Much has been written about the revolutionary filmmaking of the late 1960s...but Stratton...has added a crucial piece of the puzzle with this 50th-anniversary history ... Stratton paints a wonderfully full portrait of director Sam Peckinpah and his quest for a more realistic depiction of violence at a time when the brutality of the Vietnam War was increasingly penetrating American living rooms ... This engaging, well-researched book belongs in every library and in the hands of every student of cinema.
... [an] dmiring and informative account ... Be that as it may, reading W.K. Stratton’s fine book after watching The Wild Bunch can make for a rich aesthetic feast.
... an ambitious and lively history ... At the heart of Stratton’s book are dozens of informative and colorful interviews, conducted with everyone from screenwriters and stuntmen to Hollywood producers and Mexican film stars. Stratton follows the cast and crew to the film’s primary location, the dusty Mexican state of Coahuila, where Sanchez quickly realized that something special was happening ... Stratton also places the movie in its historical context ... Stratton convincingly argues that the film, far from being nihilistic, is in fact a tragedy.
