Sam Peckinpah Legendary Westerns Collection

Star Review

Ride the High Country (1962), Peckinpah's second film, already shows a highly individualistic talent at work. A lament for the loss of the Old West, Ride sees two ageing gunslingers (Joel McRea and Randolph Scott) find themselves tempted as they transport a shipment of gold. A beautiful character study, it's a revisionist Western thirty years before Eastwood's Unforgiven, full of moral ambiguity and battle-worn wisdom.
The Wild Bunch (1969) expands on this sense of renegade honour, but Peckinpah had by now developed a penchant for explosive violence that left cineastes aghast. The film’s epic sweep gets more awe-inspiring as time goes by, and its hard but spectacularly emotive stare at the bloody brutality of outlaw life still resonates in today's cinema of violence.
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) follows gruff Jason Robards' attempts to take revenge on his double-crossers, and is drenched in a comic coarseness that is contrary to the director's reputation as a purveyor of slow-motion bloodletting. More significantly, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), chopped by the studio and almost universally panned on release, now looks like a masterpiece of fatalistic filmmaking. A sombre, experimentally-shot and fashionable spin on the legendary tale, it has a quiet beauty and moral complexity that permeates every detail, from the desolate landscapes to the lines on James Coburn's face.
The word ‘elegiac’ crops up in almost every review of Peckinpah’s westerns. It’s fitting, but Peckinpah's brand of elegy isn't conventionally respectful: it’s alive with horror and humour, and has a contemporary edge that still bristles over thirty years on.

Julian Upton on 15th July 2006

View all 80 of Julian Upton’s reviews

[ Show Film Description ]

Film Description

Four titles from director Sam Peckinpah. Features The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid, The Ballad of Cable Hogue and Ride the High Country.

[ Show Star Review ]

Ratings for this DVD

Average Rating
Log in to place your vote!

DVD Extras

• 6 discs. The Wild Bunch Disc 1: Audio commentary by Peckinpah biographers/documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle
• Peckinpah trailer gallery
• The Wild Bunch Disc 2: Never-before-seen The Wild Bunch outtakes (10 mins)
• 'Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy Of A Hollywood Renegade' documentary (90 mins)
• 'The Wild Bunch: An Album In Montage' (34 mins)
• 'A Simple Adventure Story: Sam Peckinpah, Mexico And The Wild Bunch' featurette (23 mins)
• Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid - Disc 1 (Special Edition, 115 mins): Audio commentary by Special Edition Producer Nick Redman, Supervising Editor Paul Seydor and fellow Peckinpah biographers/documentarians Garner Simmons and David Weddle
• Peckinpah trailer gallery
• Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid - Disc 2 (Turner Preview Edition, 122 mins): Audio commentary by Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle
• 'One Foot In The Groove: Remembering Sam Peckinpah & Other Things' featurette (28 mins)
• 'Deconstructing Pat And Billy' featurette (14 mins)
• One For The Money: Sam's Song (4 mins)
• The Ballad Of Cable Hogue: Audio commentary by Peckinpah biographers/documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle
• 'The Ladiest Damn'd Lady With Stella Stevens' featurette (27 mins)
• Peckinpah trailer gallery
• Ride The High Country: Audio commentary by Peckinpah documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle
• 'Justified Life: Sam Peckinpah And The Hogue Country' featurette (23 mins)
• Peckinpah trailer gallery.

Film Details

Cast

Kris Kristofferson, Jason Robards, James Coburn, Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea

Technical Details