Peckinpah farewells the Western
4/4 stars

This is Peckinpah at his most personal and introspective. It's an uncharacteristically sentimental film for him, but it seems oddly consistent for him to be so. The trademark violence and masculine insight is all there, though, in spades, and along with some of his most elegant directorial touches and memorable performances, make this one of this finest films. I'd rank it right behind BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA and STRAW DOGS, and alongside THE WILD BUNCH.

Now, when it comes to which version to see, the movie was initially butchered by the producers. The resultant theatrical cut was a mess, a flop, and it no longer available. In 1988, Turner broadcast Peckinpah's original work-in-progress print of the film, which was where Peckinpah left off when the plug was pulled on his director's cut. In 2005, Warner let Peckinpah scholars recut the movie and change the colors to make it "better" and create the Special Edition version. There's no grounds to believe that this is any closer to Peckinpah's wishes, and in several key instances, it actually deviates from what Peckinpah (were he living) would have wanted. Therefor, I *strongly* recommend that when you see the film, you watch the so-called "1988 Turner Preview Cut", which is called the director's cut one VHS, and is included on the second disc of the 2-disc special edition DVD.

Enjoy!

Review by Protozoid