Warren Mercer Oates (July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982) was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch (1969) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). He starred in numerous films during the early 1970s which have since achieved cult status including The Hired Hand (1971), Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) and Race with the Devil (1975). Oates also portrayed Sergeant Hulka in Stripes (1981).

Early life[link]

Oates was born and raised in Depoy, Kentucky, a tiny rural community west of Greenville in Muhlenberg County, the son of Sarah Alice (née Mercer) and Bayless E. Oates, who owned a general store.^[1] He attended high school in Louisville, became interested in theater at the University of Louisville and starred in several plays there in 1953 for the Little Theater Company. He got an opportunity in New York City to star in a live production of the television series Studio One in 1957.^[2]

Career[link]

The actor migrated to Los Angeles where he began to carve out a niche playing guest roles in Western television programs of the period including Wagon Train, Tombstone Territory, Rawhide,Trackdown, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Have Gun-Will Travel, The Big Valley and Gunsmoke. Oates first met Peckinpah when he played a variety of guest roles on The Rifleman (1958–1963), the popular television series created by the director. He also played a supporting role in Peckinpah's short-lived TV series The Westerner in 1960.^[3] The collaboration continued as he worked on Peckinpah's early films Ride the High Country (1962) and Major Dundee (1965).

In 1961, he guest starred in the episode "Artie Moon" in NBC's The Lawless Years crime drama about the 1920s. In 1962, he appeared as "Ves Painter" in the short-lived ABC series Stoney Burke, co-starring Jack Lord, a program about rodeo contestants. Oates also portrayed a number of memorable characters in guest roles on the enduringly popular television series The Twilight Zone ("The Purple Testament" 1960, "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" 1963, with co-stars Randy Boone and Ron Foster), The Outer Limits ("The Mutant" 1964), and Lost in Space ("Welcome Stranger" 1965). During the 1960s and 1970s, he guest-starred on such shows as Twelve O'Clock High, Lancer, and The Virginian.

In addition to Peckinpah, Oates worked with several major film directors of his era including Leslie Stevens in the 1960 film Private Property, his first starring role; Norman Jewison in In the Heat of the Night (1967); Joseph L. Mankiewicz in There Was a Crooked Man... (1970); John Milius in Dillinger (1973); Terrence Malick in Badlands (1973); Philip Kaufman in The White Dawn (1974); William Friedkin in The Brink's Job (1978); and Steven Spielberg in 1941 (1979).

He appeared in the Sherman Brothers musical version of Tom Sawyer as "Muff Potter", the town drunk. He also starred in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960), Return of the Seven (1966), The Shooting (filmed in 1965, released in 1968), The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973), Cockfighter (1974) and China 9, Liberty 37 (1978). Oates co-starred three times with friend Peter Fonda in The Hired Hand (1971), Race with the Devil (1975) and 92 in the Shade (1975).

Oates was cast in Roger Donaldson's 1977 New Zealand film Sleeping Dogs together with New Zealand actor Sam Neill. A political thriller with action film elements, Sleeping Dogs follows the lead character "Smith" (Neill) as New Zealand plunges into a police state, as a fascist government institutes martial law after industrial disputes flare into violence. Smith gets caught between the special police and a growing resistance movement and reluctantly becomes involved. Oates plays the role of "Willoughby", commander of the American forces stationed in New Zealand and working with the New Zealand fascist government to find and subdue "rebels" (the resistance movement).

His partnership with Peckinpah resulted in two of his most famous film roles. In the 1969 Western classic The Wild Bunch, he portrayed Lyle Gorch, a long-time outlaw who chooses to die with his friends during the film's violent conclusion. According to his wife at the time, Teddy, Oates had the choice of starring in Support Your Local Sheriff, to be filmed in Los Angeles, or The Wild Bunch in Mexico. "He had done Return of the Seven in Mexico; he got hepatitis, plus dysentery. But off he went again with Sam (Peckinpah). He loved going on location. He loved the adventure of it. He had great admiration for Sam. Sam Peckinpah and Monte Hellman were the two directors Warren would work with anytime anywhere."^[4] In Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, the dark 1974 action/tragedy also filmed in Mexico, Oates played the lead role of Bennie, a hard-drinking down-on-his-luck musician hoping to make a final score. The character was reportedly based on Peckinpah himself. For authenticity, Oates wore the director's sunglasses while filming scenes of the production.

Although the Peckinpah film roles are his best-known, his most critically acclaimed role is GTO in Monte Hellman's 1971 cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop. The film, although a failure at the box-office, is studied in film schools as a treasure of the 1970s, in large part due to Oates' heartbreaking portrayal of GTO. Famed film critic Leonard Maltin remarked that Oates' performance in this film was as good as any he'd seen and should have won the Oscar.

A year before his death, Oates co-starred with Bill Murray in the 1981 military comedy Stripes. In the role of drill sergeant Sergeant Hulka, Oates skillfully played the straight man to Murray's comedic character. The film was a huge financial success, earning $85 million at the box office. In 1982, he co-starred opposite Jack Nicholson in director Tony Richardson's The Border.

Death[link]

Oates died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California on April 3, 1982. He was cremated and his ashes scattered at his ranch in Montana.^[5]

Nearly one year before his death, he had co-starred in the TV mini-series The Blue and the Gray, which aired in November 1982. His last two films, filmed back-to-back in the months before his death, Blue Thunder and Tough Enough (both released in 1983), were posthumously dedicated to him. Monte Hellman's film Iguana ends with the titles "For Warren" as a dedication.

Legacy[link]

Today, the actor has a dedicated cult following due to his memorable performances in not only Peckinpah's films, but Monte Hellman's independent works, his films with Peter Fonda and a number of B-movies from the 1970s.^[6][7] His occasionally crude facade, likeable persona and uncommon presence are admired by such filmmakers as Quentin Tarantino and Richard Linklater. During a recent screening of Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop, Linklater introduced the film and announced 16 reasons why viewers should love the 1971 movie. His sixth reason was "Because there was once a god who walked the Earth named Warren Oates."^[2]

The documentary film Warren Oates: Across the Border was produced by Tom Thurman in 1993 in tribute to the actor's career.

Oates was again recognized in March 2009 with the first-ever biography of his colorful life. Featuring interviews with the late actor's former wives, children, and friends, Warren Oates: A Wild Life, was written by Susan Compo. It has received much acclaim from fans and critics alike.^[8]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Gunsmoke (1958–1967, 10 episodes) — as Al Tresh/Chris Kelly/Deke Bassop/Speeler/Lafe/Tate Crocker
• Rawhide (1960–1965, 4 episodes)
• The Rifleman (1962, one episode) — "The Day of Reckoning" — as Willie Breen
• Bonanza (1962, one episode) — "The Mountain Girl"
• Stoney Burke (1962–1963, 11 episodes) — as Ves Painter (Oates' only regular role on a television series)
• The Twilight Zone (1963, one episode) — "The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms" — as CPL Langsford
• The Virginian (1963–1966, 4 episodes) — as Corbie/Roy Judd/Bowers/Buxton
• The Outer Limits (1964, one episode) — "The Mutant" — as Reese Fowler
• The Fugitive (1964, one episode) — "Devil's Carnival" — as Hanes McClure
• Twelve O'Clock High (1965) — as Lt. Col. Temple
• Lost In Space (1965, one episode) — "Welcome Stranger"
• The Big Valley (1965–1966, two episodes) — as Korby "Duke" Kyles
• The Monroes (1966, one episode) — as Nick Beresford
• Shane (1966, one episode) — as Kemp Spicer
• Dundee and the Culhane (1967, one episode) — as Lafe Doolin
• The Iron Horse (1967, one episode) — as Hode Avery
• Cimarron Strip (1967, two episodes) — as Mobeetie
• Run for Your Life (1968, one episode) — as Deputy Potter
• Disneyland (1968, two episodes) — as John Blythe
• Lancer (1969–1970, two episodes) — as Sheriff Val "Drago" Crawford
• The F.B.I. (1971, one episode) — as Richie Billings
• The Name of the Game (1971, one episode) — as John Lew Weatherford
• Black Beauty (1978, mini series) — as Jerry Barker
• Police Story (1978, one episode) — as Richey Neptune
• Insight (1979, one episode)
• East of Eden (1981, mini series) — as Cyrus Trask
• The Blue and the Gray (1982, mini series) — as Major "Preacher" Welles
• Tales of the Unexpected (1985, one episode) — as Harry

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Warren Oates at the Internet Movie Database
• Time magazine interview

Charlton Heston
Heston at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington
Born	John Charles Carter (1923-10-04)October 4, 1923 No Man's Land, Illinois, U.S.
Died	April 5, 2008(2008-04-05) (aged 84) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Residence	Beverly Hills, California
Nationality	American
Education	New Trier High School
Alma mater	Northwestern University
Occupation	Actor, film director, activist
Years active	1941–2008
Home town	St. Helen, Michigan
Spouse	Lydia Clarke (1944–2008, his death)

Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor of film, theatre and television.^[1][2][3] Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes. He also is well known for his roles in the films The Greatest Show on Earth and Touch of Evil.

Heston was also known for his political activism. In the 1950s and 1960s he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors to speak openly against racism and was an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. Initially a moderate Democrat, he later supported conservative Republican policies and was president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003.

Early years[link]

Heston was born John Charles Carter, the son of Lilla (née Charlton; 1899–1994) and Russell Whitford Carter (1897–1966), a sawmill operator.^[4] Most sources state that he was born in Evanston, Illinois.^[5][6][7][8] Heston's autobiography,^[9] however, and some other sources place his birth in No Man's Land, Illinois, which usually refers to a then-unincorporated area now part of Wilmette, a wealthy northern suburb of Chicago. Heston said in a 1995 interview that he was not very good at remembering addresses or his early childhood.^[10]

Heston was of partial Scottish descent and was a member of the Fraser clan. The majority of Heston's ancestry was English.^[11]

In his autobiography, Heston refers to his father participating in his family's construction business.^[9] When Heston was an infant his father's work moved the family to St. Helen, Michigan.^[12] It was a rural, heavily forested part of the state, and Heston lived an isolated yet idyllic^{[citation needed]} existence spending much time hunting and fishing in the backwoods of the area.

When Heston was 10 years old, his parents divorced. Shortly thereafter, his mother married Chester Heston. The new family moved back to Wilmette. Heston (his new surname) attended New Trier High School.^[13]

Throughout Heston's life he was known by friends as "Chuck" although his wife always called him "Charlie." His stage name Charlton Heston is drawn from his mother's maiden surname (Charlton) and his stepfather's surname (Heston), and was used for his first film, Peer Gynt.

Career[link]

Heston frequently recounted that, while growing up in northern Michigan in a sparsely populated area, he often wandered in the forest, "acting" out the characters from books he had read.^[14] Later, in high school, Heston enrolled in New Trier's drama program, playing in the silent 16 mm amateur film adaptation of Peer Gynt, from the Ibsen play, by future film activist David Bradley released in 1941.^[15] From the Winnetka Community Theatre (Or, the Winnetka Dramatist's Guild as it was then known) in which he was active, he earned a drama scholarship to Northwestern University. Several years later Heston teamed up with Bradley to produce the first sound version of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in which Heston played Mark Antony.

World War II service[link]

In 1944, Heston enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces. He served for two years as a radio operator and aerial gunner aboard a B-25 Mitchell stationed in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands with the Eleventh Air Force. He reached the rank of Staff Sergeant. Heston married Northwestern University student Lydia Marie Clarke in the same year he joined the military. After his service and rise to fame, Heston was chosen as a narrator for highly classified Military and Department of Energy instructional films, particularly relating to nuclear weapons, and "for six years Heston [held] the nation's highest security clearance" or Q clearance."^[16]

Theater and television[link]

After the war, Heston and Clarke lived in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, where they worked as artists' models. Seeking a way to make it in theater, Heston and his wife Lydia decided to manage a playhouse in Asheville, North Carolina in 1947. They made $100 a week on the job. In 1948, they went back to New York where Heston was offered a supporting role in a Broadway revival of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, starring Katharine Cornell. Heston had success in television, playing a number of roles in CBS's Studio One, one of the most popular anthology dramas of the 1950s. Film producer Hal B. Wallis of Casablanca spotted Heston in a 1950 television production of Wuthering Heights and offered him a contract. When his wife reminded Heston they had decided to pursue theater and television, he replied, "Well, maybe just for one film to see what it's like."

Heston's most frequently played roles on stage include the title role in Macbeth, Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons, and Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.

In 1995, Heston starred with Peter Graves, Mickey Rooney and Deborah Winters in the Warren Chaney docudrama, America: A Call to Greatness.^[17] Then in 1998, he had a cameo role, playing himself, on the American television series Friends, in The One with Joey's Dirty Day.

Charlton Heston as Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, 1950

Hollywood[link]

Heston earned recognition for his appearance in his first professional movie, Dark City, a 1950 film noir. His breakthrough came when Cecil B. DeMille cast him as a circus manager in The Greatest Show on Earth, which was named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952. In 1953, Heston was Billy Wilder's first choice to play Sefton in Stalag 17. However, the role was given to William Holden, who won an Oscar for it. Heston became an icon for portraying Moses in the hugely successful film The Ten Commandments (1956), reportedly being chosen by director Cecil B. DeMille because he thought the muscular, 6 ft 3 in, square jawed Heston bore an uncanny resemblance to Michelangelo's statue of Moses. In 1955, he joined Jane Wyman in the film, Lucy Gallant, the story of a woman determined to maintain her dress shop in a small Texas oil-boom community. In 1958, Heston played a Mexican police officer named Ramon Miguel Vargas in Orson Welles's widely acclaimed film noir Touch of Evil.

From the film trailer of Ben-Hur

Heston poses for his wife Lydia at their hilltop Beverly Hills home, just after winning an Oscar for his role in Ben-Hur, 1960.

After Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson^[18] turned down the title role of Ben-Hur (1959), Heston accepted the role, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor, one of the unprecedented eleven Oscars the film earned. After Moses and Ben-Hur, Heston was identified with Biblical epics more than any other actor. He voiced the role of a cartoon version of the Lew Wallace novel in 2003.

Heston played leading roles in a number of fictional and historical epics: El Cid (1961), 55 Days at Peking (1963), as Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), and Khartoum (1966). Heston also played the eponymous role in the western movie, Will Penny (1968).

In 1965, Heston became president of the Screen Actors Guild. He remained in the position until 1971, the second longest tenure to date in that office.^[19]

In 1968, Heston starred in Planet of the Apes and in 1970, he was in a smaller supporting role in the sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Also in 1970, Heston portrayed Mark Antony again in another film version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. His co-stars included Jason Robards as Brutus, Richard Chamberlain as Octavius, Robert Vaughn as Casca, and English actors Richard Johnson as Cassius, John Gielgud as Caesar, and Diana Rigg as Portia. In 1971, he starred in the science fiction film, The Omega Man. Although critically panned, the film is now considered a classic of apocalyptic horror. In 1972, Heston made his directorial debut, and starred, as Mark Antony in an adaptation of the William Shakespeare play he performed earlier in his theater career, Antony and Cleopatra. Hildegarde Neil was Cleopatra, and English actor Eric Porter was Enobarbus. After receiving scathing reviews, the film never went to theaters, and rarely turns up on television. It was finally released on DVD in March 2011.^[20] He subsequently starred in successful films such as Soylent Green (1973) and Earthquake (1974).

Beginning with playing Cardinal Richelieu in 1973's The Three Musketeers, Heston was seen in an increasing number of supporting roles, cameos and theater. From 1985 to 1987, he starred in his only prime-time stint on series television with the soap, The Colbys. With his son Fraser, he produced and also starred in several TV movies, including remakes of Treasure Island and A Man For All Seasons. In 1992, Heston appeared in a short series of videos on the A&E cable network reading passages from the King James Version of the Bible, called Charlton Heston Presents the Bible. It was filmed in the Middle East and received excellent reviews, achieving great success on video and DVD. Never taking himself too seriously, he appeared in 1993 in a cameo role in Wayne's World 2 (in a scene wherein main character Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) requests that a small role be filled by a better actor). After the scene is reshot with Heston, Campbell weeps in awe. That same year, Heston hosted Saturday Night Live. He had cameos in the films Hamlet, Tombstone and True Lies. He starred in many theatre productions at the Los Angeles Music Center where he appeared in such plays as Detective Story, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and as Sherlock Holmes in The Crucifer of Blood opposite Jeremy Brett as Dr. Watson, later winning acclaim for his interpretation of the famous detective in a television version. In 2001, Heston made a cameo appearance as an elderly, dying chimpanzee in Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes. Heston's last film role was as the infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele in My Father, Rua Alguem 5555, which had limited release (mainly to festivals) in 2003.^[21]

Heston's distinctive voice had also landed him roles as a film narrator, including Armageddon and Disney's Hercules.

Heston played the title role in Mister Roberts three times and cited it as one of his favorite roles. In the early 1990s, he tried unsuccessfully to revive and direct the show with Tom Selleck in the title role.^[22]

Political activism[link]

Charlton Heston (left) with James Baldwin, Marlon Brando, and Harry Belafonte at the Civil Rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 1963. Sidney Poitier is in the background.

Heston with President Ronald Reagan during a meeting for the Presidential Task Force on the Arts and Humanities in the White House Cabinet Room, 1981

Heston campaigned for Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson in 1956 and John F. Kennedy in 1960.^[23] Reportedly, when an Oklahoma movie theater premiering his movie El Cid was segregated, he joined a picket line outside in 1961.^[24] Heston makes no reference to this in his autobiography, but describes traveling to Oklahoma City to picket segregated restaurants, much to the chagrin of Allied Artists, the producers of El Cid.^[25] During the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom held in Washington, D.C. in 1963, he accompanied Martin Luther King Jr. In later speeches, Heston said he helped the civil rights cause "long before Hollywood found it fashionable."^[26]

Following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Heston and actors Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas and James Stewart issued a statement calling for support of President Johnson's Gun Control Act of 1968.^[27][28] He opposed the Vietnam War during its course (though he changed his opinion in the years following the war)^[29] and in 1969 was approached by the Democratic Party to run for the U.S. Senate. He agonized over the decision and ultimately determined he could never give up acting.^[30] He is reported to have voted for Richard Nixon in 1972, though Nixon is unmentioned in his autobiography.^[31]

By the 1980s, Heston opposed affirmative action, supported gun rights and changed his political affiliation from Democrat to Republican. When asked why he changed political alliances, Heston replied "I didn't change. The Democratic party changed."^[32] He campaigned for Republicans and Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan,^[33] George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.^[34]

"Heston resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in Miss Saigon was 'obscenely racist'. He said CNN's telecasts from Baghdad were 'sowing doubts' about the allied effort in the 1990–91 Gulf War."^[18]

At a Time Warner stockholders' meeting, Heston castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album which included the song "Cop Killer", which depicted the killing of police officers.^[35]

While filming The Savage, Heston was initiated by blood into the Miniconjou Lakota Nation, but claimed no natural American Indian heritage. He claimed to be "native American" to reclaim the term from exclusion to American Indians.^[9]

In a 1997 Fighting the Culture War in America speech, Heston rhetorically deplored a culture war he said was being conducted by a generation of media, educators, entertainers and politicians against:

"...the God fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle-class Protestant – or even worse, evangelical Christian, Midwestern or Southern – or even worse, rural, apparently straight – or even worse, admitted heterosexuals, gun-owning – or even worse, NRA-card-carrying, average working stiff – or even worse, male working stiff – because, not only don’t you count, you are a down-right obstacle to social progress. Your voice deserves a lower decibel level, your opinion is less enlightened, your media access is insignificant, and frankly, mister, you need to wake up, wise up, and learn a little something from your new-America and until you do, would you mind shutting up?"^[36]

He went on:

"The Constitution was handed down to guide us by a bunch of wise old dead white guys who invented our country! Now some flinch when I say that. Why! It's true-they were white guys! So were most of the guys that died in Lincoln's name opposing slavery in the 1860s. So why should I be ashamed of white guys? Why is "Hispanic Pride" or "Black Pride" a good thing, while "White Pride" conjures shaven heads and white hoods? Why was the Million Man March on Washington celebrated by many as progress, while the Promise Keepers March on Washington was greeted with suspicion and ridicule? I’ll tell you why: Cultural warfare!"

In an address to students at Harvard Law School entitled Winning the Cultural War, Heston said, "If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys – subjects bound to the British crown."^[37]

He said to the students:

"You are the best and the brightest. You, here in this fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on the Charles River. You are the cream. But I submit that you and your counterparts across the land are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation since Concord Bridge. And as long as you validate that and abide it, you are, by your grandfathers' standards, cowards."^[37]

Heston later stated, "Political correctness is tyranny with manners."^[38]

In a speech to the National Press Club in 1997, Heston said, "Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder."^[39]

Heston was the president and spokesman of the NRA from 1998 until he resigned in 2003. At the 2000 NRA convention, he raised a rifle over his head and declared that a potential Al Gore administration would take away his Second Amendment rights "from my cold, dead hands".^[40] In announcing his resignation in 2003, he again raised a rifle over his head, repeating the five famous words of his 2000 speech.^[41] He was an honorary life member.^[41]

In the 2002 film Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore interviewed Heston in his home, asking him about an April 1999 NRA meeting held shortly after the Columbine high school massacre, in Denver, Colorado. Moore criticized Heston for the perceived thoughtlessness in the timing and location of the meeting. Heston, on-camera, excused himself and walked out. Moore was later criticized for his ambush and for selectively editing footage which scrambled the sequence of questions and answers to make Heston appear to be giving responses that did not match the question asked.^[42][43][44]

Actor George Clooney made a controversial joke about Heston's failing health at a 2003 National Board of Review award ceremony, saying that Heston "announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer's." When asked about the incident, Clooney said Heston deserved whatever was said about him for his involvement with the NRA.^[45] Heston responded by saying Clooney lacked class, and said he felt sorry for Clooney, as Clooney had as much of a chance of developing Alzheimer's as anyone else.^[46]

In April 2003 Heston sent a message of support to US forces in the Iraq war, attacking opponents of the war as "pretend patriots".^[47]

Heston opposed abortion and gave the introduction to a 1987 pro-life documentary by Bernard Nathanson called Eclipse of Reason which focuses on late-term abortions. Heston served on the Advisory Board of Accuracy in Media, a conservative media watchdog group founded by Reed Irvine.^[48]

Later life and death[link]

In 1996, Heston had a hip replacement. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998. Following a course of radiation treatment, the cancer went into remission. In 2000, he publicly disclosed that he had been treated for alcoholism at a Utah clinic in May–June of that year.^[49] On August 9, 2002, Heston publicly announced he was diagnosed with symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease.^[50]

Heston by Jerry Avenaim in 2001

In July 2003, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House from President George W. Bush. In March 2005, various newspapers reported that family and friends were shocked by the progression of his illness, and that he was sometimes unable to get out of bed.^[51]

Heston died on April 5, 2008, at his home in Beverly Hills, California, with Lydia, his wife of 64 years, by his side. He was also survived by his son, Fraser Clarke Heston, and daughter, Holly Ann Heston. The cause of death was not disclosed by the family.^[52][53] A month later media outlets reported his death was due to complications with pneumonia.^[54] Heston's family released a statement, reading:^[55]

Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life. He was known for his chiselled jaw, broad shoulders and resonating voice, and, of course, for the roles he played. No one could ask for a fuller life than his. No man could have given more to his family, to his profession and to his country.

— Family of Charlton Heston

Early tributes came in from leading figures; President George W. Bush called Heston "a man of character and integrity, with a big heart", adding, "He served his country during World War II, marched in the civil rights movement, led a labor union and vigorously defended Americans’ Second Amendment rights."^[55] Former First Lady Nancy Reagan said that she was "heartbroken" over Heston's death and released a statement, reading, "I will never forget Chuck as a hero on the big screen in the roles he played, but more importantly I considered him a hero in life for the many times that he stepped up to support Ronnie in whatever he was doing."^[55]

Heston's funeral was held a week later on April 12, 2008, in a ceremony which was attended by 250 people including Nancy Reagan and Hollywood stars such as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olivia de Havilland, Keith Carradine, Pat Boone, Tom Selleck, Oliver Stone, Rob Reiner, and Christian Bale.^[56][57][58]

The funeral was held at Episcopal Parish of St. Matthew's Church in Pacific Palisades, California, the church where Heston regularly worshipped and attended Sunday services since the early 1980s.^[59][60] He was cremated and his ashes were given to his family.^[61]

Legacy[link]

Richard Corliss wrote in TIME magazine, "From start to finish, Heston was a grand, ornery anachronism, the sinewy symbol of a time when Hollywood took itself seriously, when heroes came from history books, not comic books. Epics like Ben-Hur or El Cid simply couldn't be made today, in part because popular culture has changed as much as political fashion. But mainly because there's no one remotely like Charlton Heston to infuse the form with his stature, fire and guts."^[62]

In his obituary for the actor, film critic Roger Ebert noted "Heston made at least three movies that almost everybody eventually sees: Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments and Planet of the Apes."^[63]

Heston's cinematic legacy was the subject of Cinematic Atlas: The Triumphs of Charlton Heston, an eleven-film retrospective by the Film Society of the Lincoln Center that was shown at the Walter Reade Theater from August 29 to September 4, 2008.^[64]

On April 17, 2010, Heston was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Great Western Performers.^[65]

Filmography[link]

Bibliography[link]

Heston's books include autobiographies and religious books:

• The Actor's Life (ISBN 0-671-83016-3)
• In the Arena: An Autobiography (ISBN 1-57297-267-X)
• The Courage to be Free (ISBN 978-0-9703688-0-5)
• Beijing Diary (ISBN 0-671-68706-9)
• To Be a Man: Letters to My Grandson (ISBN 0-7432-1311-4)
• Charlton Heston Presents the Bible (ISBN 1-57719-270-2)
• Charlton Heston's Hollywood: 50 Years in American Film with Jean-Pierre Isbouts (ISBN 1-57719-357-1)

References[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	United States Army portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charlton Heston

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Charlton Heston

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Charlton Heston

• Charlton Heston at the Internet Broadway Database
• Charlton Heston at the Internet Movie Database
• Charlton Heston at Yahoo! Movies
• Hollywood.com entry
• Reel Classics
• BBC News Obituary
• Obituary and public tribute
• 'From Our Files: An Interview with Charlton Heston' by Phil Elderkin, The Christian Science Monitor, November 4, 1959
• Charlton Heston, The Actor – French PDF (14 Mo)

David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah (February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch (1969). He was known for the innovative and explicit depiction of action and violence, as well as his revisionist approach to the Western genre.

Peckinpah's films generally deal with the conflict between values and ideals, and the corruption of violence in human society. He was given the nickname "Bloody Sam" owing to the violence in his films. His characters are often loners or losers who desire to be honorable, but are forced to compromise in order to survive in a world of nihilism and brutality.

Peckinpah's combative personality, marked by years of alcohol and drug abuse, affected his professional legacy. Many of his films were noted for behind-the-scenes battles with producers and crew members, damaging his reputation and career during his lifetime. Many of his films, such as Straw Dogs (1971), Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), remain controversial.

Family origins[link]

The Peckinpahs originated from the Frisian Islands in the northwest of Europe. Both sides of Peckinpah's family migrated to the American West by covered wagon in the mid-nineteenth century.^[1] Peckinpah and several relatives often claimed Native American ancestry, but this has been denied by surviving family members.^[2] Peckinpah's great-grandfather, Rice Peckinpaugh, a merchant and farmer in Indiana, moved to Humboldt County California in the 1850s working in the logging business,^[3] and changed the spelling of the family name to "Peckinpah".^[4] Peckinpah Meadow and Peckinpah Creek, where the family ran a lumber mill on a mountain in the High Sierra north of Coarsegold, California, have been officially named on U.S. geographical maps.^[2] Peckinpah's maternal grandfather was Denver Church, a cattle rancher, Superior Court judge and United States Congressman of a California district including Fresno County.^[5] Sam Peckinpah's nephew is David Peckinpah, who was a television producer and director, as well as a screenplay writer.^[6] Peckinpah's parents were David Edward Peckinpah and Fern Louise Church^[7], and he is a cousin of former New York Yankees shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh

Life[link]

David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was born February 21, 1925, in Fresno, California, where he attended both grammar school and high school.^[8] He spent much time skipping classes with his brother to engage in cowboy activities on their grandfather Denver Church's ranch, including trapping, branding, and shooting. During the 1930s and 1940s, Coarsegold and Bass Lake were still populated with descendants of the miners and ranchers of the 19th century. Many of these descendants worked on Church's ranch. At that time, it was a rural area undergoing extreme change, and this exposure is believed to have affected Peckinpah's Western films later in life.^[9]

He played on the junior varsity football team while at Fresno High School, but frequent fighting and discipline problems caused his parents to enroll him in the San Rafael Military Academy for his senior year.^[10] In 1943, he joined the United States Marine Corps. Within two years, his battalion was sent to China with the task of disarming Japanese soldiers and repatriating them following World War II. While his duty did not include combat, he claims to have witnessed acts of war between Chinese and Japanese soldiers. According to friends, these included several acts of torture and the murder of a laborer by sniper fire. The American Marines were not permitted to intervene. Peckinpah also claimed he was shot during an attack by Communist forces. Also during his final weeks as a Marine, he applied for discharge in Peking, so he could marry a local woman, but was refused. This reportedly deeply affected Peckinpah, and may have influenced his depictions of violence in his films.^[11]

After being discharged in Los Angeles, he attended Fresno State College, where he studied history. While a student, he met and married his first wife, Marie Selland, in 1947. A drama major, Selland introduced Peckinpah to the theater department and he became interested in directing for the first time. During his senior year, he adapted and directed a one-hour version of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. After graduation in 1948, Peckinpah enrolled in graduate studies in drama at University of Southern California. He spent two seasons as the director in residence at Huntington Park Civic Theatre near Los Angeles before obtaining his master's degree. He was asked to stay on another year, but Peckinpah began working as a stagehand at KLAC-TV in the belief that television experience would eventually lead to work in films. Even during this early stage of his career, Peckinpah was developing a combative streak. Reportedly, he was kicked off the set of The Liberace Show for not wearing a tie, and he refused to cue a car salesman during a live feed because of his attitude towards stagehands.^[12]

In 1954, Peckinpah was hired as a dialogue coach for the film Riot in Cell Block 11. His job entailed acting as an assistant for the movie's director, Don Siegel. The film was shot on location at Folsom Prison. Reportedly, the warden was reluctant to allow the filmmakers to work at the prison until he was introduced to Peckinpah. The warden knew his family from Fresno and was immediately cooperative. Siegel's location work and his use of actual prisoners as extras in the film made a lasting impression on Peckinpah. He worked as a dialogue coach on four additional Siegel films: Private Hell 36 (1954), An Annapolis Story, (1955, and co-starring L. Q. Jones), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Crime in the Streets (1956).^[13] Invasion of the Body Snatchers, in which Peckinpah appeared in a cameo as Charlie the meter reader, starred Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. It became one of the most critically praised science fiction films of the 1950s. Peckinpah claimed to have done an extensive rewrite on the film's screenplay, a statement which remains controversial.^[14] Nevertheless, Peckinpah's association with Siegel established him as an emerging screenwriter and potential director.

Throughout much of his adult life, Peckinpah was affected by alcoholism, and, later, drug addiction. According to some accounts, he also suffered from mental illness, possibly manic depression or paranoia.^[15] It is believed his drinking problems began during his service in the military while stationed in China, when he would frequent the saloons of Tientsin and Peking.^[16] After divorcing Selland, the mother of his first four children, in 1960, he married the Mexican actress Begoña Palacios in 1965. A stormy relationship developed, and over the years they married on three separate occasions. They had one daughter together.^[17] His personality reportedly often swung between a sweet, soft-spoken, artistic disposition, and bouts of rage and violence during which he verbally and physically abused himself and others. An experienced hunter, Peckinpah was fascinated with firearms and was known to shoot the mirrors in his house while abusing alcohol, an image which occurs several times in his films.^[18] Peckinpah's reputation as a hard-living brute with a taste for violence, inspired by the content in his most popular films and in many ways perpetuated by himself, affected his artistic legacy.^[19] His friends and family have claimed this does a disservice to a man who was actually more complex than generally credited. Throughout his career, Peckinpah seems to have inspired extraordinary loyalty in certain friends and employees. He used the same actors (Warren Oates, L. Q. Jones, R. G. Armstrong, James Coburn, Ben Johnson, and Kris Kristofferson), and collaborators (Jerry Fielding, Lucien Ballard, Gordon Dawson, and Martin Baum) in many of his films, and several of his friends and assistants stuck by him to the end of his life.

Peckinpah spent a great deal of his life in Mexico after his marriage to Palacios, eventually buying property in the country. He was reportedly fascinated by the Mexican lifestyle and culture, and he often portrayed it with an unusual sentimentality and romanticism in his films. Four of his films, Major Dundee (1965), The Wild Bunch (1969), Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), were filmed entirely on location within Mexico, while The Getaway (1972) concludes with a couple escaping to freedom there.^[20]

Death[link]

Peckinpah was seriously ill during his final years, as a lifetime of hard living caught up with him. Regardless, he continued to work until his last months. He died of heart failure on December 28, 1984.^[21] At the time, he was in preparation for shooting an original script by Stephen King entitled The Shotgunners, which later became a book called The Regulators.^[22] He lived at The Murray Hotel in Livingston, Montana from 1979 until his death in 1984.^[23]

Television career[link]

On the recommendation of Don Siegel, Peckinpah established himself during the late 1950s as a scriptwriter of Western series of the era, selling scripts to Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Rifleman, Broken Arrow, Klondike, and Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater.^[20][24] He also wrote a screenplay from the novel The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones, a draft that evolved into the 1961 Marlon Brando film One-Eyed Jacks.^[25] His writing led to directing, and he directed a 1958 episode of Broken Arrow (generally credited as his first official directing job) and several 1960 episodes of Klondike, (co-starring James Coburn, L. Q. Jones, Ralph Taeger, Joi Lansing, and Mari Blanchard). He also directed the CBS sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve, starring Howard Duff and Ida Lupino.^[26][27]

In 1958, Peckinpah wrote a script for Gunsmoke that was rejected due to content. He reworked the screenplay, titled The Sharpshooter, and sold it to Zane Grey Theater. The episode received popular response and became the television series The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors. Peckinpah directed four episodes of the series (with guest stars R. G. Armstrong and Warren Oates), but left after the first year. The Rifleman ran for five seasons and achieved enduring popularity in syndication.^[28][29]

During this time, he also created the television series The Westerner, starring Brian Keith and in some episodes John Dehner. Peckinpah wrote and directed a pilot called Trouble at Tres Cruzes, which was aired in March 1959 before the actual series was made in 1960. Peckinpah acted as producer of the series, having a hand in the writing of each episode and directing five of them. Critically praised, the show ran for only 13 episodes before cancellation mainly due to its gritty content detailing the drifting, laconic cowboy Dave Blassingame (Brian Keith). Especially the episodes Jeff and Hand on the Gun are in their depiction of violence and with their imaginative directing remarkable forerunners of his later feature films. Despite its short run, The Westerner and Peckinpah were nominated by the Producers Guild of America for Best Filmed Series. An episode of the series eventually served as the basis for Tom Gries' 1968 film Will Penny. The Westerner, which has since achieved cult status, further established Peckinpah as a talent to be reckoned with.^{[30][31][32][33]}

Early film career[link]

[edit] The Deadly Companions

After cancellation of The Westerner, Brian Keith was cast as the male lead in the 1961 Western film The Deadly Companions. He suggested Peckinpah as the director and producer Charles B. Fitzsimons accepted the idea. By most accounts, the low-budget film shot on location in Arizona was a learning process for Peckinpah, who feuded with Fitzsimons (brother of the film's star Maureen O'Hara) over the screenplay and staging of the scenes. Reportedly, Fitzsimons refused to allow Peckinpah to give direction to O'Hara. Unable to rewrite the screenplay or edit the picture, Peckinpah vowed to never again direct a film unless he had script control. The Deadly Companions passed largely without notice and is the least known of Peckinpah's films.^[34][35]

[edit] Ride the High Country

His second film, Ride the High Country (1962), was based on the screenplay Guns in the Afternoon written by N.B. Stone, Jr. Producer Richard Lyons admired Peckinpah's work on The Westerner and offered him the directing job. Peckinpah did an extensive rewrite of the screenplay, including personal references from his own childhood growing up on Denver Church's ranch, and even naming one of the mining towns "Coarsegold." He based the character of Steve Judd, a once-famous lawman fallen on hard times, on his own father David Peckinpah. In the screenplay, Judd and old friend Gil Westrum are hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. Westrum hopes to talk Judd into taking the gold for themselves. Along the way, following the example of Judd, Westrum slowly realizes his own self respect is far more important than profit. During the final shootout, when Judd and Westrum stand up to a trio of men, Judd is fatally wounded and his death serves as Westrum's salvation - a Catholic tragedy weaved from the Western genre. It became a major theme in many Peckinpah films to come. Starring aging Western stars Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott in their final major screen roles, the film initially went unnoticed in the United States but was an enormous success in Europe. Beating Federico Fellini's 8½ for first prize at the Belgium Film Festival, the film was hailed by foreign critics as a brilliant reworking of the Western genre. New York critics also discovered Peckinpah's unusual Western, with Newsweek naming Ride the High Country the best film of the year and Time placing it on its best-ten list. By some critics, the film is admired as one of Peckinpah's greatest works.^[36][37]

[edit] Major Dundee

Peckinpah's next film, Major Dundee (1965), was the first of Peckinpah's many unfortunate experiences with the major studios that financed his productions. Based on a screenplay by Harry Julian Fink, the film was to star Charlton Heston. Peckinpah was hired as director after Heston viewed producer Jerry Bresler's private screening of Ride the High Country. Heston liked the film and called Peckinpah, saying, "I'd like to work with you."^[38] The sprawling screenplay told the story of Union cavalry officer Major Dundee who commands a New Mexico outpost of Confederate prisoners. When an Apache war chief wipes out a company and kidnaps several children, Dundee throws together a makeshift army, including unwilling Confederate veterans, black Federal soldiers, and traditional Western types, and takes off after the Indians. Dundee becomes obsessed with his quest and heads deep into the wilderness of Mexico with his exhausted men in tow. Peckinpah's first big-budget film had a large cast, including Heston, Richard Harris, James Coburn, Senta Berger, Jim Hutton, Ben Johnson, Warren Oates, R. G. Armstrong and L. Q. Jones. Filming began without a completed screenplay, and Peckinpah chose several remote locations in Mexico, causing the film to go heavily over budget. Intimidated by the size and scope of the project, Peckinpah reportedly drank heavily each night after shooting. He also fired at least 15 crew members. At one point, Peckinpah's mean streak and abusiveness towards the actors so enraged Heston that the normally even-tempered star threatened to run the director through with his cavalry saber if he did not show more courtesy to the cast. Shooting ended 15 days over schedule and $1.5 million more than budgeted with Peckinpah and producer Bresler no longer on speaking terms. The movie, detailing themes and sequences Peckinpah mastered later in his career, was taken away from him and substantially reedited. An incomplete mess which today exists in a variety of versions, Major Dundee performed poorly at the box office and was thrashed by critics (though its standing has improved over the years). Peckinpah held for the rest of his life that his original version of Major Dundee was among his best films, but his reputation was severely damaged.^[39][40][41]

Peckinpah was next signed to direct The Cincinnati Kid, a gambling drama about a young prodigy who takes on an old master during a big New Orleans poker match. Before filming started, producer Martin Ransohoff began to receive phone calls about the Major Dundee ordeal and was told Peckinpah was impossible to work with. In addition, Peckinpah decided to shoot in black and white and was hoping to transform the screenplay into a social realist saga about a kid surviving the tough streets of the Great Depression. After four days of filming, which reportedly included some nude scenes, Ransohoff disliked the rushes and immediately fired him.^[42] Eventually directed by Norman Jewison and starring Steve McQueen, the film went on to become a 1965 hit. Peckinpah found himself banished from the film industry for several years.^[43][44]

[edit] Noon Wine

He caught a lucky break in 1966 when producer Daniel Melnick needed a writer and director to adapt Katherine Anne Porter's short novel Noon Wine for television. Melnick was a big fan of The Westerner and Ride the High Country, and had heard Peckinpah had been unfairly fired from The Cincinnati Kid. Against the objections of many within the industry, Melnick hired Peckinpah and gave him free rein. Peckinpah completed the script, which Miss Porter enthusiastically endorsed, and the project became an hour-long presentation for ABC Stage 67. Taking place in turn of the century West Texas, Noon Wine was a dark tragedy about a farmer's act of futile murder which leads to suicide. Starring Jason Robards and Olivia de Havilland, the film was a critical hit, with Peckinpah nominated by the Writers Guild for Best Television Adaptation and the Directors Guild of America for Best Television Direction. Robards kept a personal copy of the film in his private collection for years as he considered the project to be one of his most satisfying professional experiences. A rare film which can only be viewed at the Library of Congress and the Museum of Broadcasting, Noon Wine is today considered one of Peckinpah's most intimate works, revealing his dramatic potential and artistic depth.^[45][46][47]

International fame[link]

[edit] The Wild Bunch

The surprising success of Noon Wine laid the groundwork for one of the most explosive comebacks in film history. In 1967, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts producers Kenneth Hyman and Phil Feldman were interested in having Peckinpah rewrite and direct an adventure film, The Diamond Story. An alternative screenplay written by Roy Sickner and Walon Green was the western The Wild Bunch. At the time, William Goldman's screenplay Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had recently been purchased by 20th Century Fox.

It was quickly decided that The Wild Bunch, which had several similarities to Goldman's work, would be produced in order to beat Butch Cassidy to the theaters.^[48] By the fall of 1967, Peckinpah was rewriting the screenplay into what became The Wild Bunch. Filmed on location in Mexico, Peckinpah's epic work was inspired by his hunger to return to films, the violence seen in Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde, America's growing frustration with the Vietnam War, and what he perceived to be the utter lack of reality seen in Westerns up to that time. He set out to make a film which portrayed not only the vicious violence of the period, but the crude men attempting to survive the era. Starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Ben Johnson, Warren Oates, Jaime Sánchez and Edmond O'Brien, the film detailed a gang of veteran outlaws on the Texas/Mexico border in 1913 trying to exist within a rapidly approaching modern world. The Wild Bunch is framed by two ferocious and infamous gunfights, beginning with a failed robbery of the railway company office and concluding with the outlaws battling the Mexican army in suicidal vengeance due to the death of one of their members.^[49] Irreverent and unprecedented in its explicit detail, the 1969 film was an instant success. Multiple scenes attempted in Major Dundee, including slow motion action sequences, characters leaving a village as if in a funeral procession and the use of inexperienced locals as extras, were perfected in The Wild Bunch. Many critics denounced its violence as sadistic and exploitative. Other critics and filmmakers hailed the originality of its unique rapid editing style, created for the first time in this film and ultimately becoming a Peckinpah trademark, and praised the reworking of traditional Western themes. It was the beginning of Peckinpah's international fame, and he and his work remained controversial for the rest of his life.^[50] The film was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institute's top 100 list of the greatest American films ever made and No. 69 as the most thrilling, but the controversy has not diminished.^[51] When The Wild Bunch was re-released for its 25th anniversary, it received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, proving the film's continued impact after so many years.^[52] Peckinpah received his only Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for this film.

[edit] The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Defying audience expectations, as he often did, Peckinpah immediately followed The Wild Bunch with the elegiac, funny and mostly non-violent 1970 Western The Ballad of Cable Hogue. Utilizing many of the same cast (L. Q. Jones, Strother Martin) and crew members of The Wild Bunch, the film covered three years in the life of small-time entrepreneur Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) who decides to make a fortune after discovering water in the desert. He opens his business along a stagecoach line, only to see his dreams end with the appearance of the first automobile on the horizon. Shot on location in the Valley of Fire in Nevada, the film was plagued by poor weather, Peckinpah's renewed drinking and his brusque firing of 36 crew members. The chaotic filming wrapped 19 days over schedule and $3 million over budget, effectively terminating his tenure with Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. In retrospect, it was a damaging career move as Deliverance and Jeremiah Johnson, critical and enduring box office hits, were in development at the time and Peckinpah was considered the first choice to direct both films.^[53] Largely ignored upon its initial release, The Ballad of Cable Hogue has been rediscovered in recent years and is often held up by critics as exemplary of the breadth of Peckinpah's talents. They claim that the film proves Peckinpah's ability to make unconventional and original work without resorting to explicit violence. Over the years, Peckinpah cited the film as one of his favorites.^[54][55][56]

[edit] Straw Dogs

His alienation of Warner Brothers once again left him with a limited number of directing jobs. Peckinpah was forced to do a 180-degree turn and traveled to England to direct Straw Dogs (1971), one of his darkest and most psychologically disturbing films. Produced by Daniel Melnick, who had previously worked with Peckinpah on Noon Wine, the screenplay was based on the novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm by Gordon Williams. It starred Dustin Hoffman as David Sumner, a timid American mathematician (his wife at one point attempts to erase Einstein's field equations from his blackboard) who leaves the chaos of college anti-war protests to live with his young wife Amy (Susan George) in her native village in Cornwall, England. Resentment of David's presence by the locals slowly builds to a shocking climax when the mild-mannered academic is forced to defend his home. Peckinpah entirely rewrote the existing screenplay, inspired by the books African Genesis and The Territorial Imperative by Robert Ardrey, which argued that man was essentially a carnivore who instinctively battled over control of territory.^[57] The character of David Sumner, taunted and humiliated by the town locals, is eventually cornered within his home where he loses control and kills several of the men during the violent conclusion. Straw Dogs deeply divided critics, some of whom praised its artistry and its confrontation of human savagery, while others attacked it as a misogynistic and fascistic celebration of violence.^[58] Much of the criticism centered around Amy's complicated and lengthy rape scene, which Peckinpah reportedly attempted to base on his own personal fears rooted in past failed marriages. To this day, the scene is attacked by critics as an ugly male-chauvinist fantasy, claiming it serves as an example of Peckinpah's (and Hollywood's) debasing of women.^[59] The film was for many years banned on video in the UK, although some critics have come to hail it as one of Peckinpah's greatest films.^[60][61][62]

[edit] Junior Bonner

Despite his growing alcoholism and controversial reputation, Peckinpah was extremely prolific during this period of his life. In May 1971, weeks after completing Straw Dogs, he returned to the United States to begin work on Junior Bonner. The lyrical screenplay by Jeb Rosenbrook, depicting the changing times of society and binding family ties, appealed to Peckinpah's tastes. He accepted the project, at the time concerned with being typed as a director of violent action. The film was his final attempt to make a low-key, dramatic work in the vein of Noon Wine and The Ballad of Cable Hogue. Filmed on location in Prescott, Arizona, the story covered a week in the life of aging rodeo rider Junior "JR" Bonner (Steve McQueen) who returns to his hometown to compete in an annual rodeo competition. In addition to McQueen, the cast included Robert Preston, Ida Lupino, Joe Don Baker and Ben Johnson. Junior Bonner was marked by sharp character development, colorful location detail and unusually tender scenes between Preston and Lupino as Bonner's estranged parents. Promoted as a Steve McQueen action vehicle, reviews were mixed and the film performed poorly at the box office. Peckinpah remarked, "I made a film where nobody got shot and nobody went to see it." The film's reputation has grown over the years as many critics consider Junior Bonner to be one of Peckinpah's most sympathetic works, while also noting McQueen's earnest performance.^[63][64]

[edit] The Getaway

Eager to work with Peckinpah again, Steve McQueen presented him Walter Hill's screenplay to The Getaway. Based on the Jim Thompson novel, the gritty crime thriller detailed lovers on the run following a dangerous robbery. Both Peckinpah and McQueen needed a hit, and they immediately began working on the film in February 1972.^[65] Peckinpah had no pretensions about making The Getaway, as his only goal was to create a highly-polished thriller to boost his market value.^[66] McQueen played Doc McCoy, an imprisoned mastermind robber whose wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) conspires for his release on the condition they rob a bank in Texas. A doublecross follows the crime, and the McCoys are forced to flee for Mexico with both the police and criminals in hot pursuit. Replete with explosions, car chases and intense shootouts, the film became Peckinpah's biggest financial success to date earning more than $25 million at the box office.^[67] Though strictly a commercial product, Peckinpah's creative touches abound throughout, most notably during the intricately-edited opening sequence when McQueen's character is suffering from the pressures of prison life.^[68] The film remains popular and was remade in 1994 (The Getaway).^[69][70][71]

Later career[link]

The year 1973 marked the beginning of the most difficult period of Peckinpah's life and career. While still filming The Getaway in El Paso, Texas, Peckinpah sneaked across the border into Juarez in April 1972 and married Joie Gould. He had met Gould in England while filming Straw Dogs, and she had since been his companion and a part-time crew member. Peckinpah's intake of alcohol had increased dramatically while making The Getaway, and he became fond of saying, "I can't direct when I'm sober." He began to have violent mood swings and explosions of rage, at one point assaulting Gould. After four months, she returned to England and filed for divorce. Devastated by the breakup, Peckinpah fell into a self destructive pattern of almost continuous alcohol consumption, and his health was unstable for the remainder of his life.^[72]

[edit] Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

It was in this state of mind that Peckinpah agreed to make Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Based on the screenplay by Rudolph Wurlitzer (who had previously penned Two-Lane Blacktop, a film admired by Peckinpah), the director was convinced that he was about to make his definitive statement on the Western genre.^[73] The script offered Peckinpah the opportunity to explore themes that appealed to him: two former partners forced by changing times onto opposite sides of the law, manipulated by corrupt economic interests. Peckinpah rewrote the screenplay, establishing Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid as friends, and attempted to weave an epic tragedy from the historical legend. Filmed on location in the Mexican state of Durango, the film starred James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson in the title roles, with a huge supporting cast including Bob Dylan (who composed the film's music), Jason Robards, R. G. Armstrong, Richard Jaeckel, Jack Elam, Chill Wills, Katy Jurado, L. Q. Jones, Slim Pickens and Harry Dean Stanton.^[74] From the beginning, Peckinpah began to have clashes with MGM and its president James Aubrey, known for his stifling of creative interests and eventual dismantling of the historic movie company.^[75] Numerous production difficulties, including an outbreak of influenza and malfunctioning cameras, combined with Peckinpah's growing problems with alcohol, resulted in one of the most troubled productions of his career. The film finished 21 days behind schedule and $1.6 million over budget. Enraged, Aubrey severely cut Peckinpah's film from 124 to 106 minutes, resulting in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid being released in a truncated version largely disowned by cast and crew members. Critics complained that the film was incoherent, and the experience soured Peckinpah forever on Hollywood. In 1988, however, Peckinpah's director's cut was released on video and led to a reevaluation, with many critics hailing it as a mistreated classic and one of the era's best films. Filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese, have praised the film as one of the greatest modern Westerns.^[76][77]

[edit] Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

In the eyes of his admirers, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) was the last true "Peckinpah film." The director himself claimed that it was the only one of his films to be released exactly as he intended it. A project in development for many years and based on an idea by Frank Kowalski, Peckinpah wrote the screenplay with the assistance of Kowalski, Walter Kelley and Gordon Dawson. An alcohol-soaked fever dream involving revenge, greed and murder in the Mexican countryside, the film featured Warren Oates as a thinly disguised self-portrait of Peckinpah, and co-starred a leather bag containing the severed head of a gigolo being sought by a Mexican patrone for one million dollars. The macabre drama was part black comedy, action film and tragedy, with a warped edge rarely seen in Peckinpah's works. Most critics were repulsed, and it was listed in the book The 50 Worst Films of All Time by Harry Medved and Randy Dreyfuss.^[78] One of the few critics to praise the film was Roger Ebert, and in fact, the film's reputation has grown in recent years, with many noting its uncompromising vision as well as its anticipation of the violent black comedy which became famous in the works of such directors as David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino.^[79] While a failure at the box office, the film today has a devoted cult following. In 1991, UCLA's film school organized a festival of great but forgotten American films, and included Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia in the program.^[80][81] It is reportedly Takeshi Kitano's favorite film. It also led a film critic to paraphrase the film's title in an attack on the director, saying, "Bring me the head of Sam Peckinpah".

[edit] The Killer Elite

His career now suffering from back-to-back box office failures, Peckinpah once again was in need of a hit on the level of The Getaway. For his next film, he chose The Killer Elite (1975), an action-filled espionage thriller starring James Caan and Robert Duvall as rival American agents. Filmed on location in San Francisco, Peckinpah allegedly discovered cocaine for the first time thanks to Caan and his entourage.^[82] This led to increased paranoia and his once legendary dedication to detail deteriorated. Producers also refused to allow Peckinpah to rewrite the screenplay (for the first time since his debut film The Deadly Companions). Frustrated, the director spent large amounts of time in his on-location trailer, allowing assistants to direct many scenes. At one point he overdosed on cocaine, landing himself in a hospital and receiving a second pacemaker. Through it all, the film was completed and did decent box office business, though critics panned it. Today, the film is considered one of Peckinpah's weakest films, and an example of his decline as a major director.^[83][84]

[edit] Cross of Iron

Still renowned in 1975, Peckinpah was offered the opportunity to direct the eventual blockbusters King Kong (1976) and Superman (1978). ^[85] Interestingly, he turned down both offers and chose instead the bleak and vivid World War II drama Cross of Iron (1977). The screenplay was based on a novel about a platoon of German soldiers in 1943 on the verge of utter collapse on the Crimean Peninsula. The German production was filmed on location in Yugoslavia. Working with James Hamilton and Walter Kelley, Peckinpah rewrote the screenplay and screened numerous Nazi documentaries in preparation. Almost immediately, Peckinpah realized he was working on a low-budget production, as he had to sink $90,000 of his own money to hire experienced crew members. While not suffering from the cocaine abuse which marked The Killer Elite, Peckinpah continued to drink heavily causing his direction to become confused and erratic. The production abruptly ran out of funds, and Peckinpah was forced to completely improvise the concluding sequence, filming the scene in one day. Despite these obstacles, the film's war footage was stunning and James Coburn, in the lead role of Rolf Steiner, gave one of the finest performances of his career. Co-starring James Mason, Maximilian Schell, David Warner and Senta Berger, Cross of Iron was noted for its opening montage utilizing documentary footage as well as the visceral impact of the unusually intense battle sequences. The film was a huge box office success in Europe, inspiring the sequel Breakthrough starring Richard Burton.^[86] Cross of Iron was reportedly a favorite of Orson Welles who said that after All Quiet on the Western Front it was the finest anti-war film he had ever seen.^[87] The film performed poorly in the U.S., eclipsed ultimately by the space adventure Star Wars, though today it is highly regarded and considered the last gasp of Peckinpah's once-great talent.^[88][89]

[edit] Convoy

Hoping to create the elusive blockbuster, Peckinpah decided to take on Convoy (1978). His associates were perplexed, as they felt his choice to direct such substandard material was a result of his renewed cocaine use and continued alcoholism. Based on the hit song by C. W. McCall, the film was an attempt to capitalize on the huge success of Smokey and the Bandit (1977). Addictions or not, Peckinpah still felt compelled to turn the genre exercise into something more significant. Unhappy with the screenplay written by B.W.L. Norton, Peckinpah tried to encourage the actors to re-write, improvise and ad-lib their dialogue. In another departure from the script, Peckinpah attempted to add a new dimension by casting a pair of black actors as members of the convoy including Madge Sinclair as Widow Woman and Franklyn Ajaye as Spider Mike. Filmed on location in New Mexico and starring Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw and Ernest Borgnine, Convoy turned out to be yet another troubled Peckinpah production. The director's health became a continuing problem, so friend and actor James Coburn was brought in to serve as second unit director, and he filmed many of the scenes while Peckinpah remained in his on-location trailer. The film wrapped in September 1977, 11 days behind schedule and $5 million over budget. Surprisingly, Convoy was the highest-grossing picture of Peckinpah's career, notching $46.5 million at the box office. But his reputation was seriously damaged. For the first time in almost a decade, Peckinpah finished a picture and found himself unemployed.^[90][91]

[edit] 2nd unit work on Jinxed!

For the next three years, Peckinpah remained a professional outcast. But during the summer of 1981, his original mentor Don Siegel gave him a chance to return to filmmaking. While shooting Jinxed!, a comedy drama starring Bette Midler and Rip Torn, Siegel asked Peckinpah if he would be interested in directing 12 days of second unit work. Peckinpah immediately accepted, and his earnest collaboration, while uncredited, was noted within the industry. For the final time, Peckinpah found himself back in the directing business.^[92][93][94]

[edit] The Osterman Weekend

By 1982, however, Peckinpah's health was in poor shape. Producers Peter S. Davis and William N. Panzer were undaunted, as they felt that having Peckinpah's name attached to The Osterman Weekend (1983) would lend the suspense thriller an air of respectability. Peckinpah accepted the job but reportedly hated the convoluted screenplay based upon Robert Ludlum's novel (which he also disliked). Multiple actors in Hollywood auditioned for the film, intrigued by the opportunity. Many of those who signed on, including John Hurt, Burt Lancaster and Dennis Hopper, did so for less than their usual salaries for a chance to work with the legendary director. By the time shooting wrapped in January 1983 in Los Angeles, Peckinpah and the producers were hardly speaking. Nevertheless, Peckinpah brought in the film on time and on budget, delivering his director's cut to the producers. Davis and Panzer were unhappy with Peckinpah's version, which included a grossly distorted opening sequence of two characters making love. The producers changed the opening and also deleted other scenes they deemed unnecessary. The Osterman Weekend had some effective action sequences and some strong supporting performances, but Peckinpah's final film was critically panned. It grossed $6 million domestically and did extremely well in Europe and on the new home-video market.^[94][95]

Julian Lennon music videos[link]

Peckinpah's last work as a filmmaker was undertaken just two months before his death. He was hired by producer Martin Lewis to shoot two music videos featuring Julian Lennon - "Valotte" and "Too Late For Goodbyes". The critically acclaimed videos led to Lennon's nomination for Best New Video Artist at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards.^[96][97]

Themes[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Peckinpah's films generally deal with the conflict between values and ideals and the corruption and violence of human society. His characters are often loners or losers who harbor the desire to be honorable and idealistic but are forced to compromise themselves in order to survive in a world of nihilism and brutality.

The conflicts of masculinity are also a major theme of his work, leading some critics^[who?] to compare him to Ernest Hemingway. Peckinpah's world is a man's world, and feminists^[who?] have castigated his films as misogynistic and sexist, especially concerning the shooting of a woman during the final moments of The Wild Bunch, the rape sequence in Straw Dogs and Doc McCoy's physical assault of his wife in The Getaway.

Many critics^[who?] see his worldview as a misanthropic, Hobbesian view of nature as essentially evil and savage. Peckinpah himself stated the opposite.^{[citation needed]} He saw violence as the product of human society, and not of nature. It is the result of men's competition with each other over power and domination, and their inability to negotiate this competition without resorting to brutality. Peckinpah also used violence as a means to achieve catharsis, believing his audience would be purged of violence by witnessing it explicitly on screen (one of the major inspirations for his violent sequences in The Wild Bunch). Peckinpah later admitted that this idea was mistaken, and that audiences had come to enjoy the violence in his films rather than be horrified by it, something that deeply troubled him later in his career.

Peckinpah, who was born to a ranching family that included judges and lawyers, was also deeply concerned by the conflict between "old-fashioned" values and the corruption and materialism of the modern world. Many of his characters are attempting to live up to their expectations of themselves even as the world they live in demands that they compromise their values.

This theme is most evident in Peckinpah's Westerns. Unlike most Western directors, Peckinpah tended to concentrate on the early 20th century rather than the 19th, and his films portray characters who still believe in the values of the Old West being swept away by the new, industrial America.

This persistent theme has led many critics to view Peckinpah's films as essentially tragic. That is, his characters are portrayed as being prisoners of their fates and their own failings who nonetheless seek redemption and meaning in an absurd and violent world. The theme of longing for redemption, justification, and honor in a dishonorable existence permeates almost all of Peckinpah's work.

Influence[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Peckinpah's influence on modern cinema is enormous and pervasive, perhaps greater than any of his contemporaries. However, this influence is also often shallow and purely aesthetic in nature, ignoring some of Peckinpah's greatest strengths in favor of pure imitation of his stylish approach to cinematic violence.

Peckinpah's greatest influence is upon the modern action film and the modern approach to action sequences. His signature combination of slow-motion, fast editing, and the deliberate distension of time has become the standard depiction of violence and action in post-Peckinpavian cinema. The approach to action in movies can be divided between before Peckinpah and after Peckinpah. While films before The Wild Bunch had used similar techniques, especially Bonnie and Clyde and Seven Samurai, Peckinpah was the first to use them as a distinct style rather than as specific set pieces. Directors such as Martin Scorsese have acknowledged Peckinpah's direct influence on their approach to film violence. John Woo derived his techniques extensively from Peckinpah, adding his own touch of choreography and action concepts. Additional filmmakers who have noted Peckinpah's influence have included Paul Schrader, Walter Hill, John Milius, Quentin Tarantino, Kathryn Bigelow, Michael Mann, Takeshi Kitano and Park Chan-wook.

Peckinpah's themes have also been influential on other filmmakers and other Western films. Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven also take up Peckinpah's themes of the dangers of revenge, the nature of human violence, and men seeking to be honorable in dishonorable surroundings. The theme of the passing of the West into history and the destruction of the Western way of life by modern industrialism has also been explored by many post-Peckinpah Westerns.

In many ways, Peckinpah's greatest legacy lies in his aggressive breaking of taboos. He allowed a new freedom to emerge in cinema, not only in the depiction of violence, but also in editing styles, narrative choices, and the willingness to portray unsympathetic or tragic characters and stories. His notorious reputation has often overshadowed the depth of his influence on modern film.

Documentaries[link]

• Sam Peckinpah has been the subject of two documentaries including the BBC production Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron (1992), directed by Paul Joyce, and The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage (1996) directed by Paul Seydor. The latter was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Documentary Short Subject.^[98][99]
• Over a 4-year period German film maker Mike Siegel produced and directed Passion & Poetry - The Ballad Of Sam Peckinpah a two-hour long film about Sam Peckinpah which includes rare Peckinpah - interviews and statements. In 2009 the 2 - disc special edition with a running time of 270 minutes was released on DVD.

Parodies[link]

• John Belushi portrayed Peckinpah as a deranged lunatic who directs his first romantic comedy by beating up his leading lady in the first season, fifth episode of Saturday Night Live.^[100] Many in Hollywood said the SNL sketch inadvertently gave a portrayal of the real Sam Peckinpah.^[who?]
• Peckinpah's use of violence was parodied by Monty Python in Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days", one of the more controversial episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus, in which a lovely day out for an upper class English family turns into a blood-soaked orgy of severed limbs and gushing wounds.^[101] Peckinpah reportedly loved this sketch and enjoyed showing it to friends and family.
• Peckinpah's penchant for filming action scenes in slow motion was satirized by Benny Hill in a Western skit called "The Deputy" that first aired on his March 29, 1973 special. In one scene, Hill's titular character shoots one of the villains (Bob Todd), who then proceeds to pirouette in extremely slow motion before collapsing.
• In the film Fletch (1985), the main character, imitating a doctor in order to examine medical records, calls out, "And bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia!"^[102]
• In the 1973 Sergio Leone/Tonino Valerii spaghetti western, My Name is Nobody, the characters Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda) and "Nobody" (Terence Hill) meet at a cemetery. Nobody walks past the tombstones reading the names and comes across one labeled "Sam Peckimpah." He says "Sam Peckimpah. That's a beautiful name in Navajo." Leone named the gang in the film "The Wild Bunch." Nobody has Beauregard face The Wild Bunch in order to be known in history books.
• Various Peckinpah films are parodied in Jim Reardon's student film Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown.
• In the film Deadfall (1993), when the character Eddie (Nicolas Cage) mortally wounds a would-be assassin, he asks the man "Who sent you?" The killer responds, "Sam fuckin' Peckinpah." This film was later adapted into a song of the same name by Snot.
• In the John Waters film Cecil B. DeMented (2000), several characters have the name of a legendary film director tattooed on their body. One of the characters has "Sam Peckinpah" tattooed on their arm.^[103]
• In the 1986 horror film Chopping Mall, a store in the mall that survivors use to supply themselves with assault rifles, ammunition and grenades is named Peckinpah's Sporting Goods, a wry reference to the director's film violence.^[104]
• In the 2006 film Hot Fuzz, one of the characters is mentioned to be an extra in Straw Dogs, and a farm is owned by the Treachers, making it Treacher Farm.
• In the 1993 Denis Leary song "Asshole", Leary states he is "going to get the Duke (John Wayne), John Cassavetes, Lee Marvin, Sam Peckinpah and a case of whiskey then drive down to Texas" before being cutoff by a bandmate and getting called an asshole.
• In the BBC Radio 4 panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, the Film Club round usually includes a film name based on Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.
• Kris Kristofferson recorded "Sam's Song (Ask Any Working Girl)", a brief tribute to the director, for his 1995 release "A Moment of Forever".

Filmography[link]

Television credits[link]

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	United States Marine Corps portal

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Simmons, Garner (1982). Peckinpah, A Portrait in Montage. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-76493-6. 
• Weddle, David (1994). If They Move . . . Kill 'Em! The Life and Times of Sam Peckipah. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-1546-2. 
• Current Biography. H. W. Wilson. 1973. ISBN 0-8242-0543-X. 
• "David E. Peckinpah". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0669757/. Retrieved 2007-07-23. 
• "(David) Sam Peckinpah Biography (1925-)". FilmReference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/16/David-Sam-Peckinpah.html. Retrieved September 3, 2011. 
• "Sam Peckinpah". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001603/. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "Biography: Sam Peckinpah". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001603/bio. Retrieved 2007-07-28. 
• Cohen, Stan (2004). "The Murray Hotel". Montana's Grandest-Historic Hotels and Resorts of the Treasure State. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company. ISBN 1-57510-111-4. 
• "Full cast and crew for Klondike". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053516/fullcredits#cast. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "Episode list for The Rifleman". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051308/episodes#season-1. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "The Westerner". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053551/. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "Trivia for The Westerner". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053551/trivia. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "Trivia for Major Dundee". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059418/trivia. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• Carroll, E. Jean (March 1982). "Last of the Desperadoes: Dueling with Sam Peckinpah". Rocky Mountain Magazine. 
• Fine, Marshall. Bloody Sam. Donald I. Fine Books. ISBN 978-1-55611-236-2. 
• "Noon Wine". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209186/. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "American Film Institute". afi.com. http://connect.afi.com/site/PageServer?pagename=100YearsList. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "Trivia for The Wild Bunch". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065214/trivia. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "Trivia for The Ballad of Cable Hogue". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065446/trivia. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "Trivia for Straw Dogs". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067800/trivia. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "Box office/business for The Getaway". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068638/business. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "The Getaway". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109890/. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070518/. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
• Medved, Harry (1978). The 50 Worst Films of All Time. Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-38119-5. 
• "Roger Ebert, Film Review for Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia". suntimes.com. October 28, 2001. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20011028%2FREVIEWS08%2F110280301%2F1023. Retrieved 2007-10-06. 
• "Breakthrough". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078320/. Retrieved 2007-11-09. 
• "Rock on the Net: 1985 MTV Video Music Awards". rockonthenet.com. http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1985/mtvvmas.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-09. 
• "Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300444/. Retrieved 2007-11-09. 
• "The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118167/. Retrieved 2007-11-09. 
• "Episode list for Saturday Night Live". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072562/. Retrieved 2007-11-09. 
• "Memorable quotes for Fletch". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089155/quotes. Retrieved 2007-11-09. 
• "Trivia for Cecil B. DeMented". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0173716/trivia. Retrieved 2007-11-09. 
• "Movie connections for Chopping Mall". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090837/movieconnections. Retrieved 2007-11-20. 
• "Combined credits for Jinxed!". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084173/combined. Retrieved 2012-03-06. 

Further reading[link]

• Bliss, Michael (2012 (not yet published)). Peckinpah Today: New Essays on the Films of Sam Peckinpah. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-3106-3. 
• Simons, John L. (2011). Peckinpah's Tragic Westerns: A Critical Study. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-6133-0. 
• Hayes, Kevin J. (2008). Sam Peckinpah: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1-934110-64-7. 
• Engel, Leonard (2003). Sam Peckinpah's West: New Perspectives. University of Utah Press. ISBN 0-87480-772-7. 
• Mesce, Bill, Jr. (2001). Peckinpah's Women: A Reappraisal of the Portrayal of Women in the Period Westerns of Sam Peckinpah. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4066-9. 
• Seydor, Paul (1999). Peckinpah: The Western Films, A Reconsideration. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06835-1. 
• Dukore, Bernard F. (1999). Sam Peckinpah's Feature Films. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06802-5. 
• Bliss, Michael (1993). Justified Lives: Morality and Narrative in the Films of Sam Peckinpah. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-1823-7. 
• Evans, Max (1972). Sam Peckinpah: Master of Violence. Dakota Press. ISBN 0-88249-011-7. 

External links[link]

• Sam Peckinpah at the Internet Movie Database
• SamPeckinpah.com A discussion forum for fans of Sam Peckinpah
• Senses of Cinema: Sam Peckinpah
• Essays about Sam Peckinpah's films
• Roger Ebert review of The Wild Bunch
• Sam Peckinpah versus Michael Mann
• A Tribute to Sam Peckinpah by ConvoyTM.com
• "A Glorious High" by Pauline Kael at austinchronicle.com
• Best Sam Peckinpah Westerns from American Movie Classics