Peckinpah, Sam (1925-1984), was an American motion-picture director noted for his powerful Western films. He is best known for The Wild Bunch (1969), a controversial film because of its explicit violence. However, the movie has been praised as a brilliant personal vision of the passing of the old Wild West in the early 1900’s.
David Samuel Peckinpah was born on Feb. 21, 1925, in Fresno, California. He graduated from Fresno State University in 1947 and received a master’s degree in theater from the University of Southern California in 1949. Peckinpah began writing screenplays for television Westerns in the mid-1950’s, and later directed episodes of TV Westerns.
Peckinpah made his motion-picture debut as a director with the Western The Deadly Companions (1961). His Ride the High Country (1962) is considered a classic of the Western film for its poetic portrayal of the West in transition to the modern age. Peckinpah’s other Westerns are Major Dundee (1965), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). He also directed Straw Dogs (1971), Junior Bonner (1972), The Getaway (1972), The Killer Elite (1976), Cross of Iron (1977), Convoy (1978), and The Osterman Weekend (1983). Peckinpah died on Dec. 28, 1984.
