The Roger Corman produced, Monte Hellman directed Cockfighter is a film -if made today- that would be sure to enrage PETA and the SPCA. In other words: animals were harmed and killed in the making of this film. Like it or hate it, the fight scenes within Cockfighter are the best part about it: they are grim, visceral, cruel and exciting. Bloody cock fights aside, the story is the age old sports film formula where the protagonist loses it all before he learns something about himself as he rebuilds from within to become the best. While things may play out as you'd expect, the gritty and realistic Cockfighter shares little in common with The Karate Kid, aside from a formula.
There is no denying Cockfighter is an exploitation film. It wants to shock, it wants to entertain and it wants to do so in as fast and cheap a way as possible. It is vintage Roger Corman. If Hellman wasn't behind the lens I'd be OK with Cockfighter being a mere exploitation film, but because he is I expected more. Despite being steeped in real world Cockfighting circles, real fights and convincing locations / background talent, Cockfighter fails to elevate itself above being mere pulp entertainment. If you like grindhouse cinema, which is notoriously underwritten and over acted, then Cockfighter might possibly be the Citizen Kane of this garbage heap. But unless you're trying to convince the world that grindhouse is an important and relevant film movement, then you'll see Cockfighter for what it really is: a mediocre film that squanders the talents of Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton and most notably, Monte Hellman.
http://eattheblinds.blogspot.com/
There is no denying Cockfighter is an exploitation film. It wants to shock, it wants to entertain and it wants to do so in as fast and cheap a way as possible. It is vintage Roger Corman. If Hellman wasn't behind the lens I'd be OK with Cockfighter being a mere exploitation film, but because he is I expected more. Despite being steeped in real world Cockfighting circles, real fights and convincing locations / background talent, Cockfighter fails to elevate itself above being mere pulp entertainment. If you like grindhouse cinema, which is notoriously underwritten and over acted, then Cockfighter might possibly be the Citizen Kane of this garbage heap. But unless you're trying to convince the world that grindhouse is an important and relevant film movement, then you'll see Cockfighter for what it really is: a mediocre film that squanders the talents of Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton and most notably, Monte Hellman.
http://eattheblinds.blogspot.com/