Anyone that enjoys the shoot-em up action that has become the fare of today's movie experience owes a debt of thanks to Sam Peckinpah. This man single handedly changed the way films were made. His slo-mo action sequences and graphic violence brought the traditional western out of the fifties and into the next century at least 30 years before the start of the new millennium. With action films by John Woo, Tony Scott and Quentin Tarantino giving us jaw dropping action, they are standing on the shoulders of a giant.
The Wild Bunch- The quintessential Peckinpah movie. Addresses his theory of "honor among thieves". Sam basically took the western genre back from Sergio Leone with this one.
Straw Dogs-The how far can a pacifist be pushed? What will he fight for and when he does, what will he do? Dustin Hoffman is the meek yank in a small English country town. He passively accepts the abuses of the local folk until he becomes the protector of a simple-minded man accused of murdering a local girl. When the towns brutes get all liquored up and decide to come for the man, Hoffman defends his castle from siege.
Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid-One of his most troubled productions. James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson play the title characters with an interesting screen appearance by Bob Dylan.
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia-Warren Oates gets to headline in this underworld drama about a man that sees a chance at some quick money without any real work. Alfredo Garcia is already dead. All he will have to do is exhume the corpse, remove the head and deliver it to "El Jefe" in some south of the border town to claim his reward.
If these interest you, then I would also suggest "Ride The High Country", an aging hero western with great performances by western staples Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott and "Cross Of Iron" a WWII film looking at the war on the Russian Front from the German perspective. The Germans are the good guys in this one as they fight the Russians and themselves. James Coburn as Sgt. Steiner, Maximillian Schell as Captain Stransky and a couple of German officers with prominent British accents (James Mason and David Warner).
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