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d. Monte Hellman; pr. Roger Corman; scr. Charles Willeford; novel. Charles Willeford; ph. Nestor Almendros; m. Michael Franks; ed. Lewis Teague; cast. Warren Oates, Richard B Shull, Harry Dean Stanton, Steve Railsback, Ed Begley Jr., Laurie Bird, Troy Donahue (83 mins)

Director Monte Hellman is considered one of the finest auteurs to emerge from American independent cinema in the 1970s.

In particular, two of his several films made with actor Warren Oates stand as amongst the finest achievements of that most invigorating and adventurous of film decades. These films, Two Lane Blacktop and Cockfighter, are staggering works. But although Two Lane Blacktop in particular has gone on to major cult recognition, Cockfighter remains something of an obscurity. Part of the ill repute into which the movie drifted was due to the subject matter and the supposed use of actual cockfights for dramatic effect, something which angered animal rights activists and perhaps even offended the public, who stayed away from the film, making it at the time one of the few box-office failures to emerge from the auspices of legendary exploitation producer Roger Corman. The movie was retitled and re-released several times, but to no avail. Its reputation fared better in Europe although the explicit animal cruelty resulted in the film being banned in England. Nevertheless, whatever moral objections may be leveled against the authenticity, Cockfighter remains an unforgettable film, and Warren Oates’ most accomplished work, outside of his relationship to Sam Peckinpah, which peaked in the equally extraordinary Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.

Synopsis

Cockfighter is a film about, and set in, the illegal cockfighting world of the Deep South where for some it is as much a badge of honor as a lifestyle.

Filmed on actual locations and using locals for increased authenticity, the film centers on the plight of one master cockfighter (Warren Oates). A stubborn, proud man, his boastful arrogance has recently cost him the much-valued title of cockfighter of the year (a highly valued title in this particular social set) and he has taken a vow of silence until he can win back the title and perhaps thus redeem himself. Indeed, except in a flashback, Oates does not speak until the end of the movie. Penniless, he returns to a family home which he intends to use to raise the money to re-enter the sport and purchase the right game cocks. He agrees to a partnership with a breeder and fellow fighter (Richard B. Shull in a standout part) and the two of them make their way along the out-of-the-way circuit of competition that still exists, intending to win the highest competition there is, repeatedly having to face the main rival for the title, Harry Dean Stanton. Oates has a girlfriend (Patricia Pearcy) whom he believes must see the cockfight in order to realize who he truly is – to see him in his element. However, when the opportunity to do so arises, her reaction is perhaps not what he expected and he is forced to re-assess himself as a man and champion of an illicit sport.

Unusual and lyrical, Cockfighter is both a journey through a most grotesque piece of Americana and a remarkable demonstration of one man’s desire to be the best at what he does.

Oates is perhaps tired of the boastful man he used to be and takes the monastic vow both as a kind of penance and purgation. Thus, the film flirts with themes of repentance, redemption and even transcendence in its analysis of one man’s journey through a sordid lifestyle in the effort to prove himself the master of circumstance, and possibly even triumph in a way that was denied Oates in Peckinpah’s ethos. The film is fascinating in the detail accorded this unusual and increasingly disreputable lifestyle and is thus virtually unique in American film, making its neglect all the more disheartening, as if to admire its artistic accomplishment were to condone the lifestyle it depicts so eloquently and even poetically. Yet, Hellman explores every aspect of the odd fascination that the blood sport has over its participants and admirers. For its arguably lowlife participants, it is almost an existential statement as much as a lifestyle and business choice and thus (most problematically) a subculture as valid as any other piece of Americana, with its own codes of conduct, triumph and mastery. And it is not without humor and a sense of cultural celebration. These are not unlikable people in the filmmakers’ eyes, although audiences were apparently hard-pressed to find any bond of sympathy.

Yet for the cockfighter Oates there is something else, as if he is vicariously fighting the world through the game fowl, as if they are an extension of his own private rebellion, his violent desire to be the best, hence his symbolic final gesture and words.

Sometimes, a tagline can be a source of amusement. This was certainly the case for the film Cockfighter. An amoral exploitation movie drama about the illegal sport, the film itself was thought to be unmarketable since cockfighting was at the time banned in most US states. Thus, the marketers had difficulty coming up with a proposal, until one executive posited the following tagline as a joke: “(h)e came into town with his cock in hand, and what he did with it was illegal in 49 states.” Despite the wryly cynical humour here, it was decided the proposed tagline was also unsuitable and so the film went without an official tagline.

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His profession defines him, take him or leave him accordingly – he is as good as his fighting fowl. It is both a matter of honor and a search for a deeper validation. The triumph of the movie is that it balances this private search for meaning with the objective reality of the blood sport, in the process finding yet another form of American validation through surrogate violence – the cockfight as surrogate gunfight perhaps, the casting of Oates all the more resonant considering his frequent presence in Westerns. Few films about the honor in such a sordid lifestyle manage to find the almost redemptive grace that exists beyond the surface horror – there lays the film’s power, ambiguity and also its controversy. But the essential story is almost universally resonant; the desire of one man to be the best at what he does, to be proud, respected, even loved on his own terms as a measure of his part of the American Dream. Hellman and Oates never falter in their intent and although Cockfighter does not have the reputation of their previous Two Lane Blacktop it is in every way an equally splendid movie experience, indeed allowing a sense of triumph and purpose that that bleakest of road movie did not.

Vision

Anchor Bay has done a remarkable job with the visual transfer on this DVD release.

In original widescreen, it captures every delicate, naturalistic hue of a finely nuanced cinematographic accomplishment. With Oates silent most of the time, much of the film is an effortlessly visual experience, the authentic details in location and lifestyle adding to the impression that one is truly seeing a unique film. The print is mostly clean and vivid although the transfer has moments of grainy indistinctiveness and at times looks oily. The cockfighting scenes are varied, including a remarkable slow motion sequence that sees the macabre beauty in the cockfight as almost a dance of death. It captures both the aesthetic fascination and repugnance in the experience of the blood sport – the film seeking to almost reconcile them in its attention to small details (the spurs put on the cocks’ feet, the intricacies of training them). The subculture is explored in much visual depth, in location, costume and attitude and with much variety. The lighting at times has a dreamy quality, especially a brief interlude between Oates and Pearcy by a river, and the use of dissolves and light hues is exciting throughout this quest for self-control. Into the cockfighting scenes, director Hellman likes to add shots of the spectators’ reactions, making for a sly social comment on the peculiarities of American socialization.

Sound

The sound transfer on this DVD is fine within the given limitations of a low-budget movie of this vintage.

From the start it features an engaging and unusual score coupled with a reflective voice-over from Oates that suggests just how these events are a personal, almost metaphysical journey for an inexpressive man. The voice-over in part reveals how much of a philosophical attachment Oates has to his profession and to the game cocks themselves. The noise of the roosters in fight forms a dominant motif here, as one would expect, and there is an attention to small detail (a dripping hotel room tap for instance) that adds to the tremendous realism. There is also a sense of natural quiet, wherein the silent Oates perhaps relates to his environment with a newfound purpose and status – is he becoming a quasi-mythic figure for Hellman? Equally, the background sounds are vivid and often flesh out the scenes, especially when crowds gather to watch the fights, suggesting the sense of a bustling, if illicit, community. What remains as the most prominent distraction however is a hiss, a remnant of the original source perhaps but one that may require level adjustment on finer home theatre systems. There is an element of humility in silence that Oates finds as an aspect of his repentance and the transfer captures just how a silent man finds a presence in the sounds around him – hence the visual emphasis on how Oates moves through and relates to space.

There are numerous special features, including a trailer, TV spot, 2 radio spots and bios of actor, director and writer (Charles Willeford, from his novel).

As a tribute to actor Warren Oates is a featurette entitled “Warren Oates: Across the Border” which covers his career background and his typing as a loser and common man. It features input from critics (David Thompson), directors (Thomas McGuane, who speaks of Oates and the nature of solitude as the key to his character) and much attention to the partnership between Oates and Hellman and the male friendship ethos of Peckinpah. Also on the DVD is a commentary track by Hellman and production assistant Steven Gaydos as moderated by Dennis Bartok. It covers the director’s relationship to producer Roger Corman, the script rewrite process, the emphasis on detail (with the film even referred to as 50% documentary) and Hellman’s interest in the odd passion behind unusual subcultures as felt by those immersed in it. They talk of the illegality of the sport but its continued presence across America, though particularly in the South, and on how they filmed and staged the actual cockfights (indeed, how they fixed the fights’ outcomes). Hellman speaks of his fondness for working with the same actors, the film’s splendid European reception and on how he directed an actor who had to remain silent. They talk of the actual locations used (a genuine game-cock farm in Georgia for instance) and of the real cockfighters they met. Hellman talks of his revulsion at the sport but his desire to convey the experience. There is much attention to the cinematography and how they favored natural, motivated light.