Sam Peckinpah

Sam Peckinpah (aka Mad Sam) was an uncompromising film director who sent shockwaves through Hollywood when in 1969 he released the blood soaked western ‘The Wild Bunch’. He was one of a new breed of independent directors whose personal vision was more important than lining the pockets of the studio executives. Sam was a heavy drinker and didn’t let his filming schedule get in the way of his boozing, drug taking and hell raising.
Once while filming, Kris Kristofferson had to take a gun away from an inebriated and aggressive Peckinpah.
“He was lying sick in bed and took a shot at Harry Dean Stanton and my piano player, Donnie Fritts.” Kristofferson said. “I got a call about it and went over there and said, "All right, where is it?" He was heavily anesthetized with Mescal or something. Sam was a good man; he just needed turmoil around him.”
By the end of his life the turmoil had taken over. Heavy drinking and excessive cocaine use had damaged his body and in 1984 he suffered a fatal heart attack. So stick on a copy of ‘The Wild Bunch’ and crack open a bottle of scotch and toast one of Hollywood’s finest!