COFFEE WITH SAM: A PECKIN-PUFF MOMENT

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Dig this twenty minute interview with Sam Peckinpah done for the BBC in 1976, as he was finishing post production on 'Cross Of Iron' and preparing to shoot 'Convoy' (I thought the two came in reverse order in his career as they do in his filmography but I was wrong...so so wrong). Sam is an interesting man. Intelligent, quiet in a lethal kind of way, darkly humorous, thoughtful etc. Much is made of the violence in his films which seems, from this perspective, to be a wasted interview opportunity--why bother with all that blather given where we are now in the world when we could be talking some really interesting shit with this singular fellow? Sam drinks coffee and smokes and talks and about halfway through you might find yourself getting a little tired of the line of questioning. Perhaps Sam felt the same way because that's when he reaches for the bottle of Bourbon on the table next to him and adds a healthy shot to his coffee. The next ten minutes of the interview become not only funnier and more interesting but also show the dark and bitter wisdom that lay behind Sam's eyes. This is not a man you wanted to cross. I'm not even sure having a drink with him was a good idea for very long...

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