Are you a fan of him?
I like some of stuff like The Wild Bunch, The Getaway, Cross of Iron and Pat Garret and Billy the Kid. Didn't really like Straw Dogs tho. Junior Bonner and Major Dundee were both meh imo.
shareHe was the prototype bloody, violent director. This trend started in movies when I was a teen, this kind of stuff. Since they could not write stories anymore, stories always turned out to be communistic, they stuck with anti-heroes and lots of violence and still going today but added in special effects and frenetic pacing as well.
shareIf you only see that aspect of the films, you're missing the majority of what Peckinpah was about, and what made him so great. Watch "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" if you want to see a sublime masterpiece of film-making.
shareHave not seen that yet, but this is not what he is famous for is all I am saying, or glorified for.
Just watched the opening minutes of that movie ... not really my cup of tea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKDntQdoUaU
The opening scene is widely considered a masterpiece of modern cinema, and to many the highlight of the film, so if you don't like the opening you almost certainly won't like the rest of it. And I don't say that in a disparaging way at all. The film is not for everyone, and what one person thinks is profound another can find trite. God knows there are plenty of alleged masterpieces I can't stand.
I consider Peckinpah perhaps the most misunderstood of all the "famous" directors. His films use violence as a tool, but it's but one of many things he utilized. Since the bloodshed and violence in his films was so far beyond anything else of its day, it became the focal point for fans and critics alike, but there's so much more going on in his films.
I could go on forever about him, but suffice to say-- his aesthetic is not one that everyone can embrace.
I know a lot of people like this kind of movie. I used to when I was a kid and it was very common and everyone else seemed to like them. Then I started to realize they were exploitative with no real point or depth. Now, especially when I look at the world, and the USA in particular, I think there is far too much violence, to a toxic degree.
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