Editing Sam Peckinpah (section)

==Early film career==
===''The Deadly Companions''===
{{main|The Deadly Companions}}
After cancellation of ''The Westerner'', [[Brian Keith]] was cast as the male lead in the 1961 Western film ''[[The Deadly Companions]]''. He suggested Peckinpah as director and the project's producer [[Charles B. Fitzsimons]] accepted the idea. By most accounts, the low-budget film shot on location in [[Arizona]] was a learning process for Peckinpah, who feuded with Fitzsimons (brother of the film's star [[Maureen O'Hara]]) over the screenplay and staging of the scenes. Reportedly, Fitzsimons refused to allow Peckinpah to give direction to O'Hara. Unable to rewrite the screenplay or edit the picture, Peckinpah vowed to never again direct a film unless he had script control. ''The Deadly Companions'' passed largely without notice and is the least known of Peckinpah's films.{{sfn|Weddle|pp=197–198}}{{sfn|Simmons|pp=36–39}}

===''Ride the High Country''===
{{main|Ride the High Country}}
His second film, ''[[Ride the High Country]]'' (1962), was based on the screenplay ''Guns in the Afternoon'' written by N.B. Stone, Jr. Producer Richard Lyons admired Peckinpah's work on ''The Westerner'' and offered him the directing job. Peckinpah did an extensive rewrite of the screenplay, including personal references from his own childhood growing up on Denver Church's ranch, and even naming one of the mining towns "Coarsegold." He based the character of Steve Judd, a once-famous lawman fallen on hard times, on his own father David Peckinpah. In the screenplay, Judd and old friend Gil Westrum are hired to transport gold from a mining community through dangerous territory. Westrum hopes to talk Judd into taking the gold for themselves. Along the way, following Judd's example, Westrum slowly realizes his own self-respect is far more important than profit. During the final shootout, when Judd and Westrum stand up to a trio of men, Judd is fatally wounded but his death serves as Westrum's salvation, a [[Divine grace|Catholic]] tragedy woven from the cloth of the Western genre. This sort of salvation became a major theme in many Peckinpah's later films. Starring aging Western stars [[Joel McCrea]] and [[Randolph Scott]] in their final major screen roles, the film initially went unnoticed in the United States but was an enormous success in Europe. Beating [[Federico Fellini]]'s ''[[8½]]'' for first prize at the Belgium Film Festival, the film was hailed by foreign critics as a brilliant reworking of the Western genre. New York critics also discovered Peckinpah's unusual Western, with ''[[Newsweek]]'' naming ''Ride the High Country'' the best film of the year and ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' placing it on its ten-best list. By some critics, the film is admired as one of Peckinpah's greatest works.{{sfn|Weddle|pp=198–219}}{{sfn|Simmons|pp=41–54}}

===''Major Dundee''===
{{main|Major Dundee}}
Peckinpah's next film, ''[[Major Dundee]]'' (1965), was the first of Peckinpah's many unfortunate experiences with the major studios that financed his productions. Based on a screenplay by [[Harry Julian Fink]], the film was to star [[Charlton Heston]]. Peckinpah was hired as director after Heston viewed producer [[Jerry Bresler (film producer)|Jerry Bresler]]'s private screening of ''Ride the High Country''. Heston liked the film and called Peckinpah, saying, "I'd like to work with you."{{sfn|Fine|p=84}} The sprawling screenplay told the story of [[Union cavalry]] officer Major Dundee who commands a [[New Mexico]] outpost of [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] prisoners. When an [[Apache]] war chief wipes out a company and kidnaps several children, Dundee throws together a makeshift army, including unwilling Confederate veterans, black Federal soldiers, and traditional Western types, and takes off after the Indians. Dundee becomes obsessed with his quest and heads deep into the wilderness of Mexico with his exhausted men in tow.

Filming began without a completed screenplay, and Peckinpah chose several remote locations in [[Mexico]], causing the film to go heavily [[film budgeting|overbudget]]. Intimidated by the size and scope of the project, Peckinpah reportedly drank heavily each night after shooting. He also fired at least 15 [[Film crew|crew members]]. At one point, Peckinpah's mean streak and abusiveness towards the actors so enraged Heston that the normally even-tempered star threatened to run the director through with his cavalry [[saber]] if he did not show more courtesy to the cast. Shooting ended 15 days over schedule and $1.5 million more than budgeted with Peckinpah and producer Bresler no longer on speaking terms. The movie, detailing themes and sequences Peckinpah mastered later in his career, was taken away from him and substantially reedited. An incomplete mess which today exists in a variety of versions, ''Major Dundee'' performed poorly at the box office and was trashed by critics (though its standing has improved over the years). Peckinpah maintained, nonetheless, throughout his life that his original version of ''Major Dundee'' was among his best films, but his reputation was severely damaged.{{sfn|Weddle|pp=229–44}}{{sfn|Simmons|pp=55–72}}{{sfn|Major Dundee Trivia|IMDB}}

Peckinpah was next signed to direct ''[[The Cincinnati Kid]]'', a gambling drama about a young prodigy who takes on an old master during a big [[New Orleans]] [[poker]] match. Before filming started, producer [[Martin Ransohoff]] began to receive phone calls about the ''Major Dundee'' ordeal and was told Peckinpah was impossible to work with. Peckinpah decided to shoot in black and white and was hoping to transform the screenplay into a social realist saga about a kid surviving the tough streets of the [[Great Depression]]. After four days of filming, which reportedly included some nude scenes, Ransohoff disliked the [[Dailies|rushes]] and immediately fired him.{{sfn|Carroll}} Eventually directed by [[Norman Jewison]] and starring [[Steve McQueen (actor)|Steve McQueen]], the film went on to become a 1965 hit.{{sfn|Weddle|pp=257–63}}{{sfn|Simmons|pp=73–81}}

===''Noon Wine''===
Peckinpah caught a lucky break in 1966 when producer [[Daniel Melnick]] needed a writer and director to adapt [[Katherine Anne Porter]]'s short novel ''[[Noon Wine]]'' for television. Melnick was a big fan of ''The Westerner'' and ''Ride the High Country'', and had heard Peckinpah had been unfairly fired from ''The Cincinnati Kid''. Against the objections of many within the industry, Melnick hired Peckinpah and gave him free rein. Peckinpah completed the script, which Porter enthusiastically endorsed, and the project became [[Noon Wine#1966 Television|an hour-long presentation]] for ''[[ABC Stage 67]]''.

Taking place in turn of the century [[West Texas]], ''Noon Wine'' was a dark tragedy about a farmer's act of futile murder which leads to suicide. Starring [[Jason Robards]] and [[Olivia de Havilland]], the film was a critical hit, with Peckinpah nominated by the [[Writers Guild of America|Writers Guild]] for Best Television Adaptation and the [[Directors Guild of America]] for Best Television Direction. Robards kept a personal copy of the film in his private collection for years as he considered the project to be one of his most satisfying professional experiences. A rare film which had no home video release until 2014, ''Noon Wine'' is today considered one of Peckinpah's most intimate works, revealing his dramatic potential and artistic depth.{{sfn|Weddle|pp=280–95}}{{sfn|Simmons|pp=76–80}}{{sfn|Noon Wine|IMDB}}