Savage Cinema: Sam Peckinpah and the Rise of Ultraviolent Movies

Savage Cinema surprised me. Usually, books on Peckinpah focus on his relationship with the Western genre and put The Wild Bunch as his chief accomplishment. Savage Cinema, however, looks at Peckinpah's relationship with violence and focuses instead on Straw Dogs, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Ride the High Country and Major Dundee are barely mentioned, and Stephen Prince viewed The Wild Bunch as something that Peckinpah had grown past in these three later films. The result was a book that viewed Peckinpah through a fresh set of eyes, instead of one that plowed over the same ground. I found the book very fascinating and convincing. The reason I gave it four stars instead of five is that Prince's chapter on the use of montage became hard for me to follow. But apart from that, this is a very interesting book that shows how Peckinpah was a major filmmaker and different from the "ultraviolence" of today's cinema.

Prince doesn't get the fifth star only because the book is a little underwritten in parts (like the conclusion), and because I feel his analysis of "Straw Dogs", while well-intentioned and mostly solid, seems a little unbalanced with regard to David Sumner (Hoffman). Nevertheless, this is a a MUST-HAVE for students of Peckinpah and/or cinematic violence. Particularly fascinating is Prince's unique view of "Peckinpah's great trilogy on the toxic nature of violence" (re: "Straw Dogs", "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", and "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia"), which represents a significant breakthrough in the literature. The freshness and clarity of 90 percent of this book make it worthwhile, and the other 10 percent is still readable. Don't expect Vonnegut, after all this is a critical volume. Highly recommended to students and cinephiles.

Prince's book is a rich, deep study of Peckinpah's own serious and humanitarian concerns with violence, and how his films were a personal crusade against Man's inhumanity to Man. The author convincingly argues the director grew away from the catharsis philosophy and developed a more uncompromising style. A masterpiece, and a must!