, Kathleen Freeman, Susan O’Connell, Vaughn Taylor, Max Evans, James Anderson.
Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Art Direction: Leroy Coleman
Film Editor: Frank Santillo, Lou Lombardo
Original Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Written by John Crawford and Edmund Penney
Produced by Sam Peckinpah...
- 5/29/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Before he became the flag bearer for cinema violence, Sam Peckinpah made his reputation with this unique western, a marvelous rumination on ethics, morality and personal responsibility. MGM all but threw it away in the summer of 1962 but it immediately became a critical favorite.
Ride the High Country
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date April 4, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Mariette Hartley, Ron Starr, Edgar Buchanan, R.G. Armstrong, Jenie Jackson, James Drury, L.Q. Jones, John Anderson, John Davis Chandler, Warren Oates.
Cinematography Lucien Ballard
Art Direction Leroy Coleman, George W. Davis
Film Editor Frank Santillo
Original Music George Bassman
Written by N.B. Stone Jr.
Produced by Richard E. Lyons
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
MGM’s western Ride the High Country put Sam Peckinpah on the map with critics and the foreign cinema literati — although it didn’t do big box office when new,...
Ride the High Country
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date April 4, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Mariette Hartley, Ron Starr, Edgar Buchanan, R.G. Armstrong, Jenie Jackson, James Drury, L.Q. Jones, John Anderson, John Davis Chandler, Warren Oates.
Cinematography Lucien Ballard
Art Direction Leroy Coleman, George W. Davis
Film Editor Frank Santillo
Original Music George Bassman
Written by N.B. Stone Jr.
Produced by Richard E. Lyons
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
MGM’s western Ride the High Country put Sam Peckinpah on the map with critics and the foreign cinema literati — although it didn’t do big box office when new,...
- 4/4/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Darren Allison
Attending a film festival in the mid-seventies, Sam Peckinpah was once questioned about how the studios regularly bastardised his vision, his intension and more specifically, if he would ever be able to make a ''pure Peckinpah'' picture. He replied, '’I did 'Alfredo Garcia' and I did it exactly the way I wanted to. Good or bad, like it or not, that was my film.''
The overall narrative for Alfredo Garcia is neither complicated nor convoluted. Warren Oates plays Bennie, a simple pianist residing in a squalid barroom in Mexico. He is approached by two no-nonsense Americans (Robert Webber and Gig Young) who are attempting to track down Alfredo Garcia. The womanising Garcia is the man responsible for the pregnancy of Theresa (Janine Maldonado) the teenage daughter of a powerful Mexican boss El Jefe (Emilio Fernández). In a display of power, El Jefe offers...
Attending a film festival in the mid-seventies, Sam Peckinpah was once questioned about how the studios regularly bastardised his vision, his intension and more specifically, if he would ever be able to make a ''pure Peckinpah'' picture. He replied, '’I did 'Alfredo Garcia' and I did it exactly the way I wanted to. Good or bad, like it or not, that was my film.''
The overall narrative for Alfredo Garcia is neither complicated nor convoluted. Warren Oates plays Bennie, a simple pianist residing in a squalid barroom in Mexico. He is approached by two no-nonsense Americans (Robert Webber and Gig Young) who are attempting to track down Alfredo Garcia. The womanising Garcia is the man responsible for the pregnancy of Theresa (Janine Maldonado) the teenage daughter of a powerful Mexican boss El Jefe (Emilio Fernández). In a display of power, El Jefe offers...
- 3/8/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
By John M. Whalen
Back in the 1950s, before he became a legend, filmmaker Sam Peckinpah (“The Wild Bunch,” “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,” and “The Killer Elite”) wrote scripts for TV westerns, including “Gunsmoke,” “The Rifleman,” and “Tombstone Territory.” His reputation grew and in 1957 he wrote his first screenplay entitled “The Glory Guys” which was based on Hoffman Birney’s novel, “The Dice of God.” The book was a fictional account of Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, with all names changed. The script went unproduced for almost eight years, and in the meantime Sam had moved on, directing features including “The Deadly Companions” (1960), “Ride the High Country” (1962) and “Major Dundee” (1965).
You would think that with that growing resume, Peckinpah would have been able to direct anything he wanted to, but such was far from the case. “Bloody Sam,” as he was called, affectionately by his fans,...
Back in the 1950s, before he became a legend, filmmaker Sam Peckinpah (“The Wild Bunch,” “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,” and “The Killer Elite”) wrote scripts for TV westerns, including “Gunsmoke,” “The Rifleman,” and “Tombstone Territory.” His reputation grew and in 1957 he wrote his first screenplay entitled “The Glory Guys” which was based on Hoffman Birney’s novel, “The Dice of God.” The book was a fictional account of Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, with all names changed. The script went unproduced for almost eight years, and in the meantime Sam had moved on, directing features including “The Deadly Companions” (1960), “Ride the High Country” (1962) and “Major Dundee” (1965).
You would think that with that growing resume, Peckinpah would have been able to direct anything he wanted to, but such was far from the case. “Bloody Sam,” as he was called, affectionately by his fans,...
- 12/30/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
An Encore Edition. Peckinpah's macabre South of the border shoot 'em up is back for a second limited edition, with a new commentary. It's still a picture sure to separate the Peckinpah lovers from the auteur tourists - it's grisly, grim and resolutely exploitative, but also has about it a streak of grimy honesty. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Blu-ray Twilight Time Encore Edition 1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date September, 2016 / available through Screen Archives Entertainment / 29.95 Starring Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine, Emilio Fernández, Kris Kristofferson, Chano Urueta, Jorge Russek, Enrique Lucero, Janine Maldonado, Richard Bright, Sharon Peckinpah, Garner Simmons. Cinematography Álex Phillips Jr. Art Direction Agustín Ituarte Film Editors Garth Craven, Dennis E. Dolan, Sergio Ortega, Robbe Roberts Original Music Jerry Fielding Written by Sam Peckinpah, Gordon T. Dawson, Frank Kowalski Produced by Martin Baum, Helmut Dantine, Gordon T. Dawson Directed by...
- 10/4/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Do you like my choice of leading image? 'We're the Glory Guys! Eee-Yow!' What is surely the most generic cavalry western of all time is actually from a screenplay by Sam Peckinpah. Twilight Time's extras have a lot to say about that, and so does Savant. The Glory Guys Blu-ray Twilight Time 1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 113 min. / Street Date September 6, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95 Starring Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell, Senta Berger, James Caan, Andrew Duggan, Slim Pickens, Peter Breck, Jeanne Cooper, Michael Anderson Jr., Adam Williams, Wayne Rogers, Michael Forest, Paul Birch, Stephen Chase, Claudio Brook. Cinematography James Wong Howe Cinematography Ernst R. (Tom) Rolf, Melvin Shapiro Original Music Riz Ortolani Written by Sam Peckinpah from the novel by Hoffman Birney Produced by Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, Jules V. Levy Directed by Arnold Laven
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Glory Guys is as generic and standard-issue...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The Glory Guys is as generic and standard-issue...
- 9/5/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Blu-ray Release Date: March 11, 2014
Price: Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Twilight Time
Warren Oates goes for broke in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.
Reviled on its release in 1974, Sam Peckinpah’s (The Wild Bunch) nihilistic yet poetic action-accented crime drama Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is today considered to be a masterwork of the filmmaker and leading man Warren Oates (Badlands).
Oates portrays Bennie, a wastrel sometime piano player lost in the wilds of Mexico. He and his beautiful, tragic lover Elita (Isela Vega) stumble across one last, perilous chance at happiness: in order to claim more money than they’ve ever dreamed of, all they have to do is retrieve the head of a wanted man. But the path to their ultimate escape is littered with dangers—some, of course, of the fatal variety.
Special features on the Blu-ray release of this cult favorite include an isolated soundtrack...
Price: Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Twilight Time
Warren Oates goes for broke in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.
Reviled on its release in 1974, Sam Peckinpah’s (The Wild Bunch) nihilistic yet poetic action-accented crime drama Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is today considered to be a masterwork of the filmmaker and leading man Warren Oates (Badlands).
Oates portrays Bennie, a wastrel sometime piano player lost in the wilds of Mexico. He and his beautiful, tragic lover Elita (Isela Vega) stumble across one last, perilous chance at happiness: in order to claim more money than they’ve ever dreamed of, all they have to do is retrieve the head of a wanted man. But the path to their ultimate escape is littered with dangers—some, of course, of the fatal variety.
Special features on the Blu-ray release of this cult favorite include an isolated soundtrack...
- 3/13/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
By Lee Pfeiffer
Twilight Time has released the 2005 restored version of Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee as on Blu-ray, providing both the "improved" version of the film along with the controversial original cut. Peckinpah had won respect as a fine director of TV Westerns and his 1962 feature film, Ride the High Country, earned critical praise, particularly in Europe. Columbia hired Peckinpah to direct his first big budget film, Major Dundee, which top-lined two big stars: Charlton Heston and Richard Harris. As would prove to be the case throughout his career, Peckinpah's fiercely independent nature, combined with his propensity for snaring defeat from the jaws of victory, found him over his head on the production even before shooting started. Filmed in some inhospitable areas of Mexico, Peckinpah began shooting before the script was finalized (always a recipe for disaster). Midway through the film, Columbia was going to fire him for going...
Twilight Time has released the 2005 restored version of Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee as on Blu-ray, providing both the "improved" version of the film along with the controversial original cut. Peckinpah had won respect as a fine director of TV Westerns and his 1962 feature film, Ride the High Country, earned critical praise, particularly in Europe. Columbia hired Peckinpah to direct his first big budget film, Major Dundee, which top-lined two big stars: Charlton Heston and Richard Harris. As would prove to be the case throughout his career, Peckinpah's fiercely independent nature, combined with his propensity for snaring defeat from the jaws of victory, found him over his head on the production even before shooting started. Filmed in some inhospitable areas of Mexico, Peckinpah began shooting before the script was finalized (always a recipe for disaster). Midway through the film, Columbia was going to fire him for going...
- 8/19/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Win A Sony ‘Bloggie’ Camcorder And Learn Ten Things About The Original Straw Dogs……And Ten Things About The New Version!
Rod Lurie’s remake of Straw Dogs is released in the UK on Friday 4th November and we have teamed up with Sony to give away a Sony “Bloggie” Camcorder to one lucky reader. Additionally, the lucky winner will also receive an awesome poster from the film. Details of how to win are at the bottom of this page.
David and Amy Sumner (James Marsden and Kate Bosworth), a Hollywood screenwriter and his actress wife, return to her small hometown in the deep South to prepare the family home for sale after her father’s death. Once there, tensions build in their marriage and old conflicts re-emerge with the locals, including Amy’s ex-boyfriend Charlie (Alexander Skarsgård), leading to a violent confrontation.
Here’s an image of the bloggie...
Rod Lurie’s remake of Straw Dogs is released in the UK on Friday 4th November and we have teamed up with Sony to give away a Sony “Bloggie” Camcorder to one lucky reader. Additionally, the lucky winner will also receive an awesome poster from the film. Details of how to win are at the bottom of this page.
David and Amy Sumner (James Marsden and Kate Bosworth), a Hollywood screenwriter and his actress wife, return to her small hometown in the deep South to prepare the family home for sale after her father’s death. Once there, tensions build in their marriage and old conflicts re-emerge with the locals, including Amy’s ex-boyfriend Charlie (Alexander Skarsgård), leading to a violent confrontation.
Here’s an image of the bloggie...
- 11/3/2011
- by Matt Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
Straw Dogs
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, Del Henney, David Warner | Written by Sam Peckinpah, David Zelag Goodman | Directed by Sam Peckinpah
I have a confession to make. I had, until slotting the new Blu-ray from Studio Canal into my player, never seen Straw Dogs. I was always an Expose fan, and (unwisely it turns out) thought that Peckinpah’s film would pale in comparison. Plus I’m a stickler for seeing films uncut… And as you may know, the film hasn’t been available uncut in the UK until very recently.
For those that aren’t familiar with the film, it tells the story of quiet American mathematician David Sumner (Hoffman) and his British-born wife Amy (George) who relocate to Amy’s rural English hometown in an attempt to flee the violent social unrest brewing in the Us. However the social unrest of the Us is replaced...
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, Del Henney, David Warner | Written by Sam Peckinpah, David Zelag Goodman | Directed by Sam Peckinpah
I have a confession to make. I had, until slotting the new Blu-ray from Studio Canal into my player, never seen Straw Dogs. I was always an Expose fan, and (unwisely it turns out) thought that Peckinpah’s film would pale in comparison. Plus I’m a stickler for seeing films uncut… And as you may know, the film hasn’t been available uncut in the UK until very recently.
For those that aren’t familiar with the film, it tells the story of quiet American mathematician David Sumner (Hoffman) and his British-born wife Amy (George) who relocate to Amy’s rural English hometown in an attempt to flee the violent social unrest brewing in the Us. However the social unrest of the Us is replaced...
- 10/28/2011
- by Phil
- Nerdly
The Film
As is now custom on the heels of a remake, it’s time for a remastered Blu-ray release of a classic movie – in this case Straw Dogs, which has been remade to a poor critical reception by director Rod Lurie. The 1971 thriller – which deals with challenging themes of violence and repression - remains a difficult film from controversial director Sam Peckinpah.
Dustin Hoffman stars as David Sumner, a nebbish and aloof American teacher, who moves to rural England to live with his British wife Amy (Susan George). Despite longing to leave behind the violence and chaos of life in the states, it soon becomes clear that conflict exists even in a quiet corner of jolly old England, as the pair become targeted by a local group of roguish roustabouts – whom leer over Amy and play tricks on David for being an outsider.
As things become progressively worse, the...
As is now custom on the heels of a remake, it’s time for a remastered Blu-ray release of a classic movie – in this case Straw Dogs, which has been remade to a poor critical reception by director Rod Lurie. The 1971 thriller – which deals with challenging themes of violence and repression - remains a difficult film from controversial director Sam Peckinpah.
Dustin Hoffman stars as David Sumner, a nebbish and aloof American teacher, who moves to rural England to live with his British wife Amy (Susan George). Despite longing to leave behind the violence and chaos of life in the states, it soon becomes clear that conflict exists even in a quiet corner of jolly old England, as the pair become targeted by a local group of roguish roustabouts – whom leer over Amy and play tricks on David for being an outsider.
As things become progressively worse, the...
- 10/24/2011
- by Stephen Leigh
- Obsessed with Film
Eighteen writers will vie for eight open seats on the WGA West board, the guild said Wednesday in releasing the full list of candidates for the fall election. Current president Daniel Petrie Jr. and challenger Eric Hughes were confirmed as the two presidential candidates, as was expected, along with vp candidates Dennis Feldman, a board member, and current vp Carl Gottlieb (HR 6/16). The guild's nominating committee selected three incumbent board members to run for the eight open seats. They are Ron Bass, Lisa Seidman and Dan Wilcox. The other board candidates are Aaron Mendelsohn, David Weiss, Alex Sokoloff, Thomas Cook, Chris Nee, Lynn Roth, John Bowman, Valerie Woods, Larry Wilmore, David Garrett, Ted Elliot, Christopher Keyser, Garner Simmons, Bernard Lechowick and Craig Mazin. The election will take place Sept. 20 in conjunction with WGA West's annual membership meeting.
- 6/23/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.