STACK #227 September 2023

MOVIE FEATURE

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Get ready for a double dose of maverick director Sam Peckinpah, a selection starring George Peppard, and a mini-series from the work of a sci-fi master. Words Scott Hocking

FILM FOCUS: GEORGE PEPPARD (1968-1974) This collection comprises four forgotten thrillers starring the veteran actor and star of TV's The A-Team . In P.J. (1968), Peppard plays a private eye caught in a web of conspiracy and murder; a cynical police captain tracking a killer in Pendulum (1969); a British Intelligence agent on the trail of a double agent in The Executioner (1970) – making its worldwide Blu-ray debut in this set; and an honest LA cop battling police corruption in Newman's Law (1974). Extras include audio commentaries, interviews, video essays, and more TBC.

CROSS OF IRON (1977) Marking his sole venture into the war genre, maverick director Sam Peckinpah brings the gritty style and violent action that distinguished his 1969 western classic The Wild Bunch to this brutal tale set on the Eastern Front in 1943. Told from the perspective of a German platoon in retreat from the Front, Cross of Iron follows a disenchanted German corporal (James Coburn) who clashes with his captain (Maximillian Schell), an arrogant Prussian who covets the Iron Cross for bravery in battle and has falsified a report in order to claim the honour. Based on the 1955 novel The Willing Flesh by Willi Henrich and a major influence on Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009), Cross of Iron is quintessential Peckinpah and fans will relish Imprint's limited edition 3-disc boxset that presents the film on both 4K UHD and Blu-ray from a new 2023 4K restoration. Also included is a 'Grindhouse Version' on Blu-ray – scanned from a vintage German 35mm theatrical print – that captures the authentic 1977 cinema experience. Extras include audio commentaries, interviews, promotional materials, and the 2011 documentary Passion & Poetry: Sam Peckinpah's War .

BRING METHE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA (1974) Initially dismissed by critics as exploitation trash on its release in 1974 and a failure at the box office, director Sam Peckinpah's bleak and blackly humorous revenge and redemption flick has since been reappraised and is now considered a bona fide cult classic. When a Mexican crime boss discovers that his daughter has been impregnated by his would-be successor, he promises a million-dollar bounty to whoever does what it says in the title. Bar owner Bennie (Warren Oates, The Wild Bunch ) takes up the challenge with his girlfriend (Isela Vega) in tow, who informs him that Garcia is already dead, and their attempt to recover the head results in a violent confrontation with greedy rivals that's executed with all the Peckinpah trademarks. The director has claimed this is the only one of his films to be released exactly as he intended, and Imprint brings the movie to local Blu-ray in a loaded 2-disc set that includes four audio commentaries, interviews, featurettes, and documentaries, including the feature-length Passion & Poetry: The Ballad of Sam Peckinpah (2005).

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES (1980) Based on the classic 1950 novel by Ray Bradbury and adapted for TV by author and screenwriter Richard Matheson ( I Am Legend ), this ambitious three-part mini-series follows a colonisation mission to the red planet, where NASA colonel Rock Hudson finds a dying civilisation that sees the invaders from Earth as a threat to their culture. This limited edition features 3D lenticular packaging, and extras include new audio commentaries, interviews, and documentary profile Ray Bradbury: An American Icon .

• The new Imprint range is out on September 27 for a limited time only, while stocks last.

14 SEPTEMBER 2023

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