|
Novecento
|
I recently received from Mike the following:
- The 576 page book "Passion & Poetry: Sam Peckinpah in Pictures"
- The 2-disc DVD set "Passion & Poetry: The Ballad of Sam Peckinpah"
The book is true to its title with countless images spanning Peckinpah's life and career. Many are rare, behind-the-scenes or candid photographs that add a personal dimension to the films and the participants. All are reproduced beautifully on the quality paper used throughout, and the last 90 pages or so are in color. In spite of the English title, the supporting text is in German and so is largely inaccessible to me. The book is arranged according to key phases in Peckinpah’s life and career with each film naturally receiving its own individual chapter. There is a foreword by Vadim Glowna (who starred in “Cross of Iron” and sadly passed away earlier this year) and a final chapter dedicated to individual reminiscences about Peckinpah by many of his collaborators. The exhaustive listings in the appendix of Peckinpah’s television/film work and Peckinpah documentaries/books/interviews/articles are invaluable. I did notice that some English-language interviews with Peckinpah were missing, although to be fair the title is “Some Peckinpah Interviews” so perhaps only the most exemplary ones were selected for inclusion. Also included in the appendix are images of cameos by Peckinpah and others, as well as stills from several cut scenes with an expected principal focus on “Major Dundee”.
The English-language documentary is referred to in the book as “Passion & Poetry: The Journey of Sam Peckinpah”. The ultimate choice of “Ballad” over “Journey” much better evokes the lyrical, albeit more visual than verbal, nature of Peckinpah’s work. While in one sense this is a traditional 'talking heads' documentary, the narration by Monte Hellman is kept to an absolute minimum and serves just to keep the narrative flowing. This creates an intensely personal documentary which essentially amounts to Peckinpah in his own words and the words of those who knew him best. While the judicious editing of any footage necessarily affects viewers’ responses, there are gratefully no subjective opinions being foisted upon the viewer here. I have not yet listened to Mike’s commentary that accompanies the documentary. The bonus disc begins with a three-part documentary “Stories on a Storyteller” that runs for around 1 ¾ hours in total. This seems to be an extension of the main feature containing items that Mike did not want to abandon but could not squeeze into its already ample running time. The same could be said for the extra “Ernie on the Wild Bunch” which consists of the full interview with Ernest Borgnine from which the shippets in the documentary were drawn. The two other extra features, “Mapache Territory” and “Mike’s Home Movies”, respectively document a visit to the original location of the shootout at the end of “The Wild Bunch” and several Peckinpah retrospectives organized by Mike. The DVD set also contains extensive liner notes in German, although there is apparently an article by Mike on the production in issue 3 of Cinema Retro which I am now very eager to read. From a technical perspective, it is a real shame that the DVD is not anamorphic. The box lists 1.78:1 as the aspect ratio but the main feature is actually around 1.66:1 as are some of the features on the bonus disc. This does make zooming rather frustrating as this keeps having to be adjusted depending on what feature is being watched.
Needless to say, both the book (which is sadly out-of-print now) and the DVD set are wholeheartedly recommended. Thanks again Mike! I am now very much looking forward to the next "Passion & Poetry" installment on the French Wild Side Blu-ray of "The Killer Elite".
|
Home
Pages: 
El Dorado Productions & 'Passion & Poetry' updated release info! (Read 46482 times)
