FILM ANALYSIS

‘Pecking’ away at violent cinema

/ epilcher319 / Leave a comment

By: Erich R Pilcher

Film directors are, by nature, a different breed. For they are artists. They do not work with words, paints, or pallets. They work with their vision. Using equally talented artists to complete this vision on a digital or celluloid medium. Because of their attention to detail, they are considered eccentric, or at the very least a “touch-off”.

One director has many more descriptors attached to him. Crazed, difficult to work with, hard-headed, nihilistic, violent, raged, sexist, and many more. However, for the theme of this post, he shall be known as a forgotten genius.

“Bloody” Sam Peckinpah on the set of his classic western, “The Wild Bunch”
Photo Courtesy: MUBI.COM


This man is known as “Bloody” (known for his use of violence in his films) Sam Peckinpah. This man is known for flipping the western genre on its thematic head when his film “The Wild Bunch” was released (reviewed recently by yours truly for WMNH and Matt Connarton Unleashed) in 1969. This film was bloody and violent. Unlike all westerns before it, it embraced the notion that society had no more heroes. And, even those that were presented as heroes, were corruptible or already corrupted.

When the film concluded following an over 8-minute bloody battle between the gang of main characters and Federales (sparked when the General slits the throat of a captive member of the gang) that includes a 30-caliber Gatling gun. The film was praised by some and hated by just as many. Regardless of how people felt, its realistic violence and brutality have left an impression felt to this day. Many consider it to be one of, if not the greatest western film of all time.

Peckinpah never stood down from his moniker “bloody”. He stated that “I’m a student of violence because I’m a student of the human heart.” His films feature this taboo. This headstrong nature often led him to be at odds with major studios, crew members, and even stars such as Charlton Heston during the production of the 1965 film “Major Dundee”.

On the set, he treated the crew so badly that Heston threatened him with an army sword and charged him while reading a horse. He fired 15 crew members for trivial reasons. He also often was drunk on set. This led to the production going out of control. Depending on whom one believes this led to Peckinpah being fired (Columbia and Peckinpah himself) or abandoning the set in a drunken stupor (Heston and other cast and crew).

Despite his genius, Peckinpah was not without faults. He often used drugs (cocaine being his drug of choice) and alcohol. It was far from recreational. He used it while filming. This caused him to be difficult to manage for studios, demanding and abusive to his crew and stars. Nonetheless, in most of his films, his film prowess wrapped in violent, brilliant cynicism broke through. Over the years, film analysts and fans began to appreciate everything Peckinpah brought to the world of cinema.

Dustin Hoffman in 1971’s Straw Dogs. Peckinpah would use sex and violence to tell the psychological tale of vengeance and defense of ones home. Image Courtesy: TCM.COM


Violence is not the only taboo Peckinpah embraced, in 1971’s Straw Dogs, he added sex to the violence Filming two graphic rape scenes and then having the women’s Husband take vengeance on the men who committed it, Peckinpah took his viewers on a psychological journey through emotions of vengeance, despair and lack of belonging.

Many say violence has no place in cinema. That all it does is lead people to do evil things and contribute to more violence. There are two sides to the argument, Peckinpah once stated “Well, killing a man isn’t clean and quick and simple. It’s bloody and awful. And if enough people come to realize that shooting somebody isn’t just fun and games, maybe we’ll get somewhere.”

What if, to appreciate the value of life. We as people have to see the disturbing reality of violence. If we can see that then, we MIGHT be able to restore our view on life. I’m not talking senseless, blood and guts slasher films. I’m talking about the violence that is used in an artistic sense (if you do not know the difference, I’m shocked you were able to read this far). The violence is real, gritty, and unchained. That Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and more have used to paint nihilistic visions of despair that many in the world live in.

Sadly, Sam Peckinpah never was able to see the reverence he has in the world today. He died in his sleep in December 1989. Despite his difficult nature and unfair judgments on his films, he has created works of art that transcend time and generations. You may diminish his character or even his works, but in doing so you are discounting the genius behind the madness.

But maybe, “Bloody Sam” wouldn’t have it any other way.

What The World Needs Now, Is Noir Sweet Noir.

/ epilcher319 / Leave a comment

By Erich R Pilcher

For those of you that are uninitiated, I’m a film fan or cinephile, as we are known. Movies have always offered a form of escapism for me, as it does for the majority of those that view them. As I have aged, my film tastes evolved (mainly through viewing The Godfather in 1998 and college film courses), I became entrenched in classic Hollywood style and genre evaluation.

Orson Welles in a blockbuster performance as corrupt Police Captain Hank Quinlan in the seminal Film Noir, Touch of Evil. Welles also directed the film and it was his final film directed in America
Photo Courtesy: IMDB

I enjoy many different genres of film, but one has always stuck with me and that is Film Noir. The genre evolved from the pulp detective stories that came about during the Great Depression. These films are films that embrace the dark side of the world, the urban, crime-ridden areas. They are approached with a cynical view of the world. We have no heroes, everyone has an ulterior motive and their actions only serve themselves. Filmed with a dark, deep filming style and biting, bitter venom laced dialogue these films bring you into these world. The central character is often down on their luck in life and could be a law-abiding citizen or a criminal. It does not matter, that is how much this genre blurs the lines between right and wrong.

Director Quentin Tarantino best uses elements of noir in modern cinema
Photo Courtesy: Den of Geek

More than likely, you have viewed a noir film and not even known it. Early gangster films (another favorite genre of mine) such as Public Enemy, Little Ceaser, and Scarface exude many elements of noir. Other famous noirs are Key Largo, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Pickup on South Street, Asphalt Jungle, Chinatown, and Touch of Evil. In the modern era, director Quentin Tarantino has used noir elements in many of his films. Most notably, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and Jackie Brown.

The Roman Polanski film Chinatown is one of the most well known Film Noirs.
The film stars Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
Photo Courtesy: American Cinematographer

The difficult aspect of noir films is how does one of these films become successful? Many times while reading about one of the films, you realize they were not successful in the theaters. Their success was found in art houses and by critical film analysts. This resurgence leads to their appreciation and affirmation as great cinema. But upon further review, one can see there is a tie to the success of these films.

The world has to be as dark, cynical, and as down and out as the subjects and areas are.

I’m a firm believer that for a film to have success, there has to be a degree of relatability. If that is not there then the film needs to be so separated from reality that a viewer can escape into the film. When the nation is in financial peril, at war, crime rates are high, there are vast divisions and differences between people, and so forth. This causes people to flock to these films. That is because they mirror our world and we can see ourselves in it

That is because all those circumstances are circumstances we are facing right now.

That we can look at a theater screen and say “I’m feeling exactly what this lead character is” or “This is how I see the world” is such a powerful aspect to viewing film. And, because of these feelings we can escape into that world and feel that it is offering us a vision of promise. That the world might be bad now, but there can always be a silver lining. That is what noir offers, a dark world that through these real individuals we see how we can endure the situation.

I feel noir is looked at as a forgotten genre and that is a great shame. In this current cynical world, we need noir films. The characters can be our new heroes, our beacons of light in a dark, hero-less world. We need to be released into worlds that are darker and as hopeless as we may feel our current world is. As depressing as this may seem, the end credits provide a light. That is a light of hope, that tomorrow will be a better day.

It is a hope that we don’t just need, we deserve.