Customer Reviews

Bloody Sam: The Life and Films of Sam Peckinpah

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I think this is the best Peckinpah bio. Yes, even better than the excellent "If they move, kill em". Why? First of all, this book gives MUCH better coverage of his non-western films. I happen to think that "The Getaway", "Killer Elite" "Garcia" "Cross of Iron" are great films. These films get very little coverage elsewhere, but our covered in depth here. I also think Fine has a better sense of the man. How drinking, drugs, fighting and chaotic relationships with women hurt him in the end, but were part of his personality, lifestyle and art. It also covers his political and religous beliefs better, showing them grounded in his anti-establishment views. The other bio gives good coverage on the westerns, and is excellent and in depth on "Wild Bunch", but I think this book gives the best view of the non westerns and the man himself. Great read - funny in many parts, and touching and sad.

'Bloody Sam' by Marshall Fine is a very solid book on the great but very self destructive director Sam Peckinpah. Fine has lots of first hand accounts of Sam Peckinpah and his controversial actions. He also has a pleasing writing style that makes the director come to life.

Fine does a good job in depicting the upbringing of Peckinpah in Fresno, California. But the real fun of the book is found when Peckinpah finds his calling as a director and writer. His jobs on the famous TV westerns such as 'The Rifleman' and 'Gunsmoke' are discussed. As is his first feature length film 'The Deadly Companions'. Film buffs will enjoy Fine's depictions of the making of Peckinpah's films such as: 'Ride the High Country', 'Major Dundee', 'The Wild Bunch', 'Ballad of Cable Hogue' 'Straw Dogs', 'The Getaway', 'Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid', and 'Cross of Iron' among others. Fine also tells about projects that Peckinpah never finished such as 'The Cincinnati Kid'. Fine also discusses the famous and very talented actors that worked on these films and their relationship with Peckinpah among them: Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Dustin Hoffman, William Holden, Warren Oates and the list could go on and on.

Peckinpah's personal foibles are also discussed by Fine and are not glazed over. The broken relationships he left in his wake and the daily struggles that he had with alcohol and drugs. His personal life was not a pretty picture much of the time and I believe Fine is fair about it. The reader will also be astounded about the pure joy that Peckinpah seemed to derive from constant arguments with his movie producers. Lesser Peckinpah films are also discussed such as the less than impressive 'Convoy' and the mediocre 'Osterman Weekend'.

If Peckinpah had taken care of himself and controlled himself better he could have made some truly interesting and relevant films into the '80s and '90s. I would have especially liked to see what he could have done with another Western.

This biography of a great director is Highly Recommended!

Marshall Fine's biography of Sam Peckinpah is subtitled "The Life and Films of Sam Peckinpah" and the emphasis really is on the "life" rather than the films. For people interested in Peckinpah's life, this is a good thing, although as a biographer, Fine does very little more than describe enumerable life events with little or no attempt to analyze these events and/or talk about how these events contributed to the development of the personality traits that were so memorable, much less talk about how these events helped develop the creative talents which are what draw people to Peckinpah in the first place. Thus what we get are a neverending series of stories about Sam's drinkling, his drug use, his womanizing, etc. This will appeal to some people, but it doesn't to me.

Fine's work on Peckinpah's films is again descriptive, with a reasonable number of anecdotes that readers of books about Peckinpah will be familiar with. There are certainly better books about Peckinpah's films.

Fine is a good writer and the book is an easy read, although after awhile the anecdotes get a little boring. For the "life and times" of a creative artist like Sam Peckinpah, I expected more.

PS - Fans of Peckinpah might be more impressed with the 1994 book by David Weddle entitled "If They Move Kill 'Em". Weedle spends considerably more time showing how Peckinpah's life experiences and his early work in TV are reflected in his later films.

Just another bio that suffers from a lack of editing. M.F. likes to write and write and write and in the end we have a book that boils down to, so and so says he did this and so and so says he did that. It's wears you out.