Cockfighter *** (1974, Warren Oates, Richard B Shull, Harry Dean Stanton, Ed Begley Jr, Laurie Bird, Troy Donahue, Millie Perkins) – Classic Movie Review 6210

Director Monte Hellman re-teams with Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton and Laurie Bird from his 1971 Two-Lane Blacktop cult success for this respected if insufficiently heralded or appreciated 1974 cult movie about a professional cockfighter called Frank Mansfield (Oates), whose luck turns for the better.

This truly weird movie is authentically made on location in Georgia by Hellman. In his star role, Oates impresses in a difficult part whose words are virtually all in voice-over (he has taken a vow of silence after his best bird was defeated). Bird is excellent too as Stanton’s snippy young wife Dody White Burke.

Bleak, tough-toned and alienating, it had good reviews but flopped in America under several different titles, including Born to Kill, Wild Drifter, and Gamblin’ Man.

Charles Willeford writes the screenplay, adapting his own novel. It is shot by Nestor Almendros, produced by Roger Corman and scored by Michael Franks.

Also in the cast are Richard B Shull, Ed Begley Jr, Troy Donahue and Millie Perkins, with Steve Railsback, Warren Finnerty, Robert Earl Jones, Patricia Pearcy, Tom Spratley and the author Charles Willeford as Ed Middleton.

Producer Corman, who has said he never made a filmed that didn’t make a profit, nevertheless said that this is the only New World Pictures release to lose money.

Corman at first intended to direct this but just acted as producer. Unsatisfied with Hellman’s finished film, he got editor Lewis Teague to film extra scenes and got Joe Dante to enliven the trailer of this hard-to-market movie.

The BBFC has refused it a UK certificate as they say it contravenes the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937 because the cockfighting scenes were organized for the purpose of filming. It was banned from public showing at the 2006 Edinburgh Film Festival after interference by the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6210

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