Alpha to Omega: Exposing 'The Osterman Weekend'

In 2004, this documentary was released to celebrate twenty-years of "The Osterman Weekend". This movie was the last work of the great director Sam Peckinpah, who had been in the ostracism for five years in Hollywood. With the testimony of the cast (Meg Foster, Rutger Hauer, Craig T. Nelson, Chris Sarandon, Helen Shaver, Cassie Yates), the producers and other participants of the shootings, many interesting information, some of them funny, other sad, about the film and mainly about the situation of Sam Peckinpah in those times, are disclosed to the viewer. Sam had health problems, apparently caused by drugs and alcohol abuse, and having a hard temperament, blaming the producers for any failure in his films, he was forgotten by the cinema industry. "The Osterman Weekend" was his last chance to prove how magnificent his work was. The result was a great film, dated in the present days, but ahead of time in 1983. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "From Alpha to Omega: The Making of The Osterman Weekend"

This 1 hour 18 minute feature length documentary can be found on Anchor Bay's Commemorative 2-DVD set of the movie "The Osterman Weekend". It features interviews with pretty much every cast and crew member still living (barring Dennis Hopper for some unknown reason). Casting, pre-production, production, post are all covered here. As well as Sam Packinpah's troubles. But it's a testimony to the acclaimed director that he got the cast merely because it was him doing it. It's all pretty interesting and informative, and it's always nice to hear from Rutger Hauer. Not as good as say "Full Tilt Boogie" but movie documentaries rarely are.

My Grade: B

This valuable doc over Osterman Weekend uncover the movie process and talk about mostly over Pekinpah than the picture itself, how he was involved with the independent project and how he handled with the actor whose he chooses them himself, the casting were allure for the last chance to work with this old legendary director expecting ahead to say "I'd work to Peckinpah" was a true honor just for few people, Craig told about pool's scene on a cold night when was so frozen, when Peckinpah ask to him repeat the take, he refuses and said "why??" which Peckinpah replies " Because l'm asking for" he made it promptly, in other scene involving Hurt when he and the director had a quarrel Lancaster took Hurt to a corner and said "Do it as he wants" Hurt replied "why??" the wise Lancaster answer "why he is dying" and many other stories from a final chapter this revolucionary man!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5

This is a feature-length(!) behind-the-scenes type documentary on The Osterman Weekend, found on the second disc of the 2-Disc Commemorative Edition of said production, released in 2004, two decades after the death of Peckinpah. It's perhaps more about him than the title, but I'm not complaining. There is some analysis of him, and the seemingly obligatory love-fest-type comments, as well as several anecdotes from the entire thing. It's mainly made up of obviously quite new interview bits, a few looks at the locations and the like, with a handful of clips of the film itself, as well as stills from both the product itself and the making of. It's all edited together well, with so little use of gimmicks and flash that it never gets to be over the top. They talk about the message of the film, and how relevant it is today. Each gets a fine amount of on-screen time, and you never get to the point where you're tired of listening to any of them, nor really feel that any were favored over the rest. At about 78 minutes, this is really only half an hour shorter than the movie it is about, but it never loses your interest during its run. I recommend this to anyone who liked The Osterman Weekend, and Sam Peckinpah in general, as well as anyone who wants to know more about either or both. 7/10