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Stars: Kris Kristofferson, Ernest Borgnine, Ali McGraw, Burt Young, Franklyn Ajaye, Brian Davies, Seymour Cassel, Cassie Yates | Written by Bill Norton | Directed by Sam Peckinpah

Directed by Sam Peckinpah, Convoy is a film that rides on the wave of the trucker and Cb radio craze of the 1970s. Based on the popular country song of the same name by C.W. McCall, the movie attempts to blend action, comedy, and social commentary into one wild, sprawling road adventure. However, its execution leaves much to be desired, and it often feels like it’s unsure of what kind of film it wants to be.

The story revolves around Martin “Rubber Duck” Penwald (played by Kris Kristofferson), a stoic and charismatic trucker who finds himself on the run from an overzealous sheriff named “Dirty” Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine). Along the way, Rubber Duck inadvertently inspires a convoy of fellow truckers to follow him,...

Sam Peckinpah was a fine director of actors when the material was right, and his first collaboration with Steve McQueen is an shaded character study about a rodeo family dealing with changing times. Joe Don Baker and Ben Johnson shine, but the movie belongs to Ida Lupino and Robert Preston.

Junior Bonner

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 100 min. / Special Edition / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, Ida Lupino, Joe Don Baker, Ben Johnson, Mary Murphy, Dub Taylor, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Bill McKinney.

Cinematography: Lucien Ballard

Film Editors: Frank Santillo, Robert L. Wolfe

Second Unit Director: Frank Kowalski

Bud Hurlbud: Special Effects

Original Music: Jerry Fielding

Written by Jeb Rosebrook

Produced by Joe Wizan

Directed by Sam Peckinpah

I suppose there were plenty of successful rodeo-themed westerns back in the day, perhaps the kind interrupted by a cowboy song every ten minutes or so.

By John M. Whalen

Back in the 1950s, before he became a legend, filmmaker Sam Peckinpah (“The Wild Bunch,” “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,” and “The Killer Elite”) wrote scripts for TV westerns, including “Gunsmoke,” “The Rifleman,” and “Tombstone Territory.” His reputation grew and in 1957 he wrote his first screenplay entitled “The Glory Guys” which was based on Hoffman Birney’s novel, “The Dice of God.” The book was a fictional account of Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, with all names changed. The script went unproduced for almost eight years, and in the meantime Sam had moved on, directing features including “The Deadly Companions” (1960), “Ride the High Country” (1962) and “Major Dundee” (1965).

You would think that with that growing resume, Peckinpah would have been able to direct anything he wanted to, but such was far from the case. “Bloody Sam,” as he was called, affectionately by his fans,...

An Encore Edition. Peckinpah's macabre South of the border shoot 'em up is back for a second limited edition, with a new commentary. It's still a picture sure to separate the Peckinpah lovers from the auteur tourists - it's grisly, grim and resolutely exploitative, but also has about it a streak of grimy honesty. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Blu-ray Twilight Time Encore Edition 1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date September, 2016 / available through Screen Archives Entertainment / 29.95 Starring Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine, Emilio Fernández, Kris Kristofferson, Chano Urueta, Jorge Russek, Enrique Lucero, Janine Maldonado, Richard Bright, Sharon Peckinpah, Garner Simmons. Cinematography Álex Phillips Jr. Art Direction Agustín Ituarte Film Editors Garth Craven, Dennis E. Dolan, Sergio Ortega, Robbe Roberts Original Music Jerry Fielding Written by Sam Peckinpah, Gordon T. Dawson, Frank Kowalski Produced by Martin Baum, Helmut Dantine, Gordon T. Dawson Directed by...

Do you like my choice of leading image?  'We're the Glory Guys! Eee-Yow!' What is surely the most generic cavalry western of all time is actually from a screenplay by Sam Peckinpah. Twilight Time's extras have a lot to say about that, and so does Savant. The Glory Guys Blu-ray Twilight Time 1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 113 min. / Street Date September 6, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95 Starring Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell, Senta Berger, James Caan, Andrew Duggan, Slim Pickens, Peter Breck, Jeanne Cooper, Michael Anderson Jr., Adam Williams, Wayne Rogers, Michael Forest, Paul Birch, Stephen Chase, Claudio Brook. Cinematography James Wong Howe Cinematography Ernst R. (Tom) Rolf, Melvin Shapiro Original Music Riz Ortolani Written by Sam Peckinpah from the novel by Hoffman Birney Produced by Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, Jules V. Levy Directed by Arnold Laven

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The Glory Guys is as generic and standard-issue...

Cinema Retro issue #35 has now shipped to our subscribers worldwide.  No other magazine centers specifically on the great Golden Age of film making: the 1960s and 1970s. Every issue is packed with exclusive interviews, rare photos and insightful columns about classic and cult movies that virtually no one else covers in this kind of detail. Please support classic cinema in the print format by subscribing or renewing today!

Highlights of this issue include:

Mike Siegel's 12 page in-depth report on the tragedy and triumph in the making of Bruce Lee's last film, Enter the Dragon Mark Mawston's exclusive interview with Ian Ogilvy, who talks about filming She Beast, Witchfinder General and his close call with playing James Bond Extensive report from Tim Greaves on the underrated Alistair MacLean spy thriller When Eight Bells Toll, which afforded young Anthony Hopkins an early starring role. Peter Cook pays tribute to "The...

Highlights of this issue include:

Mike Siegel's 12 page in-depth report on the tragedy and triumph in the making of Bruce Lee's last film, Enter the Dragon Mark Mawston's exclusive interview with Ian Ogilvy, who talks about filming She Beast, Witchfinder Generaland his close call with playing James Bond Extensive report from Tim Greaves on the underrated Alistair MacLean spy thriller When Eight Bells Toll,which afforded young Anthony Hopkins an early starring role. Peter Cook pays tribute to "The Art of Deception"-  a look at the use of matte paintings in famous films. Michael Commes takes a fun filled visit to The House of Bare Mountain, the infamous nudie monster flick Esteemed photographer Keith Hamshere shares his memories and photos from The Living Daylights, Murphy's War and Death on the Nile.  Raymond Benson's Ten Best Films of 1954  Patrick Cooper pays tribute to Robert Mitchum and The Friends of Eddie Coyle  Lee Pfeiffer's "Take Two" column examines Assignment K starring Stephen Boyd and Camilla Sparv Brian Hannan looks at what was hot at the boxoffice in 1966 Sheldon Hall reviews a video release of Jacques Rivette's films Daniel D'Arpe celebrates the cult sci-fi flick Starcrash starring Caroline Munro and David Hasselhoff. Adrian Smith joyfully uncovers the 007 sexploitation spoof Bonditis  Plus Darren Allison's latest soundtrack news and reviews, Gareth Owen's "Pinewood Past" column and the latest movie book and DVD reviews. 

USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro Issue #35 USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro Issue #35 $15.00 Usd UK : Cinema Retro Issue #35 UK : Cinema Retro Issue #35 £8.50 Gbp Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #35 Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #35 £10.50 Gbp Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #35 Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #35 £12.00 Gbp...

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By Tom Lisanti

Steve McQueen: The Actor and His Films by Andrew Antonaides and Mike Siegel from Dalton Watson Fine Books is one of the finest, most lavish movie books about a single actor that I have ever read. All of iconic superstar Steve McQueen’s films are equally discussed from his classics (The Blob, The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Cincinnati Kid, The Sand Pebbles, Bullitt, The Thomas Crown Affair, Papillon), to his lesser known earlier movies (Never Love a Stranger, The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery)An Enemy of the People, The Hunter), to his misfires (The Honeymoon Machine, Soldier in the Rain, Baby the Rain Must Fall), to his TV series (Wanted: Dead or Alive). Most coffee table-type movie books that I have encountered are extravagantly- made, featuring glorious photographs, but containing very little substance. However, Steve McQueen...

There oughta be a law. Just as it should be illegal for sprawling malls and the Walgreen's on the corner to barf up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, so, too, should critics organizations and other awards-giving bodies be banned from opening the season until Artforum posts John Waters's annual "Best Films of 2011" list on December 1. Tradition, people.

Today's the day, and since it's also World Aids Day, I'm choosing his #9 as a sample quote: "We Were Here (David Weissman) Half my friends died of AIDS, so this simple and painfully told doc on the disastrous epidemic's effect on San Francisco is personal. If you don't sob watching, maybe you should be dead too."

Joining Waters on the same page this year is Ed Halter, founder and director of Light Industry and — whoa — a co-curator of the film and video program for the 2012 Whitney Biennial, opening March 1. His #1: "Inkblot films...

Through his films Sam Peckinpah frequently explored the relationships between men and violence and the relationships between men thrust together, but Cross of Iron stands out as being his only foray into the war film genre, although films such as The Wild Bunch and Major Dundee certainly flirt with similar thematic concerns.

In venturing into the then somewhat overstuffed area of WWII war films Peckinpah unsurprisingly chose to do something a little different, framing the conflict not from the side of the Allied forces but making a film that embeds us in the trenches with the German troops. Shot mostly on location in Yugoslavia Cross of Iron reconstructs the Eastern Front circa 1943 and centres on the German troops fighting there.

Arriving at the front-line early in the film is Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell), a stuffy Prussian officer desperate to win the prestigious Iron Cross. At the front he finds a...

Father’s day is on the horizon and a whole bunch of cool Blu-ray’s are being released to celebrate that fact, a few films of which are particularly some of my Dad’s favourites.

Sam Peckinpah’s bloody anti-war movie Cross of Iron (out June 3rd), the British Wwi classic The Cruel Sea (June 13th) and the excellent Ice Cold Alex (June 13th), all digitally restored and available on the first time in Blu-ray. Excitedly if you are in London on father’s day weekend, the Odeon Panton St are showing Cross of Iron and Ice Cold in Alex from June 17th!

Owf have three copies of all three films to give away…

6 June: Cross Of Iron – Only On Bluray – Digitally Restored

Heralded as the most anti-war war film ever made, Cross Of Iron is a bloody and thought-provoking depiction of the horrors of war featuring an epic battle...

To celebrate the release of Cross of Iron on 6th June, Optimum Home Entertainment have given us three copies of the movie to give away on Blu-ray.

Synopsis: Heralded as the most anti-war war film ever made, Cross Of Iron is a bloody and thought-provoking depiction of the horrors of war featuring an epic battle of wills between aristocratic Prussian Officer Stransky (Maximilian Schell) and gutsy Sergeant Rolf Steiner (James Coburn). Director Sam Peckinpah has served as an inspiration for everyone from Tarantino to Kathryn Bigelow.

Extras: All New! Passion & Poetry – Sam Peckinpah’s War (46:00): A documentary by Mike Siegel featuring James Coburn, Senta Berger, David Warner, Vadim Glowna, Roger Fritz, Katy Haber & Sam Peckinpah. 5 featurettes with 1976 on set audio interviews: Sam Peckinpah (5:06) / James Coburn (5:30) / James Mason (6:05) / Maximilian Schell (4:35) / David Warner (3:14) / Featurette KRÜGER Kisses Kern (8:27) / Letters From Vadim & Sam Featurette (3:48) / Vadim...

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Sam Peckinpah’s The Deadly Companions starring Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith has never been released in Germany in any form other than being shown on television, so Retro ‘regular’ Mike Siegel, one of the world’s foremost experts on the renegade director, was more than pleased when his friend Ulrich Bruckner of Koch-media asked him to co-produce a special edition DVD for the German/Austrian market. Koch-media also specialize in rare and niche titles on DVD, with titles including The Sergio Sollima Western box set, Blindman, and special editions of certain Hammer films, to name but a few.

Siegel had just completed and co-produced the very successful German 2-disc special edition on Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. Although Bruckner has since left Koch-media, the label owned the rights to The Deadly Companions and Siegel agreed to supply the bonus materials for this new release,...

Cinema Retro issue #13 is now shipping to all subscribers. Among the other great features in the latest issue is entertainment journalist Bruce R. Marshall's fascinating story behind Lee Van Cleef's 1960s cult western The Big Gundown. At this point in his career, Van Cleef was relishing the fact that Sergio Leone's two Dollar westerns had rescued him from financial catastrophe when he could not longer find suitable work in Hollywood. Unlike Clint Eastwood, however, Van Cleef was happy to continue on in the Spaghetti Western genre, making films of varyiing degrees of quality, but always maintaining his position as one of Europe's top movie stars. His 1968 western The Big Gundown teamed him with another popular star of the genre, Tomas Milian under the direction of Sergio Sollima. The film stood out as being a cut above the rest of the pack, but what most fans don't realize is...