LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Sam Peckinpah
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Sam Peckinpah, future auteur of such classic cinematic shoot-em-ups as Major Dundee and The Wild Bunch, was coscripter of this wickedly ironic episode. Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired by Rod Blakely (Richard Long), an idealistic young man who was recently jilted by his fiancee, professional singer Faye Hollister (Joan Weldon). Insisting that Faye has been forced to marry ruthless rancher Peter Hollister (Denver Pyle) against her will, Blakely wants Paladin to fend off Hollister's hired guns so that he can have a brief heart-to-heart talk with Faye. As it turns out... Blakely and Hollister have fallen for a woman who is unworthy of both of them! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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"Sam Peckinpah was in many ways ahead of his time,' says Black. 'Like John Ford before him, he became synonymous with the Western genre, albeit of a particular flavor. And like Alfred Hitchcock, he became a famous -- if not infamous -- personality that resonated far beyond the films themselves. His influence is still felt strongly today. When people hear the name Peckinpah, many immediately recall his notoriety for on screen violence. But much less known is what a dynamic and truly talented filmmaker he really was. Peckinpah's career is now ripe for reappraisal, and Encore's original documentary will endeavor to take viewers on a journey in rediscovering the man and myth, and the gift of the timeless Westerns he left behind."
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Influential director Sam Peckinpah has four of his best movies collected here. THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE: This charming comic western features a winning performance by star Jason Robards as prospector Cable Hogue.
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A lot of gritty dirt, a lot of guns, a lot of blood, and some dead animals in the bargain-that's what springs to the minds of many when director Sam Peckinpah's westerns are brought up. As this six-disc collection featuring 1962's Ride the High Country, 1969's The Wild Bunch, 1970's The Ballad of Cable Hogue, and two versions of the notorious 1973 Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid shows, there's a lot more to Peckinpah-heart, brains, lyricism, and moviemaking that reaches virtuosic heights but never gets showy. Ride, with stalwarts Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea, brought a particular western myth to a poignant end; Bunch seemed to demolish the ethos of the genre as it established some new myths of its own. Hogue is a disarming Job-in-reverse tale, and Pat Garrett, in either the "preview" version or the shorter, tighter cut prepared by scholar-filmmakers Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, and David Weddle (a.k.a. the Dog Brothers, who contribute informative, companionable commentaries and short docs to the set as well), is a sprawling, messy enigma with plenty of breathtaking, privileged moments. Another essential Warner package.
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W[I]th talent forged in the salt mines of network television westerns, Sam Peckinpah quickly made a name for himself as both a skillful writer and director, on top shows like The Westerner and The Rifleman. This success led rapidly to features, and in 1962 had his first real hit with Ride the High Country, a lean action-drama starring genre favorites Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea as former friends who find themselves on opposite sides of the law in the waning days of the old west. Peckinpah’s characters, even though on opposite sides, each stood by their own code of conduct, one to which they held both themselves and the world around them. They’ll walk head-on into a hale of gunfire rather than compromise their principals, a situation which in lesser hands often seemed clichéd, but in Sam’s world it was as natural as the sunrise. The picture was a sizeable hit and Sam found himself a hot property in Hollywood, with several studios courting him for more prestigious productions. Major Dundee (1965) was initially intended as an expensive road show-style production, but a skittish producer (a veteran of little more than Giget movies) and studio soon ordered cuts both in budget and scope.
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Sam Peckinpah was born in Fresno, California and attended Fresno grammar schools and high school. He spent much time skipping classes with his brother to engage in cowboy activities on Denver Church's ranch including trapping, branding and shooting. During the 1930s and 1940s, Coarsegold and Bass Lake were still populated with descendants of the miners and ranchers of the 19th century. Many of these descendants worked on Church's ranch. At that time, it was a rural area undergoing extreme change and this exposure is believed to have affected Peckinpah's Western films later in life.[6]
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