Sam Peckinpah - Interview (December 1, 1976)

As you would see, Sam Peckinpah is an eloquent and intelligent man, not only a man of action but rare creator who stands behind his work and who lived and experienced every moment of it, ''one of the few with the strong claim to be called artist''. A man of a unique and complex personality.
Take notice about his behavior and body language. He is a heavy guest to interview and highly intolerant to superficiality.
At the end, when he wanted to speak more and was in the rare mood to share, the BBC had the unique opportunity to participate in history, to stop regular program and try to extent this interview to hour and a half, at least.
If I was director and producer of BBC maybe I would even sacrifice my position and say: ''Fuck it! This is history. Continue Barry. Peggy, can you please bring another bottle and jar of coffee. Thank you. And please, divert boss' calls because I'm not stopping. Cut the commercials.

[@silversnail1413]

Brilliant man. Articulate and sensitive as well. He's been depicted as a violent drunken madman over the years but that was only one side of his personality, and we all have our own demons to wrestle with.

[@shanedurban]

He was quite drunk, but I agree.

[@Shah-of-the-Shinebox]

Sam Peckinpah was one of the greatest rebels of cinema. He gave zero f’s about what people thought, he did what he wanted regarding his films. He has made some of the most entertaining yet provocative films. He deserves more respect.

[@_scabs6669]

I hope people say this about me

[@LightVit]

The Great Director

[@alantracy6757]

He has it, his films will echo into eternity and back

[@thekillingfieldsable]

Sam Peckinpah was an institution. Cross of Iron was a masterpiece. He always got the best out of Warren Oates. This was a great interview.

[@tylsimys67]

"He always got the best out of Warren Oates." The best compliment of Peckinpah ever written. Thank you Sir.

[@spencerglover1]

Very intelligent guy, he was his own man.

[@seanholland2030]

Wise man and poet. Rest in Peace Sam

[@ironpirites]

One of the great "auteurs" of American cinema. Bring Me the Head . . . is one of my favorite films. There is a lot of appreciation and love for Mexico in that film as well as in The Wild Bunch.

[@kingconan3115]

Sam was a fucking legend

[@m.raylewis7714]

The perfect drinking partner we never had.

[@pjr5913]

The real deal

[@tylsimys67]

Kind of doubt that. Monologue or silence, his way or else...

[@plasticweapon]

ehhhhh, NO. you would not have wanted to drink with this guy.

[@user-mj1qo8vm1x]

@@plasticweapon I would in a heartbeat !

[@em7dim9]

@@user-mj1qo8vm1x There's a chance you'd have been beaten to a pulp by his entourage, after Sam getting in the first punch.

[@Ax18NY]

One of my heroes. I love the work of Sam Peckinpah, especially THE WILD BUNCH and CROSS OF IRON. Great film poet. RIP Sam. P.S. Artists will say anything in interviews. Peckinpah was THE master of cinema as Theatre of Cruelty. Personally, I'm grateful for the honest, nihilistic poetry of his work.

[@andipandi5641]

yes.. i thought that Malcolm X, Frank Zappa and Germaine Greer were the holy trinity.. i forgot for a moment about Sam..

[@seanv567]

Cross of Iron is a masterpiece about bravery, questions on bravery and disillusionment. It also showcases above all the late Sam Peckinpah's interest in philosophy something missed by the dunces in the critique world who were preoccupied about how he showed violence on screen and nothing to them mattered after that.

[@JHarder1000]

Orson Welles called Cross of Iron the greatest antiwar film since All Quiet On the Western Front

[@markharrison2544]

"Cross of Iron" was a stupid film.

[@JHarder1000]

Mark Harrison: That is your opinionI have never seen it.I prefer watch it myself.

[@robzilla730]

Joseph Harder Mark Harrison probably thinks Brokeback Mountain is a great film.

[@markharrison2544]

@@robzilla730 "Cross of Iron" was just unrealistic low budget crap with an elderly cast.

[@prowokator]

Oh God that's good coffee! *pours whisky in it*

[@ninfilms]

Very intelligent man shame he passed away quite early in his life. Very influential filmmaker.

[@Madbandit77]

+John Ninnis He was 59 actually.

[@asafisher7407]

Roy Phillips still not that old

[@jorgepalomares8025]

Roy Phillips still young

[@ninfilms]

@@Madbandit77 Well 59 is still a young age. At least he did make a great film Cross of Iron after this film.

[@TRINZINI]

I had never heard Peckinpah in interview and can't believe that the articulate, brilliant, cultured man I just listened to is the same Peckinpah whose on-the-set drunken antics were so famous (and damaging to his reputation).

[@redcorgo6]

A somewhat tragic hero but my favorite film maker bar none. This interview just sealed that idea. TY 4 posting.

[@paulstreet761]

Awesome honesty. Beyond the issues and dependency in his life, his films are his legacy. No filters. No PR B.S press junket interviews. They would never allow this kind of conversation to air mainstream today. I doubt the filmmakers today would dare strip naked and be this honest.

[@JohnBlessingPaligap]

Fascinating man and sadly missed.

[@adamturner1563]

I love how he quotes and quotes. All hail bloody sam!

[@gordonm.7387]

Drinking bourbon, smoking, speaking his mind. These days, its some hipster director yukking it up, schoomzing about his overlong CGI comic book snooze-fest.

[@markharrison2544]

He killed himself in his 50s.

[@percuriosus2637]

@@markharrison2544 Wasnt it a Heartattack?

[@nl3064]

@@percuriosus2637 Yes, but clearly he's being facetious. He's saying Peckinpah drank and coke'd himself to death. His lifestyle caused his heart to give out. Fun Fact: his coke habit got so bad that at one point Peckinpah went down to Colombia (under the pretext of scouting for a movie) to try to establish his own coke connection with a Cartel - an endeavor that failed miserably.

[@mannyv3212]

Ah a man of culture. You're absolutely right Super Hero movies are shit.

[@pub666pub]

Interesting that he trashes "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", a film as misunderstood as his own !

[@robzilla730]

JosT TCM is just as much a classic as The Wild Bunch

[@j.b.9260]

Not that violent a movie compared with his films.

[@alexdelarge5872]

I bet he didn't even see it. He was probably tired of being "blamed" for it all the time, even though TCM isn't nearly as graphic as people would imagine it to be.

[@cschulzke26]

I love how, in addition to the coffee, there is a bottle of booze at ready that Sam picks up halfway through and pours into the coffee he praised only minutes earlier. Classic Peckinpah.

[@danielschaeffer1294]

Sam does talk as if he's slightly bombed. But then booze was his weakness. Like a lot of people in his generation he though that hard boozing was a sign of machismo. It killed Bogie and Holden.

[@palmershort5089]

Cigarettes killed Bogie, throat cancer. Holden tripped and fell causing a severe gash in his forehead. Unconscious he bled to death alone in his apartment.

[@markharrison2544]

@@palmershort5089 Alcoholism also caused Bogart's esophageal cancer.

[@trenttrip6205]

@@palmershort5089 Holden slipped because he was drunk, and heavy drinking is going to exacerbate basically any kind of ill health condition RE bogart

[@19Dfuck]

I love a lot of what he said here. His views on war and the solution was brilliant! What he said about Always surrounding yourself with people who know more, great advice.

[@demirpla]

8:45 "I cannot compete with the news."

[@Rizzporsiempre]

Very intelligent as well as gifted man.

[@rayjr62]

You are entitled to your opinion. personally, I never understood the gratuitous violence in his films. And he treated the film crew, stunt crew and actors he worked with like shit. And in this interview, he comes off as a pompous ass.

[@edmund184]

This was head and shoulders above any interview Barry Norman ever conducted.

[@jcmangan]

Tarantino would have been impossible without Sam changing the landscape of cinema.

[@stephenjoiner3738]

Tarantino can't carry Peckinpah's lunch.

[@jatinderdevgun9093]

@@stephenjoiner3738 AMEN to that buddy...

[@mikegan73]

Always Norman keeps returning to the question of violence in Peckinpah's movies as if that was all his films were about.The violence only takes up a small percentage of any of his films, there is so much more to talk about than the blood and guts.Love listening to Sam Peckinpah speak here, such an interesting and charismatic man.

[@TheThavius]

I love the growing sarcasm from Sam as he pours first: a coffee, then booze and then lights a cigarette.

[@talesfromtinpanalley-thedo6198]

This Barry Norman interview is from a twice weekly film slot on a now defunct nightly BBC2 TV series which preceded Newsnight's succession in the very same slot on BBC 2 around 10.30pm - the short lived revived Tonight series. The master is missing. This is off a VHS or Betamax domestic tape. Well done for whoever has this tape? As its the only copy in existence. The reason this chat was curtailed when it was when Sam Peckinpah says at the end, "Don't Stop!" was because IT WAS LIVE-TO-AIR. Quite an amazing interview. I saw it when it went out as a riveted teenager, hanging on to every jaw dropping word! Never equalled nor matched. A rare glimpse into the mind of the great man.

[@RobinSchoutenRS]

Are you sure that the master is missing? its not in the BBC archives? And what's the name of Barry Norman's film programme?

[@ucantinjaaninja]

this is one the best interviews I have seen. I love Sam's je ne sais quo. This is a masterclass.

[@jaimonjohn2516]

I still Believe we only seen 50% of greatness from this Man

[@retter2critical]

BBC coffee never looked so good.

[@_scabs6669]

Sam Peckinpah talks like a character in a Sam Peckinpah movie

[@danielschaeffer1294]

"I cannot compete wth the news." Amen. This interviewer is just out to humiliate his subject.

[@andipandi5641]

no .. got that wrong.. this is the BBC.. they ask everyone challenging questions in order to bring out the best in them .. would not have spent so much time with the guy - if they did not so much respect him.. BBC would have treated Dennis Potter just the same - the man who they paid to write their best TV plays of the time..

[@plasticweapon]

@@andipandi5641 your faith in the BBC is touching and misplaced.

[@andipandi5641]

@@plasticweapon BBC has gone terribly down hill since then - now too often most concerned to chase the rating and to avoid upsetting anyone with any power and influence..

[@THEBANDIT7979]

When men were men. Intellectual but not snobby. Just smart and experienced. No bullshit.

[@mandalayfilmclub]

God I love this guy.

[@RW4X4X3006]

Here, Barry is dealing with a US Marine and WW2 Vet. I knew many as a kid, and every last fucking one of them kept a bottle of lightning within easy reach. When they spoke, they didn't mince words.

[@thekillingfieldsable]

RW4X4X3006 They all earned that right.

[@1223steffen]

Great director

[@andyrod0077]

wow!!! just awesome!!

[@Azgore]

Best Director of all time!

[@monksally]

First time I have ever heard his voice... I always imagined him having a southern or Texas accent, kinda like L.Q. Jones or Warren Oates.

[@baboon9er]

+monksally He was from Bakersfield, California I think

[@Madbandit77]

+Ryan Wulfsohn He was born in Fresno, CA.

[@AidanPeckinpaugh]

My last name is Peckinpah, this is one of the only people that I respect in my lineage.

[@kabukikommandofourthworld5266]

Pure Peckinpah, a sheer masterclass of a man, and a grandmaster of American cinema, period. The man even sounds like he's seen it and done it all, very calm, cool and collected, with an inflection you just don't hear in American men anymore.

[@AlexDeLarge77]

Two film makes who have a debt of influence too Don Siegel. Sam Peckinpah and Clint Eastwood. Three of my favourite film makers and all proper, proper men.

[@mikec.9130]

I think he was a super screwed up person... had a butt-load of problems and addictions -- very abused, abusive and jagged. But that said, GOD HIS FUCKING MOVIES WERE GOOD.

[@benjaminprietop]

I wonder what the people who used to complain about the violence in Peckinpah´s films think about the violence in today´s movies, which is far worse in my opinion

[@jorgepalomares8025]

davyjones2001 far more and not poetic at all like it used to be

[@elboscohieronymusbosch370]

Worst and cheaper nowadays

[@Hugh_Morris]

Far worse and with much less style

[@JamesRundeFilm]

"I must say, BBC coffee never looked so good." lol

[@DenkyManner]

Peckinpah is only around 52 years old here. I thought he was in his 60s, turns out he died at 59

[@orangewarm1]

Tarantino modeled himself on Peckinpah, but Peckinpah was attempting to recreate reality. Tarantino just thinks like a child. I studied media violence, these journalists dont. Violent society doesn't come from movies. Only video games can increase the likelihood of violence. He's correct, the news is much more dangerous: it frames rare narratives as commonplace; it repeats without your consent and it seeks to sell the 'cinematic nature' of the act. Cross of Iron ended like Scorsese's Last Temptation. Ran out of film and made the ending stronger.

[@THEBANDIT7979]

Lee Lorenz Tarantino is an exploitation film maker the type of people Sam hated. Reservoir dogs is the best film Tarantino has done and that film has Sam all over it.

[@mrblobby7864]

Video games don't cause violence either.

[@TurboVonCrim]

brutal, uncompromising, honest

[@TheHypnotstCollector]

I lived near North Fork Ca from 2001-2018 and spent a lot a time there. The lumber mill closed in the 1990's. It was the gateway into Mammoth Pool and the most remote unpopulated area of the Sierra Mtns. Still is but now the Entire San Joaquin River drainage is burned and those fires since 2012 have burned right up to North Fork. A cool 700,000 acres.

[@TheHypnotstCollector]

PS, North Fork , where Sam lived, is the town in "The Rifleman". Sam sounds kinda like William F Buckley

[@RobinSchoutenRS]

Hello Koyaanisqatsi, where have you find this rare television interview of Peckinpah? And do you have more footage of Sam?

[@davidcarney1827]

A true artist. His movies will still be masterpierces

[@DMalltheway]

Ride the High Country is a underrated western classic! Too bad John Wayne never worked with him.

[@RW4X4X3006]

Peckinpah would have taken Wayne in a direction that would have made The Searchers look like a Sunday picnic. Wayne would have probably liked the idea as an actor, but he had an image to maintain, regarding his own productions.

[@elldre3]

'You always knew better. You just forgot for a little while.' Peckinpah also knew how to write dialogue to accompany his films.

[@2011vha]

This is amazing. Thank you.

[@Stanleykubrick2]

Amazing video! I don't know where you found it but thanks for the upload.

[@alantracy6757]

I adore this man’s films what a guy ❤

[@adamquiles2468]

He died the year I was born. I must admit that I enjoyed a few of his movies too bad he died a bit young he could've made more movies

[@nothingmatters321]

Interesting that he was willing to criticize his use of violence. Quite a bit different than Tarantino's handling of this ...

[@davebudge4526]

As a film buff for four plus decades his films are quite mesmerising and they have undoubtedly aged well, some people crave pat answers and a feel good sense leaving the cinema Sam didn't or couldn't do that and many of todays great directors cite him as an important inspiration also he was a soldier who saw real violence in action and its disturbing effects on people then he portrayed that in his work and he was described as weirdo glorifying violence.....go figure.

[@Sharps.50]

Many classics from this Amazing Director with the Wild Bunch being an all time Classic , the only way you can take violence out of the cinema is to ban it , But how can you make a picture about a violent happening without depicting it ...R.I.P. Sam Peckinpah , how I would love to see all the uncut versions of these masterpieces .

[@zingzangspillip1]

Looking at the violence in Alfredo, it is hard to see what all the fuss was about. There is so much more violence on TV and in films these days. All I see is great tension and well-composed shots.

[@trenttrip6205]

far more artistic and interesting than most violence today too

[@maestroclassico5801]

Could you imagine what kind of films Sam could make in THIS century? Whew!

[@Tony-hu7uk]

Thank you so much for this! Aside from the little segment in the Hollywood Mavericks documentary,this is the first interview I've seen with this genius.Are there more out there? I've read tons of interviews with him but only seen this one.Thanks again!

[@nialwestwood]

Pre Scorsese Peckinpah was god of film making

[@robzilla730]

Nial Westwood agreed. Better than Leone IMO

[@Tony-hu7uk]

Scorsese should not be in the same sentence with Peckinpah!

[@tylerbushong3452]

“I am a typed director. If you read a poster that said “Sam Peckinpah presents Cinderella”, you’d expect to see Prince Charming mow down the wicked stepmother and the sisters.”- Sam Peckinpah

[@dominicdavison8590]

Great Director but shocked at how all the alcohol and drugs made him look 20 years older than 51.

[@irish66]

Good interview. Sure, Barry Norman dwelt on the violence for more, than might have been necessary. But when Peckinpah spoke, he shut up and listened. So seems he was not a fan of The Texas Chainsaw Masacare. He obviously likes to take the piss too. He had me laughing on his description of the filming of Cross of Iron.

[@SuperWillHatch]

Sam Peckinpah was a genius, and The Wild Bunch is one of the best Westerns ever made. What show is this, by the way?

[@talesfromtinpanalley-thedo6198]

This Barry Norman interview is from a twice weekly film slot on a now defunct nightly BBC2 TV series which preceded Newsnight's succession in the very same slot on BBC 2 around 10.30pm - the short lived revived Tonight series. The master is missing. This is off a VHS or Betamax domestic tape. Well done for whoever has this tape? As its the only copy in existence. The reason this chat was curtailed when it was when Sam Peckinpah says at the end, "Don't Stop!" was because IT WAS LIVE-TO-AIR. Quite an amazing interview. I saw it when it went out as a riveted teenager, hanging on to every jaw dropping word! Never equalled nor matched. A rare glimpse into the mind of the great man.

[@LiberaLib]

10:26 preach my humble brother

[@seanv567]

Truth be told with regards to violence in films that the late Sam Peckinpah showed in some of his films and in some cases scenes that are disturbing, these stories or films were warned by the producers and film-maker alike that they would be violent so that should not be a surprise. Sometimes the audience and critics remind me of those that see a train crash about to happen , yet don't look away and it haunts them forever when they should have not looked in the first place. Now as an artist that wants to make a point at a certain time in his story telling and really wants to hit home the point of the ugliness of violence and the ugliness of mankind, he shows it in a manner that he feels will be effective enough to back that point up. Many that do not like this type of show, will always say it is sensationalism, but that is complete nonsense, the new age horrors are like that as well as any action film where there are are chase scene and an innocent passer-by gets shot in his head to the amusement of the audience, or Torrentino's over use of blood in his films are sensationalism, Peckinpah's use of violence is just as justified is often not talked lovely beautiful moments between the two main characters in Ballad of Cable Hogue as well as the main characters and their wonderful family moments in Junior Bonner are justified.

[@user-rt9zq8rs9k]

This director is the reason I call Quentin Tarantino a fanboy director . Sam Peckinpah is the real deal .

[@delamerressac1067]

Sam Pinckinpah's masterpiece scene is the one where the love between Doc and his wife is reborn from the ashes, in the middle of the garbage. (The getaway Mc Queen ft Ali Mc Graw)... No one! Not even Kubrick, has produced such an allegory

[@JohnSpawn1]

5:35 "I was wrong." 18:00 "That's a bunch of shit."

[@_scabs6669]

"Who is 'THEY' to tell me what I can or can't do?" -Quentin Tarantino in regards to his film Django Unchained. "The version of the film that got released is the tame version. There was a lot of even worse stuff that got cut out of it that we couldn't show" - Sam Jack on his role in Django Unchained, or something like that.

[@jokermann01]

Anybody else feel like Peckinpah would be a really cool first name for someone to have?

[@j.b.9260]

Should I ever have a son, I'll name him Peckinpah Hamill.

[@floydvaughn836]

Last word: I can't compete with The News.

[@rober7184]

Sam is god.

[@stuartwilliams-fw4vo]

If only Peckinpah could have made Under the Volcano and not John Huston. And with Richard Burton and not Albert Finney.

[@johncarranza]

Why Sam looked like he's 60 when he's just 50/51.

[@MatimoreAgain]

I thought the same. Only 51yo, but looks like a senior citizen. I'm NOT knocking that at all, tho. In fact I am very attracted to men like this. It's just a testament of the hardcore life he lived.

[@DreDaDon16]

Alcohol and cocaine

[@ReR7474]

García, not Garthía.

[@GoodTimeGirrrl]

Brilliant answers, 10/10 :)

[@DiamorphineDeath]

Interesting that both Sam and Warren Oates lost their fathers at an early age.

[@jfjvhgsieofl]

There will always be violence in this world and you cannot blame works of art that show violence honestly, and how painful and tragic it is, for violence supposedly caused in its name. If that were so, let's burn all the Bible's, ban Shakespeare, Bull fighting, boxing, etc. By repressing something and showing a lie, you do more damage than if you show the truth. (Of course, there are movies that celebrate violence, but they're so badly made and obviously trash that they usually disappear very quickly, and cannot be compared to a film by Peckinpah or Scorsese.)

[@glenabel9251]

Barry Norman was out his depth here, he did seem to waffle on a bit, thinking back.

[@Vebinz]

Great man! But was this January 12 or December 1? Thanks a billion for posting this gem!

[@HAUNUI3]

Vebinz 1st December of 1976. You're welcome!

[@Vebinz]

HAUNUI3 Thank you. I am always confused about numeric dates convention.

[@theox8276]

A wise man.

[@dsmsl9734]

Tarantino Scorsese all faced the same. Prat reviewers lauding Shakespeare and conveniently forgetting the violence in his plays

[@realdaybreaker8013]

you bloody 'Bloody Sam'

[@fugazzetaymantecol8964]

The Tarantino of the seventies.

[@talesfromtinpanalley-thedo6198]

truly. I saw it as it went out and was stunned! (Aged 17)

[@plasticweapon]

they actually don't have anything in common.

[@fugazzetaymantecol8964]

@@plasticweapon I don't ask for your opinion.

[@Vampire-666.]

The Quentin Tarantino of the 60s and 70s

[@Malouco1]

You can tell how fed up he was of being asked the same surface level impersonal questions. He also looks like he's trying to sober up hard.

[@RoddyTullenz]

18:00

[@serjeick]

-I canot compete with the news- end of the stoy about Sam endorsin violence. It´s as funny as sad how naive we still are as a society. Not ready for mature lectures of the reality, of the real world, even through artistic ways, even nowadays...

[@JustSomeCanadianGuy]

3:20 - Too bad to hear him trash Texas Chainsaw Massacre and not understanding it's a great film.

[@Hollowshape]

He probably didn’t see it

[@alantracy6757]

Compared to the meaning in his films Texas chainsaw is a porntypethingee

[@johnwebsterwallace4884]

Barry Norman if placed in - at least - the present and the last 30 years. Would be thought of as out of touch...or an idiot. He was always one to play it safe.

[@yucelyldrmodabas6804]

MAN OF WİSDOM

[@James-tf7hc]

Nobody was better than sam

[@portorico6593]

I am scottish, i walked into a bar bought a drink and went to sit down, i guy was sitting , i said ok pal, he said don't ok me or i will take you outside, so i went and sat elsewhere, he comes over to me again and asks me to go outside, i said to him if you dont go away i am going to fucking hurt you right where you stand, the coward went away and i sat down and had my drink, the moral of this story, do not fuck with me or anyone like me, we don't do walking away from arseholes who think they are tough guys, but are really little boys playing at being bullies, but not prepared to take the consequences when presented to them in harsh reality

[@irish66]

Huh?

[@Shalanaya]

I agree that Texas Chainsaw Massacre can be easily seen as trash, it is raw, not poetic in a nuanced way, Peckinpah was never raw in a direct way, he was ambiguous, artistic in a playful way, Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs or Killer Elite have multiple emotional layers, TCM is a one note film that we see a lot of these days.

[@adamturner1563]

I disagree. There is a charm to TCM that keeps it as big as it is. More notes than one, id say. Just levels of madness that increase as the picture goes on.

[@adamquiles2468]

@@adamturner1563 Texas Chainsaw Massacre was exploitation that's horrible filmmaking

[@NovaFeedback1979]

I seriously doubt Peckinpah actually watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he was just going on what he read in the press at the time. It's not even that graphic of a movie, mainly relying on atmosphere.

[@jcmangan]

The Scotch can really get to you.