In 1974,
The Wall Street Journal called this movie ‘grotesque, sadistic, irrational, obscene, incompetent, ‘ while
New York Magazine declared it ‘a catastrophe.’ Upon its initial release, Sam Peckinpah´s notorious work took a critical and commercial nosedive, but in later years, the work was heralded as a demented masterpiece–a violent, hallucinatory autobiography and a brilliant example of ‘pure Peckinpah.’ This study revisits the making of this controversial film, as well as its original reception and subsequent reassessment. It reads the project as an auteur work, a genre film, a confession, and a bizarre self-parody.
Table of Content
Acknowledgements
Introduction: That Title!
1. ‘You guys are definitely on my shit list’: Production, Promotion, Initial Reception
2. ‘There’s nothing sacred about a hole in the ground or the man that’s in it. Or you. Or me’: Alfredo Garcia’s Reputation
3. ‘Don’t look at me with those goddamn fuckin’ eyes’: Alcohol Cinema
4. ‘You too are wrong. Dead wrong’: Placing Alfredo
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Ian Cooper is an author, screenwriter, and contributor to the Wallflower Press series of Critical Guides to film directors.
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