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*the message Peckinpah got from all the producers he worked with at the end of his career
The Osterman Weekend
Troubled production that was to be Sam's "comeback" and wound up as his last feature before his death. After the financial duds of Cross of Iron and Convoy mixed with Sam's reputation as a drunken Hellion who hated Studios and producers (pretty fair and well-earned rep in many ways, actually) he was essentially unemployable in the late '70s and into the 1980s. He was a living legend, largely a critical darling and esteemed by other directors and actors, but nobody would hire him. As far as the completion bond companies especially were concerned, he was an uninsurable risk. But a couple of independent producers who had the rights to a lesser Robert Ludlum book very much wanted him.
Adapted from the Ludlum novel of the same name, it's a contrived piece about paranoia, betrayal and espionage that has an interesting tone and all-star cast but never comes together. Peckinpah's name coupled with Ludlum's netted burgeoning star Rutger Hauer and Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster, and with those names attached the cast quickly added John Hurt, Dennis Hopper, Chris Sarandon, Helen Shaver, Craig T. Nelson, Meg Foster and Cassie Yates. The story involves the CIA, an apparent nest of Russian spies, sophisticated surveillance, forced complicity, and revenge. The bulk of the film takes place in a single house (shades of Straw Dogs), pitting the characters against each other in a confined space as secrets and truths are slowly exposed, leading to a bloody and explosive conclusion.
The R1 Anchor Bay two-disc DVD has a nice retrospective documentary with just about the entire cast (minus Lancaster and Hopper) and the producers, detailing some of the behind-the-scenes chaos and fun of the shoot, as well as Sam's original cut of the film plus a good audio commentary track by a few Peckinpah scholars. Looking at either cut, the flick is definitely more than a bit of a mess and too convoluted to play very consistently, but while very far from any kind of lost masterpiece is pretty memorable and has plenty of good elements, despite its many flaws. Disappointing and less than the sum of its parts, yet still you'd have to say a better way to go out, all things considered, than Convoy.
*the message Peckinpah got from all the producers he worked with at the end of his career
The Osterman Weekend
Troubled production that was to be Sam's "comeback" and wound up as his last feature before his death. After the financial duds of Cross of Iron and Convoy mixed with Sam's reputation as a drunken Hellion who hated Studios and producers (pretty fair and well-earned rep in many ways, actually) he was essentially unemployable in the late '70s and into the 1980s. He was a living legend, largely a critical darling and esteemed by other directors and actors, but nobody would hire him. As far as the completion bond companies especially were concerned, he was an uninsurable risk. But a couple of independent producers who had the rights to a lesser Robert Ludlum book very much wanted him.
Adapted from the Ludlum novel of the same name, it's a contrived piece about paranoia, betrayal and espionage that has an interesting tone and all-star cast but never comes together. Peckinpah's name coupled with Ludlum's netted burgeoning star Rutger Hauer and Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster, and with those names attached the cast quickly added John Hurt, Dennis Hopper, Chris Sarandon, Helen Shaver, Craig T. Nelson, Meg Foster and Cassie Yates. The story involves the CIA, an apparent nest of Russian spies, sophisticated surveillance, forced complicity, and revenge. The bulk of the film takes place in a single house (shades of Straw Dogs), pitting the characters against each other in a confined space as secrets and truths are slowly exposed, leading to a bloody and explosive conclusion.
The R1 Anchor Bay two-disc DVD has a nice retrospective documentary with just about the entire cast (minus Lancaster and Hopper) and the producers, detailing some of the behind-the-scenes chaos and fun of the shoot, as well as Sam's original cut of the film plus a good audio commentary track by a few Peckinpah scholars. Looking at either cut, the flick is definitely more than a bit of a mess and too convoluted to play very consistently, but while very far from any kind of lost masterpiece is pretty memorable and has plenty of good elements, despite its many flaws. Disappointing and less than the sum of its parts, yet still you'd have to say a better way to go out, all things considered, than Convoy.