One of the most colourful, innovative and controversial film directors of the 60s and 70s, Sam Peckinpah is best known for the challenging classic western The Wild Bunch. Garner Simmons, television and screenwriter who served on the set of two Peckinpah films, spent ten years researching the definitive biography of his sometime mentor. He interviewed Peckinpah himself at great length, and talked candidly with such co-workers as Jason Robards, Steve McQueen, Ali McGraw, Charlton Heston, Dustin Hoffman and Kris Kristofferson, as well as with various film executives and technicians. Their words enhance Simmon's vivid portrait of a complex, intuitive near-genius who, believing that creativity can be born only out of turmoil, was always prepared to cause it.

One of the most innovative films ever made, Sam Peckinpah's motion picture The Wild Bunch was released in 1969. From the outset, the film was considered controversial because of its powerful, graphic, and direct depiction of violence, but it was also praised for its lush photography, intricate camera work, and cutting-edge editing. Peckinpah's tale of an ill-fated, aging outlaw gang bound by a code of honor is often regarded as one of the most complex and impactful Westerns in American cinematic history. The issues dealt with in this groundbreaking film -- violence, morality, friendship, and the legacy of American ambition and compromise -- are just as relevant today as when the film first opened. To acknowledge the significance of The Wild Bunch, this collection brings together some of the leading Peckinpah scholars and critics to examine what many consider to be the director's greatest work. The book's nine essays cover an array of topics. Explored are the function of violence in the film and how its depiction is radically different from what is seen in other movies, the background of the film's production, the European response to the film's view of human nature, and the strong sense of the Texas/Mexico milieu surrounding the film's action.