To begin with, I had long intended purchasing the Anchor Bay DVD of this one and the same director's TWO-LANE BLACKTOP (1971) but, after they went out-of-print, I was given a copy of COCKFIGHTER by a local friend (to which he had been drawn in view of its controversial nature)! Amazingly given the film's reputation as one of his best, in the accompanying Audio Commentary, Hellman states to not being fond of it as some of his other work because he was assigned to it by producer Roger Corman (with whom he had worked a number of times in the past) practically at the last minute, which consequently limited his involvement in the pre-production stage! In the face of this, Hellman chose his chief collaborators wisely i.e. leading-man Warren Oates (this was possibly the beloved character actor's very best role) and cinematographer Nestor Almendros (who captures the mainly rustic locales via warm hues but, at the same time, an unsentimental veracity); also notable in this regard is the jaunty/wistful score by one Michael Franks.
The narrative deals with the titular sport which, deemed the most violent, had been rendered illegal in most American states; watching the film, one realizes just how many enthusiasts it has and, though the events are set in the South, in the Commentary it is inferred that the practice of cockfighting is spread wide across the country! In a typically quirky touch, here Oates does not speak a line of dialogue throughout until the very last moments of the film – having 'shot his mouth off' and subsequently lost a bet as well as his chance to win a prestigious medal, he vows to remain silent for as long as it takes him to be named "Cockfighter Of The Year"! This obsessive attitude ultimately jeopardizes his relationship with the two women the protagonist is involved with (in his defense, however, such idiosyncratic behavior seems to be common to most game-cock owners!), but he is nonetheless aided in his endeavors by manager Charles B. Shull and keeper Robert Earl Jones (father of James!). Incidentally, the script was written by Charles Willeford (reportedly a popular crime novelist) – who not only wrote the novel on which it was based but actually landed a key role in the film itself! The supporting cast, then, includes faces familiar from Hellman's previous efforts (Laurie Bird, Millie Perkins and Harry Dean Stanton), as well as past-his-prime heart-throb Troy Donahue and newcomers Ed Begley Jr. and Steve Railsback.
The DVD extras also include the theatrical trailer, TV and radio spots, where the film's "naked" look at competitiveness is likened to that of the classic pool-hall expose' THE HUSTLER (1961); of course, parallels can also be drawn with TWO-LANE BLACKTOP itself, which involves drag-racing, not to mention THE GREATEST (1977), the biopic of boxing champ Muhammad Ali which Hellman completed after the premature death of original director Tom Gries! To be honest, I am not a sports fan myself and, while I can be partial to the excitement inherent in a heavyweight bout (the cinema has returned to this milieu often enough), I would normally never dream of finding a fight-to-the-death between roosters engrossing viewing (and not merely because I consider myself an animal lover). That said, Hellman employs several devices in order to garner audience interest in the proceedings: Oates' intermittent narration explaining the breeding process of the cocks themselves, the preparation that goes into these matches, and the extensive gambling that is the ultimate raison d'être of it all; the viciousness of the fighting is amplified (indeed rendered almost unwatchable at times) both by the spikes that are tied to the cock's heels – causing blood to spurt onto the shoes of their handlers, anticipating the graphic bouts in Martin Scorsese's boxing drama RAGING BULL (1980) – and the occasional use of slow-motion; and also the sheer diversity of venues in which these contests are organized (ranging from arenas to private barns and even hotel rooms, where the film also displays a welcome sense of irony with the takings of the night being instantly 'lost' in a hold-up!). The shock ending (which was not in the original script) did not go down at all well with producer Corman who, in an attempt to keep his unbeaten track record of "never having lost money on any of his pictures" on track (pardon the pun), subsequently re-released the film under various aliases, namely BORN TO KILL, GAMBLIN' MAN and WILD DRIFTER!
The narrative deals with the titular sport which, deemed the most violent, had been rendered illegal in most American states; watching the film, one realizes just how many enthusiasts it has and, though the events are set in the South, in the Commentary it is inferred that the practice of cockfighting is spread wide across the country! In a typically quirky touch, here Oates does not speak a line of dialogue throughout until the very last moments of the film – having 'shot his mouth off' and subsequently lost a bet as well as his chance to win a prestigious medal, he vows to remain silent for as long as it takes him to be named "Cockfighter Of The Year"! This obsessive attitude ultimately jeopardizes his relationship with the two women the protagonist is involved with (in his defense, however, such idiosyncratic behavior seems to be common to most game-cock owners!), but he is nonetheless aided in his endeavors by manager Charles B. Shull and keeper Robert Earl Jones (father of James!). Incidentally, the script was written by Charles Willeford (reportedly a popular crime novelist) – who not only wrote the novel on which it was based but actually landed a key role in the film itself! The supporting cast, then, includes faces familiar from Hellman's previous efforts (Laurie Bird, Millie Perkins and Harry Dean Stanton), as well as past-his-prime heart-throb Troy Donahue and newcomers Ed Begley Jr. and Steve Railsback.
The DVD extras also include the theatrical trailer, TV and radio spots, where the film's "naked" look at competitiveness is likened to that of the classic pool-hall expose' THE HUSTLER (1961); of course, parallels can also be drawn with TWO-LANE BLACKTOP itself, which involves drag-racing, not to mention THE GREATEST (1977), the biopic of boxing champ Muhammad Ali which Hellman completed after the premature death of original director Tom Gries! To be honest, I am not a sports fan myself and, while I can be partial to the excitement inherent in a heavyweight bout (the cinema has returned to this milieu often enough), I would normally never dream of finding a fight-to-the-death between roosters engrossing viewing (and not merely because I consider myself an animal lover). That said, Hellman employs several devices in order to garner audience interest in the proceedings: Oates' intermittent narration explaining the breeding process of the cocks themselves, the preparation that goes into these matches, and the extensive gambling that is the ultimate raison d'être of it all; the viciousness of the fighting is amplified (indeed rendered almost unwatchable at times) both by the spikes that are tied to the cock's heels – causing blood to spurt onto the shoes of their handlers, anticipating the graphic bouts in Martin Scorsese's boxing drama RAGING BULL (1980) – and the occasional use of slow-motion; and also the sheer diversity of venues in which these contests are organized (ranging from arenas to private barns and even hotel rooms, where the film also displays a welcome sense of irony with the takings of the night being instantly 'lost' in a hold-up!). The shock ending (which was not in the original script) did not go down at all well with producer Corman who, in an attempt to keep his unbeaten track record of "never having lost money on any of his pictures" on track (pardon the pun), subsequently re-released the film under various aliases, namely BORN TO KILL, GAMBLIN' MAN and WILD DRIFTER!