PASSION & POETRY - The Ballad Of Sam Peckinpah SE DVD

[Amaze]

Yup Armstrong it was.
It played just fine, no problems.
My only complaint would be that the booklet was in german, you wrote something lengthy about Sam in it but I don't understand a word of it lol.

[mike siegel]

aah, the only reference to the fact that it's a German DVD
Actually you didn't miss anything. Basically the booklet is the short adventure
story of how P & P got made. I guess most of it is in the audio commentary.
It tells the story of my work on Sam in Germany. During the last 15 years
nobody here did much about Sam. So I did something - like the book P & P, the
STRAW DOGS DVD I produced and such.

[dave jenkins]

Beaver (finally) issues a review: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews51/passion_poetry_ballad_peckinpah.htm

[mike siegel]

Thanks for the link!

...film's 1.66:1 aspect ratio is unnecessarily subjected to extremely heavy letter boxing, with bars on all sides of the frame

Seems that he is the first one to notice that. In fact on the left & right side there is small letterboxing. At least it appears like that, actually we had to 'frame' the sides because the film's first cut dates back to a time (not too long ago) when flat screen TV's were just on the rise and I still edited for the old TV standard - with an area on the sides not visible on the (home) TV screen. Therefore some ugly framing and edges of stills, equipment etc. would be visible now on those unforgiving new 16:9 TV sets...

[mike siegel]

My film PASSION & POETRY is on Spanish TCM (Turner Classic Movies on May 1st and May 29th,
in case some Spanish Amigos here are into Sam Peckinpah...

[dave jenkins]

Congrats!

[cigar joe]

 

[Novecento]

I recently received from Mike the following:

- The 576 page book "Passion & Poetry: Sam Peckinpah in Pictures"
- The 2-disc DVD set "Passion & Poetry: The Ballad of Sam Peckinpah"

The book is true to its title with countless images spanning Peckinpah's life and career. Many are rare, behind-the-scenes or candid photographs that add a personal dimension to the films and the participants. All are reproduced beautifully on the quality paper used throughout, and the last 90 pages or so are in color. In spite of the English title, the supporting text is in German and so is largely inaccessible to me. The book is arranged according to key phases in Peckinpah’s life and career with each film naturally receiving its own individual chapter. There is a foreword by Vadim Glowna (who starred in “Cross of Iron” and sadly passed away earlier this year) and a final chapter dedicated to individual reminiscences about Peckinpah by many of his collaborators. The exhaustive listings in the appendix of Peckinpah’s television/film work and Peckinpah documentaries/books/interviews/articles are invaluable. I did notice that some English-language interviews with Peckinpah were missing, although to be fair the title is “Some Peckinpah Interviews” so perhaps only the most exemplary ones were selected for inclusion. Also included in the appendix are images of cameos by Peckinpah and others, as well as stills from several cut scenes with an expected principal focus on “Major Dundee”.

The English-language documentary is referred to in the book as “Passion & Poetry: The Journey of Sam Peckinpah”. The ultimate choice of “Ballad” over “Journey” much better evokes the lyrical, albeit more visual than verbal, nature of Peckinpah’s work. While in one sense this is a traditional 'talking heads' documentary, the narration by Monte Hellman is kept to an absolute minimum and serves just to keep the narrative flowing. This creates an intensely personal documentary which essentially amounts to Peckinpah in his own words and the words of those who knew him best. While the judicious editing of any footage necessarily affects viewers’ responses, there are gratefully no subjective opinions being foisted upon the viewer here. I have not yet listened to Mike’s commentary that accompanies the documentary. The bonus disc begins with a three-part documentary “Stories on a Storyteller” that runs for around 1 ¾ hours in total. This seems to be an extension of the main feature containing items that Mike did not want to abandon but could not squeeze into its already ample running time. The same could be said for the extra “Ernie on the Wild Bunch” which consists of the full interview with Ernest Borgnine from which the shippets in the documentary were drawn. The two other extra features, “Mapache Territory” and “Mike’s Home Movies”, respectively document a visit to the original location of the shootout at the end of “The Wild Bunch” and several Peckinpah retrospectives organized by Mike. The DVD set also contains extensive liner notes in German, although there is apparently an article by Mike on the production in issue 3 of Cinema Retro which I am now very eager to read. From a technical perspective, it is a real shame that the DVD is not anamorphic. The box lists 1.78:1 as the aspect ratio but the main feature is actually around 1.66:1 as are some of the features on the bonus disc.  This does make zooming rather frustrating as this keeps having to be adjusted depending on what feature is being watched.

Needless to say, both the book (which is sadly out-of-print now) and the DVD set are wholeheartedly recommended. Thanks again Mike . I am now very much looking forward to the next "Passion & Poetry" installment on the French Wild Side Blu-ray of "The Killer Elite".

[mike siegel]

I'm on my way to the Locarno Film Festival for this year's Sam Peckinpah retrospective.
As guest of the festival I'm going to introduce PASSION & POETRY (Wednesday)
and JUNIOR BONNER (thursday) to the audience.

Maybe I'm gonna meet someone from this forum down there?

http://www.pardolive.ch/de/pardo/program/film.html?fid=817127

[cigar joe]

have fun

[Novecento]

Maybe I'm gonna meet someone from this forum down there?

If only...

Keep us posted on how it goes (here and on the Peckinpah forum).

[noodles_leone]

I'm on my way to the Locarno Film Festival for this year's Sam Peckinpah retrospective.
As guest of the festival I'm going to introduce PASSION & POETRY (Wednesday)
and JUNIOR BONNER (thursday) to the audience.

Maybe I'm gonna meet someone from this forum down there?

http://www.pardolive.ch/de/pardo/program/film.html?fid=817127

I would have loved to go. May be next year? Anyway, how did it go? And have you seen Walter Murch there?

http://filmmakermagazine.com/95295-watch-a-conversation-with-walter-murch/

[mike siegel]

Sure. He edited the first major Hollywood film on FCP/MacG4 - the equipment I used for PASSION & POETRY some 10 years ago

http://s1.postimg.org/eg4zjgbvj/11885112_10206287882629778_2994922237284963306_o.jpg


Excuse me for not writing more, but I stopped posting here in this forum (I will still hang around the Peckinpah forum of course and on Facebook of course)

[mike siegel]

PASSION & POETRY will be screened this saturday the
PETALUMA FESTIVAL, in California / USA:

http://www.petalumafilmfestival.org/Films.html

[mike siegel]

my film will be out on Blu-ray this September.

A combo together with ALFREDO GARCIA, my best shot on both titles...



my supplements:

documentary  PASSION & POETRY ? SAM?S FAVORITE FILM
                       A film by Mike Siegel about the making of Bring me the head
                       of Alfredo Garcia with Isela Vega, Kris Kristofferson, Chalo Gonzalez,
                       Gordon Dawson, Katy Haber, Garner Simmons, Peckinpah ? audio.
                       56 min.  /  HD / english ? stereo

Audio commentary by filmmaker / film historian Mike Siegel
six  US TV ? spots    (2x 60 sec., 4x 30 sec.,  4:3 mono)

featurette  Promoting ALFREDO GARCIA
                 An animated gallery of international posters and lobby cards.  6 min.,  HD

featurette   Filming ALFREDO GARCIA - b/w
                  (a selection of 90 rare b/w production photos.) 8:50 min.,  HD

featurette  Filming ALFREDO GARCIA - color
                 (a selection of 75 rare color production photos.) 7 min.,  HD
       
featurette   A WRITER?S JOURNEY? with Sam Peckinpah in Mexico
                  A interview documentary with Garner Simmons.
                  In 1973 Garner Simmons started his book project ?Peckinpah ? A Portrait in 
                  Montage?. In the autumn of that year he visited Peckinpah in Mexico during   
                  the filming of Alfredo Garcia...
                  26 min.,  english - stereo  / HD  1:1,78

featurette  PECKINPAH IN LOCARNO
                 a conversation with Katy Haber about Alfredo Garcia at the 2015 Peckinpah   
                 retrospective at the Locarno Film Festival.
                15 min. english  / HD 1:1,78

(123 min. + audio-commentary)



PASSION & POETRY - THE BALLAD OF SAM PECKINPAH (2005)

A film by Mike Siegel about the lives & times of Sam Peckinpah featuring James Coburn, Ernest Borgnine, Ali MacGraw, Kris Kristofferson, Senta Berger, Isela Vega, L.Q. Jones,
Bo Hopkins, David Warner, R.G. Armstrong, Vadim Glowna, Roger Fritz, Mario Adorf,
Fern Lea Peter Peckinpah, Lupita Peckinpah, Katy Haber, Gordon Dawson, Dan Melnick,
Chalo Gonzalez, Martin Lewis, Garner Simmons, David Weddle and rare archive footage. Narrated by Monte Hellman.
120 min.  /  HD / english ? stereo



Supplements PASSION & POETRY (182 min. + audio-commentary):

Audio commentary by filmmaker Mike Siegel

STORIES ON A STORYTELLER - A three part documentary with additional interviews.

- Pt1: THE WESTERNER      29 min. / HD

- Pt2: ART & SUCCESS      36 min.  / HD

- Pt3: POET ON THE LOOSE    38 min.  / HD

 
MIKE?s HOMEMOVIES 
Behind the scenes, Retrospectives & Festivals      14 min. / HD


THE PASSION & POETRY PROJECT
A documentary about Mike Siegel and his works on Sam Peckinpah.    43 min. / HD


PASSION & POETRY IN PORTUGAL
A short documentary by Mike Siegel about the 2022 Sam Peckinpah retrospective in Fund?o and Lissabon.  24 min. / HD