Straw Dogs

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... Straw Dogs!

Original image located here. Accessed 8th August 2025

This is another stab at the oeuvre of director Sam Peckinpah. I have had previous experiences with this guy and I admired his work - so lets go with his most controversial film: This British-made film that has been labelled as violent and misogynistic.
Looks like this will be a fun time.

Much has been written about this movie and what it was trying to get across: It's a fish-out-of-water story about a couple entering in a foreign environment. It is the clash between tradition and liberalism. It is both misogynistic and a criticism of misogynism. It is the story of a quiet, civilised man stepping up and becoming a violent monster. 
Valid criticisms to be sure but my main takeaway from this movie is just how soulless it is. It is just so dull and lifeless that watching it became a chore. Matters aren't helped with the nasty moments are difficult to sit through (granted that may be the point) and there is no catharsis whatsoever by the end. 

Am I missing something here? Sure fifty-plus years may have lessened the shock value it originally had - especially considering that many film-makers may have actively tried to top it since - but I know for a fact that Peckinpah can do better than this. 

Ride the High Country

And this week's Friday night movie has been.....Ride the High Country!

Original image located here. Accessed 15th June 2018

Behold: Sam Peckinpah's breakthrough movie. It's the one that set him on a path that led to later triumphs and features some recurring themes.....that would become recurring.
I have to admit that compared to some of Peckinpah's later work (the Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid) this seems more sedate. But that by no means makes it a bad movie: one gets the impression that Peckinpah wanted to prove>what he could do before he began stockpiling his shock tactics.

And prove he does: Great cinematography, excellent acting, some truly amazing scenery shots and the most bonkers wedding I've ever seen (or at least one of them).

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

And this week's Friday night movie has been.....Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid!

Original image located here. Accessed 16th February 2018

Call it a holdover from my University days but I'm always up for a decent western. And this was one I have been eager to see largely because it was one from director Sam Peckinpah: A volatile drunk with a hair-trigger temper that went one to make some of the greatest westerns ever made - one of which being The Wild Bunch (a personal favorite).

Needless to say, this movie was something unexpected. Sure there is the trademark Peckinpah violence but this is something more slower paced than what I'm used to. If anything, this is the most unique western I've seen: The plot is a string of set-pieces and the mood is very grim and drab, as if this was intended to be a eulogy to an entire genre of film-making.
Much has alreayd been said of the performances of the two leads (James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson) and the presence of a whole laundry list of veteran western actors/actresses. It's a credit to Peckinpah that he attracted such names and got superb performances out of them (including one Bob Dylan) but the ultimately, the thought that this is the endpoint of the western is an inescapable one. Everyone seems to remarkably accepting towards their end (which frequently happens) and are really living anachronisms in a time long gone (a familiar theme in Peckinpah's work).
All in all, a very different western and honestly? For a film signalling the end of a genre it adds much to it.