(left: James Coburn, Strother Martin and Charles Bronson in 'Hard Times')
American Red Cross volunteers have been deployed to the hardest hit areas of Katrina’s destruction, supplying hundreds of
thousands victims left homeless with critical necessities. By making a financial gift to Hurricane 2005 Relief, the Red
Cross can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need.
Regular readers know that Sam Peckinpah was one of my favorite directors. His deft action sequences combined with complex characters and a love for the mythological American West resulted in some of the most memorable American movies ever made. If any living director has come close to capturing the essence of a Peckinpah film, it is Walter Hill. This is not to say that Hill is a cinematic plagiarist? Not at all. Hill is no more a Peckinpah plagiarist than Brian De Palma is a Hitchcock clone.
Hill's earliest movies are my favorites. Those films also have the closest resemblance to Peckinpah's work. This may not be a coincidence as Hill wrote the script for Peckinpah's biggest commercial success, "The Getaway" (1972). I saw the movie "Southern Comfort" for the first time since its theatrical in 1981 release last week. I was amazed how well the movie still played and how much more I got out of it this time around. That seed planted, I decided to share my love of Walter Hill's work as a director and writer in yet another "Video Risk" boxed set. Excuse my testosterone for the next little while, but Walter Hill isn't for wimps.
American Red Cross volunteers have been deployed to the hardest hit areas of Katrina’s destruction, supplying hundreds of
thousands victims left homeless with critical necessities. By making a financial gift to Hurricane 2005 Relief, the Red
Cross can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need.
