10 Unjustly Forgotten Films By Famous Directors

6. Sam Peckinpah - The Ballad Of Cable Hogue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MZ1j5_rwQ8 The above video, unlike most in this article, is not a trailer but the opening credits sequence. This is because Peckinpah was famous for his amazing credits sequences, and this one is one of his best. Sam Peckinpah's greatest blessing was also his greatest curse. After beating out Fellini's 8 1/2 for Best Film at the Belgium Film Festival with Ride The High Country, Peckinpah's next project, the Civil War epic Major Dundee, blew up in his face, partly due to studio interference and partly due to Peckinpah's wild behavior; he started without a finished script, fired crew members by the droves, drank like a duck, and berated his cast on a daily basis. As a result of Dundee's troubled production and horrible box office returns, Peckinpah was shunned by the studios. Hurt, Peckinpah turned back to where he started, television, where he wrote and directed a highly-acclaimed TV movie, Noon Wine. The success of Noon Wine convinced the executives at Warner Bros. to give Peckinpah another chance at a big studio movie. The result was the all-star western The Wild Bunch, a masterpiece that essentially bought Peckinpah the rest of his career. The Wild Bunch was (and still is) extremely controversial because of its use of extreme violence and gore (particularly in the film's final shootout). Much of the success of the film came as a result of the controversy over said violence; the constant arguing between film critics over whether the film was a masterpiece or an exploitative mess brought audiences to theaters, looking to form their own opinions. As a result, the film was a huge box-office success and gave Peckinpah a reputation for making violent and bloody epics. For his next project with Warner Bros., Peckinpah decided to try something different, choosing John Crawford and Edmund Penney's screenplay The Ballad Of Cable Hogue to develop. The script, while exploring the same themes as The Wild Bunch (namely, the end of the west and men outliving their time), goes at the topics from a different angle, being a dreamlike western comedy-drama revolving around a hobo, Cable Hogue (Jason Robards), who stumbles upon a desert spring. Recognizing opportunity knocking, Hogue builds a stagecoach station at the spring, going into partnership with a strange wandering preacher, Joshua (David Warner). Together, they build the stage station into a huge success. However, the business isn't growing fast enough for Hildy (Stella Stevens), a prostitute Hogue has fallen in love with, who leaves the desert for San Francisco. After Hogue and Joshua's business is destroyed by the advent of the motorcar, Hogue goes to San Fran to find Hildy, where he meets his fate. The Ballad Of Cable Hogue does contain a couple of violent scenes, but they're nowhere near as violent as those in The Wild Bunch; in fact, they lean more toward the style of Peckinpah's work in Ride The High Country. This was exactly as Peckinpah wanted it; in fact, Peckinpah felt that Hogue was better than The Wild Bunch. Warner Bros., however, didn't feel the same way. Hating the picture, they dumped it into release and tore up Peckinpah's contract. Critics and audiences also failed to appreciate the film; both parties seemed to be shocked and offended that Peckinpah hadn't directed another violent film. Peckinpah, stung by the negative response to what he considered to be his best work, retreated to England to make Straw Dogs, a film that, if anything, is even more violent and controversial than The Wild Bunch. As a result of the negative backlash against Hogue, the film dropped into obscurity for decades. Fortunately, however, the film is starting to receive more attention, due to a recent DVD release coinciding with the release of director's cuts of The Wild Bunch and Peckinpah's Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (a film that Martin Scorsese considers to be one of the best westerns ever made). Still not enough people have seen Hogue, however, and that's a tragedy; it shows a side of Sam Peckinpah that was revealed all too seldom.