Editing Sam Peckinpah (section)

==Television career==
On the recommendation of [[Don Siegel]], Peckinpah established himself during the late 1950s as a scriptwriter of [[Television Westerns|Western]] series of the era, selling scripts to ''[[Gunsmoke]]'', ''[[Have Gun – Will Travel]]'',  ''[[Broken Arrow (TV series)|Broken Arrow]]'', ''[[Klondike (TV series)|Klondike]]'', ''[[The Rifleman]]'', and ''[[Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre]]'', the latter [[Four Star Television]] productions.{{sfn|Sam Peckinpah|IMDB}} He wrote one episode "The Town" (December 13, 1957) for the [[CBS]] series, ''[[Trackdown (TV series)|Trackdown]]''.{{sfn|Weddle|p=126}}

Peckinpah wrote a screenplay from the novel ''The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones'', a draft that evolved into the 1961 [[Marlon Brando]] film ''[[One-Eyed Jacks]]''.{{sfn|Simmons|p=28}} His writing led to directing, and he directed a 1958 episode of ''Broken Arrow'' (generally credited as his first official directing job) and several 1960 episodes of ''[[Klondike (TV series)|Klondike]]'', (co-starring [[James Coburn]], [[L. Q. Jones]], [[Ralph Taeger]], [[Joi Lansing]], and [[Mari Blanchard]]). He also directed the CBS [[Situation comedy|sitcom]] ''[[Mr. Adams and Eve]]'', starring [[Howard Duff]] and [[Ida Lupino]].{{sfn|Simmons|pp=28–29}}{{sfn|Klondike|IMDB}}

In 1958, Peckinpah wrote a script for ''Gunsmoke'' that was rejected due to content. He reworked the screenplay, titled ''The Sharpshooter'', and sold it to ''Zane Grey Theater''. The episode received popular response and became the television series ''[[The Rifleman]]'', starring [[Chuck Connors]]. Peckinpah directed four episodes of the series (with guest stars [[R. G. Armstrong]] and [[Warren Oates]]), but left after the first year. ''The Rifleman'' ran for five seasons and achieved enduring popularity in syndication.{{sfn|Simmons|pp=29–30}}{{sfn|Rifleman|IMDB}}

===''The Westerner''===
{{main|The Westerner (TV series)}}
[[File:Brian Keith The Westerner 1960.JPG|thumb|right|Brian Keith with [[Spike (dog actor)|Spike]] in ''The Westerner'' (1960)]]
During this time, he also created the television series ''[[The Westerner (TV series)|The Westerner]]'' for [[Four Star Television]], starring [[Brian Keith]] and in three episodes also featuring [[John Dehner]]. Peckinpah wrote and directed a pilot called ''Trouble at Tres Cruzes'', which was aired in March 1959 before the actual series was made in 1960. Peckinpah acted as producer of the series, having a hand in the writing of each episode and directing five of them. Critically praised, the show ran for only 13 episodes before cancellation mainly due to its gritty content detailing the drifting, laconic cowboy Dave Blassingame (Brian Keith). Especially noteworthy are the episodes ''Jeff'' and ''Hand on the Gun'', extraordinary in their depiction of violence and their imaginative directing, forerunners of his later feature films. Despite its short run, ''The Westerner'' and Peckinpah were nominated by the [[Producers Guild of America]] for Best Filmed Series. An episode of the series eventually served as the basis for Tom Gries' 1968 film ''[[Will Penny]]'' starring [[Charlton Heston]]. ''The Westerner'', which has since achieved [[cult status]], further established Peckinpah as a talent to be reckoned with.{{sfn|Simmons|pp=31–34}}{{sfn|Westerner|IMDB}}{{sfn|Westerner Trivia|IMDB}}{{sfn|Weddle|pp=168–184}}

In 1962, Peckinpah directed two hour-long episodes for ''The Dick Powell Theater''. In the second of these, ''The Losers'', an updated [[remake]] of ''The Westerner'' set in the present day with [[Lee Marvin]] as Dave Blassingame and [[Keenan Wynn]] as Dehner's character Bergundy Smith, he mixed slow motion, fast motion and stills together to capture violence, a technique famously put to more sophisticated use in 1969s ''The Wild Bunch''.{{sfn|Simmons|pp=55–6}}