R.G. Armstrong
A portrait of director Sam Peckinpah focusing more on his personal life than his moviemaking - featuring lots of interviews, backstage footage and even some of his TV commercials and rock videos.
The life and times of maverick filmmaker Sam Peckinpah (1925 - 1984)
Through a poignant array of film clips and rare interviews, this documentary reveals a tortured artist whose genius and demons changed the Western forever.
An outlaw band flees a posse and rides into Refuge, a small town where no one carries a gun, drinks, or swears. The town is actually Purgatory, and the peaceful inhabitants are all famous dead outlaws and criminals such as Doc Holiday and Wild Bill Hickok who must redeem themselves before gaining admittance to Heaven...or screw up and go to Hell.
A mentally unbalanced man kidnaps the woman carrying his child to prevent her from having an abortion.
Los Angeles heroin addict Jesse endangers the lives of his childhood friends after he discovers a briefcase full of money from a drug deal gone bad, and returns home with it to Texas. Hoping to turn his life around with his newfound wealth, Jessie endures detox with the support of his friends. However, the gang leader behind the drug deal, along with his cronies, trace Jesse's footsteps to Texas to exact revenge and take back their money.
Oscar Bonsetter tells a dying prisoner that he will take revenge on the sadistic guard who killed him. In exchange, Oscar is told of a stash of money. Oscar is eventually released from prison but when he goes to get revenge, he gets sidetracked by the now-handicapped guard and his alluring wife, Rose. The tension builds as Oscar becomes more and more attracted to Rose.
Street killer is retrained by a black-belt fighter who works for the government.
Every six hundred years, a great evil has the opportunity to escape and unleash Armageddon. A group of five stones has the power to either free the evil, or banish it for another six hundred years. An order of Druids battles with a Warlock determined to unleash his father upon the world.
This straight-talking program seeks to understand the enigmatic and controversial Sam Peckinpah, whose violent films such as The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs had a telling effect on the cinema of the 1970s and 80s. Those who knew and worked with him, including actor James Coburn, actress Ali MacGraw, his associate Katherine Haber, his cousin Bob Peckinpah, and several screenwriters and producers, examine his life in an attempt to separate the man from the persona. Clips from key films reinforce this detailed discussion of Peckinpah's art and a fixation on violence that still permeates Hollywood today.
The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice's united mob.
When Travis, middle-aged, working class man, returns home to visit his parents, he quickly learns that his hood is rife with criminal activity and gang warfare. Quickly, Travis finds himself thrust into a position to defend his family and neighbors from the punks who terrorize them on a daily basis. Good thing he has a military training, enabling the man to become a one-man vigilante unit against the forces of evil in his town.
A Vietnam veteran and a young man set out to rescue a woman kidnapped by a backwoods family.
A group of dangerous terrorists succeeds to get hold of a tank of the army and all its crew.
Dutch and his group of commandos are hired by the CIA to rescue downed airmen from guerillas in a Central American jungle. The mission goes well but as they return they find that something is hunting them. Nearly invisible, it blends in with the forest, taking trophies from the bodies of its victims as it goes along. Occasionally seeing through its eyes, the audience sees it is an intelligent alien hunter, hunting them for sport, killing them off one at a time.
A dedicated sheriff in the 1880s who, after his first family is ravaged by a gang of renegades, gets a chance for revenge years later when the same outlaws threaten his new family and the frontier town he single handedly tamed.
LBJ: The Early Years was a television movie that appeared on the NBC network in February 1987, depicting the life of former President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson from 1934 until 1973. Actor Randy Quaid won a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of Johnson.
A small-town loser determines to have one more shot at the big time by winning a football game.
Ben, a former Navy officer now works on a rig as the guy in charge, but since a lot of crew keeps dying whilst diving and planting the rig in the sea he needs men who are willing to take the risk. He gets in touch with an old friend from the Navy who works in a prison as sort of an diving training base and there Ben selects out the best to complete the task, but with superiors breathing down his neck, a camera crew now jumping on board and a deadline to meet he wants to finish the job and make sure the men stay alive, but not all things work out as he plans.
Reverend Julian Shay (Willie Nelson) strode into the saloon, pulled out his six-shooter, and killed his adulterous wife (Morgan Fairchild) and the man she had left him for. It was the beginning of his violent transformation from God-Loving preacher to ruthless outlaw.
A boy preacher named Isaac goes to a town in Nebraska called Gatlin and gets all the children to murder every adult in town.
The archetypical renegade Texas Ranger wages war against a drug kingpin with automatic weapons, his wits and martial arts after a gun battle leaves his partner dead. All of this inevitably culminates a martial arts showdown between the drug lord and the ranger, and involving the woman they both love.
A young woman gets raped by a mysterious man-creature, and years later her son begins a horrific transformation into a similar beast.
After starring in "The Sacketts", Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott team up again but this time as Mac and Dal Traven, in a movie based on a classic Louis L'Amour novel. They are brothers, who meet up at the end of the Civil War fighting on opposite sides. They go home only to find their family in dire need and their sisters and brother kidnapped by ruthless raiders. They set out to rescue their family.
Nita, a divorced mother of two boys, is stuck working as a telephone operator in a small Texas town in World War II. Her friendship with a sailor on leave causes tongues to wag in town.
A speculation on the fate of the famous hijacker who parachuted with his ransom and disappeared in the mountains. Has Cooper succeeded in following a meticulous plan to disappear into anonymity despite the best efforts of a dogged cop?
An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed (1887-1920), who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical commitment to the socialist revolution in Russia, his dream of spreading its principles among the members of the American working class, and his troubled romantic relationship with the writer Louise Bryant (1885-1936).
Semi-biographical film based on the experiences of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
A light-hearted view of the Dalton Gang's legendary raid on Coffeyville, Kansas and the years leading up to it as the brothers form themselves into a gang of horse thieves, train and bank robbers with their arch enemy, Detective Will Smith, constantly on their heels.
A World War I deserter competes in the first long-distance motorcycle race.
An abusive sexual relationship between a white spinster schoolteacher and a young black janitor in 1956 Kansas complicates her struggle to come to grips with her sexuality and emotions.
A dog that is a minion of Satan terrorizes a suburban family.
Joe Pendleton is a quarterback preparing to lead his team to the superbowl when he is almost killed in an accident. An overanxious angel plucks him to heaven only to discover that he wasn't ready to die, and that his body has been cremated. A new body must be found, and that of a recently-murdered millionaire is chosen. His wife and accountant—the murderers—are confused by this development, as he buys the L.A. Rams in order to once again quarterback them into the Superbowl.
A scientist builds a machine that will enable him to travel back and forth in time, but when he puts it in motion, he gets more than he bargained for.
A fortuneless auto mechanic inherits a billion dollar financial empire when his uncle dies. However, there is one stipulation. In order to claim his fortune he must arrive in San Francisco within twenty days, and along the way there are a number of people who want to "share" his wealth.
The film is set in the fictional Utah community of Santa Ynez, which is being terrorized by a mysterious black coupe that appears out of nowhere and begins running people down. After the car kills off the town's Sheriff (John Marley), it becomes the job of Captain Wade Parent (James Brolin) to stop the murderous driver.
A dishonest businessman asks rich layabout Craig Blake to help him buy a gym, which will be demolished for a development project in Alabama. But after spending time with weightlifter Joe Santo and gym worker Mary Tate Farnsworth, Craig wants out of the deal. The property negotiations turn ugly, causing a brawl at the gym and a spectacle at a big bodybuilding meet, as Craig learns that it's not easy to turn your back on fair-weather friends.
A Vietnam veteran gets caught in a mob war with a couple of double-crossers.
When their moonshiner father is killed by a corrupt deputy, two young girls decide to take over his business and get revenge on the men who had him killed
An independent trucker with a pregnant wife fights cargo crooks and the big shot they work for.
For old friends Roger (Peter Fonda) and Frank (Warren Oates) and their wives (Lara Parker of Dark Shadows and Loretta Swit of M*A*S*H), it was supposed to be "the best damn vacation they ever had." But their RV road trip takes a deadly detour at a secluded campsite when they accidentally witness a Satanic orgy and brutal human sacrifice. Now horror hits the highway as the couples are chased by blood-crazed cultists through some of the most intense crash-and-burn mayhem of the decade and into one of the greatest twist endings in drive-in history.
Two black bounty hunters ride into a small town out West in pursuit of an outlaw. They discover that the town has no sheriff, and soon take over that position, much against the will of the mostly white townsfolk.
The wife and mistress of the abusive headmaster of a boy's school plot and carry out his murder. They dump his body in the murky swimming pool at the school and await for it to surface. After several days, some unusual circumstances point to clues that he is not dead after all.
A roaming hillbilly encounters several unsavory characters and does battle with his silver-stringed guitar.
An aging Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons--his sole purpose being to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.
An ex con teams up with federal agents to help them with breaking up a moonshine ring.
A photographer travels to the stunning vistas of Colorado and becomes involved in an effort to save a herd of wild horses.
Jack Beauregard, one of the greatest gunman of the Old West, only wants to retire in peace and move to Europe. But a young gunfighter, known as "Nobody", who idolizes Beauregard, wants him to go out in glory. So he arranges for Jack to face the 150-man gang known as The Wild Bunch and earn his place in history.
The gangs of Jesse James and Cole Younger join forces to rob the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota, but things do not go as planned.
After losing eight years to prison, cowboy J. W. Coop is released to return to life as a professional rodeo cowboy in the 60's. Determined to make up for the lost 'prime' years of his career, he doggedly goes forward, and learns that not only has the business of rodeo changed during his incarceration but society as a whole has made dramatic changes as well.
This is the story of the foundation sire of the Morgan Horse Breed.
A black champion boxer and his white female companion struggle to survive while the white boxing establishment looks for ways to knock him down.
Double-crossed and left without water in the desert, Cable Hogue is saved when he finds a spring. It is in just the right spot for a much needed rest stop on the local stagecoach line, and Hogue uses this to his advantage. He builds a house and makes money off the stagecoach passengers. Hildy, a prostitute from the nearest town, moves in with him. Hogue has everything going his way until the advent of the automobile ends the era of the stagecoach.
Set in the immediate post-Civil War era, The McMasters stars Brock Peters as a black Union soldier who finds he must figuratively fight the war all over again. Returning to his southern hometown, Peters quickly learns that nothing has really changed: he is a "free"man in name only. Peters' ex-master Burl Ives magnanimously gives the former slave a plot of land, but only Native-American David Carradine and his tribesmen are willing to work for a black man. The "invasion" of Indians serves to stir up the racial divisiveness even farther, thanks to local rabble-rouser Jack Palance.
Vietnam war hero, accused of murdering his brother, recruits his socialite girlfriend to hunt for the real killer.
Wayne Newton stars as an accused thug hiding out at a camp for blind children.
T.H.E. Cat is an American action drama that aired during the 1966-1967 television season on NBC, co-sponsored by R.J. Reynolds and Lever Brothers. The series was created by Harry Julian Fink, the creator of Dirty Harry . Robert Loggia starred as the title character, Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat. T. H. E. Cat is a forerunner of television characters such as The Equalizer, who skirt the edges of the law and bring skills from earlier careers on behalf of those needing more help than the police can offer. The series preceded the 1968-1970 ABC television series It Takes a Thief, which was also about a cat burglar who used his skills for good.
During the last winter of the Civil War, cavalry officer Amos Dundee leads a contentious troop of Army regulars, Confederate prisoners and scouts on an expedition into Mexico to destroy a band of Apaches who have been raiding U.S. bases in Texas.
A rancher is pressured by his cheating wife and a gang leader, into trying to cripple a marshal's gun hand, after that marshal killed his murderous son in self defense.
An old woman has fought with death a thousand times and has always won. But now she finds herself afraid to let a wounded policeman in her door for fear he is Mr. Death. Is he?
An ex-lawman is hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. But what he doesn't realize is that his partner and old friend is plotting to double-cross him.
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
The John Wesley Powell expedition of 1869 explores the dangerous Colorado River, withstands internal dissension, and finally discovers the Grand Canyon.
Cool, cultured John Gant rides into Lordsburg. Gant is a professional killer, and although no one knows who he is there to kill, they are all worried. Everyone has enemies, and maybe Gant is in town for them. While they wait for him to make his move, paranoia starts taking over... Written by Ken Yousten John Gant, hired assassin rides into town. No one is sure of the identity of his intended victim. Townsfolk have shady pasts that make each one believe that John Gant is there to kill them. While each townsperson is falling apart from guilt, Gant is waiting in the hotel but is still given the blame for the shootings and the suicide of the Banker. Written by Carol Johnson
Orphan turns bad, finds redemption with some help from boyhood pal. This movie is of interest because of the presence of a young Steve McQueen, the leading man being John Drew Barrymore, father of the more famous Drew, and for being based on a novel by Harold Robbins, famous for steamy writing in his day.
The naive cowboy Tod Lohman accidentally kills the son of the powerful land baron Hunter Boyd. Tod runs for his life, pursued by the dead man's vengeful brothers. Tod shelters on the ranch of Amos Bradley and he falls in love with his daughter Juanita. However, Tod is concerned that he'll eventually have to leave when his pursuers catch up with him.
Archie Lee Meighan is a failing cotton gin owner who is married to Baby Doll, a 19-year old childlike beauty whose father arranged the marriage for financial reasons. As Archie awaits the arrival of Baby Doll's 20th birthday, the day that they are supposed to consummate their marriage, he faces interference from business rival Silva Vacarro, who plots to seduce Baby Doll away from Meighan.
