Sragow on thoughtful heartfelt machismo
An 11.23 L.A. Times essay by critic Michael Sragow about the links between No Country for Old Men, Sam Peckinpah, Norman Mailer, Tommy Lee Jones and Roger Deakins.
An 11.23 L.A. Times essay by critic Michael Sragow about the links between No Country for Old Men, Sam Peckinpah, Norman Mailer, Tommy Lee Jones and Roger Deakins.
I’ve got to say I’m disappointed Rolling Stone hasn’t done a Norman Mailer obit, yet. “… Peckinpah’s death in 1984 was by and large ignored; Mailer’s was mostly covered grudgingly or inadequately.”
“… Javier Bardem), a ghostly abstraction of a human being. Bardem’s weapon of choice is a sterile air gun.” That’s why he’s hot.
Check out Alec Baldwin’s piece on this in the Huffington Post. I love the man, but these little pieces drive me crazy. Someone clearly never taught him how to write an essay in school, his thesis statement is at the end and unexplained. He also compares Bardem to Henry Silva in SHARKY’S MACHINE!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alec-baldwin/-no-country-for-old-m_b_73899.html
Mailer never wrote a book as stupid as Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.
He did write some stuff almost as brilliant as The Wild Bunch.
Is there another film critic in America who’s written anything this sharp about our film culture this year? Granted, he did write about a filmmaker who died 23 years ago, but still, just savor the Sragow of it:
“A lot of their energy did come from machismo. But it was machismo as Mailer’s idol Hemingway understood it and as the men of Peckinpah’s beloved Mexico tried to live it: the urge to embrace experience and form one’s character in the world, and take responsibility for the consequences – including the disasters that can occur at the intersection of an unfettered sensual life with family life.”
So maybe the problem with film punditry today isn’t the practictioners, but the paucity of Peckinpahs that can provoke such prose?
Bring Me the Head is a really good movie. Check out Ebert’s review of it.
saw bring me the head last year, its good, some dynamite scenes in that picture, saw no country and its in the same vein, javier should be up for an oscar…finally saw zodiac – good picture, jake is sort of empty but over all a good one.
Peckinpah made one great movie, three or four other very good ones, a couple more flawed but entertaining ones, and a bunch of crap the last twelve years of his life. A lot of that may have been do to his personal, health or substance problems, but crap is crap.
With the exception of Ride the High Country, Peckinpah’s quality period lasted only from 1969 to 1973. It’s silly to compare him to Norman Mailer.
It did get me thinking about what would have happened if Peckinpah in his prime had made No Country for Old Men. McQueen as Lewellen; David Warner as Anton; Ben Johnson as the sheriff; James Coburn as Harrelson’s character. Guys like Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones playing the various clerks and shopkeepers along the way. Would Peckinpah and McQueen have had the guts to end the movie the same way?
silverscreenvideos:
Before the rest of the Peckies swoop in here like a bunch no good redneck peckerwoods, may I offer a few observations:
“Ah, Mexico lindo!”
“I don’t see nothin’ so lindo about it. Looks like more Texas scrubbrush to me.”
“You have no eyes.”
You are right about NOT comparing Sam and Norm: Peckinpah was a film director and part of the gig is raising tens of millions of dollars and then dealing with the folks who trusted you’ll do their bidding and deliver hits.
It’s a different gig than writing novels, so let’s take your advice and not go there.
As for Sam’s crap-to-genius ratio: I’d put Sam’s golden period as 1962-1979. Since he directed films from 1962-1983 (he died in 84), it’s not a bad run.
High Country and Wild Bunch are the masterpieces.
Billy the Kid a near-miss masterpiece (and maybe not a near-miss).
Straw Dogs a brilliant, landmark film.
Junior Bonner and Cable are both loose, lovely pieces of Americana.
Getaway is a terrific action film, one of McQueen’s best films.
Alfredo Garcia may be mad, but it’s the madness of genius. (There are those who proclaim Sam’s greatest. I don’t agree, but it’s an amazing piece of personal cinema.)
Orson Welles called Cross of Iron “the greatest anti-war film since Western Front” and it remains one of the most underrated war films and underrated Sam works.
(And “Cross” was a huge hit in Europe, as was “Convoy,” which I won’t defend, but do enjoy.)
FYI, in an upcoming interview with my esteemed colleague Steve Chagollan, “No Country” d.p. Roger Deakins talks about the powerful influence of “Alfredo Garcia” on his work.
So a film you’ve dismissed as “crap” influenced perhaps the movie of the year.
I’ll trust Deakins on this one.
As for your question about “guts,” have you ever really seen any of Peckinpah’s films?
To paraphrase Travolta in “Hairspray,” “Guts ain’t the problem in this family, Wilbur.”
you said it gaydos, too easily on this site guys rip and dismiss big time directors and producers of art in general. you make 15 -20 pictures over 17 years and some punk kid calls you a hack! get the fuck out of here..an artist gives you everything he’s got at that time, thats all you can ask for. sam influenced tons of people in the business. chopping up these big directors just to sound cute and hip, like i said get the fuck out of here!!
Peckinpah doesn’t need a punk like me defending him so I won’t embarass his memory by trying.