4. Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah was the wild beast of American cinema. Known for his alochol addiction, hard drug absue and volatile temper, Peckinpah was an intense character who just so happened to be one of the greatest directors to ever live. Peckinpah films were a ballet of bloodshed, and were a representation of the director's bleak world view. Peckinpah was essentially a high-functioning alcoholic, and his personal life was even crazier than poor Bennie's in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Cinema's last outlaw, the story goes that Peckinpah attempted to stab Charlton Heston with a prop, which is perhaps the greatest example of the director's craziness - Heston was a big, bad man. He would often shoot pictures drunk and give his cast and crew unbearably hard times, and many would refuse to work with him more than once. An actually quite dangerous, unstable man managed to make some of the finest films to ever come out of America, which is incredible considering his mental state. My favourite Sam Peckinpah story is a simple one: to make it look like a horse had gotten shot, Peckinpah proposed they actually shoot the horse. Thankfully for the horse's sake, somebody managed to talk him out of it.