Directing: Sam Peckinpah
Screenwriting: Walon Green, Sam Peckinpah, Roy N. Sickner
Starring: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien
Review:
“For the first half-century of cinema’s existence, the Western was the medium’s defining genre, in America at least. But hundreds of movies — plus primetime television series like Bonanza and Gunsmoke – wore it out, until Sam Peckinpah gave things a New Hollywood kick.” VY
“Peckinpah completely rewrites John Ford’s Western mythology – by looking at the passing of the Old West from the point of view of the marginalized outlaws rather than the law-abiding settlers.” T95 “Acting, dialogue, direction, score, photography, and especially editing are world class; an authentic American classic.” LM
“All-stars Ernest Borgnine, William Holden, and Robert Ryan deliver stunning performances as outlaws past their prime” ST who still cling “to codes of honor, loyalty, and courage.” FS They “want to pull one final heist before retiring” A98 but meet their demise when they are attacked by “relentless bounty hunters…at the US-Mexico border in 1913.” A07
“The film about men trying to contend with the ever-evolving world around them caused a stir for its raw depictions of survival and what was then considered gratuitous violence.” ST It “is a savagely beautiful spectacle, Lucien Ballard’s superb cinematography complementing Peckinpah’s darkly elegiac vision.” T95 It has been hailed as “one of the best films ever made and instrumental in its introduction of slow-motion violence.” VD It “became Peckinpah’s calling card after the success of this Western masterpiece.” A07 That and “Lou Lombardo’s editing are considered milestones in the Western genre.” A98
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