Blogcritics: Comments on Hell is For Heroes

Comment by D.B. Cooper

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 12:57:49 EST

Well, Peckinpah was assistant director on Riot in Cell Block 11 - which is another fine Siegel film - and was a screenplay writer on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Peckinpah was reportedly inpsired by the location work for Riot in CB 11 and by the film's realism. To me, all of Peckinpah's films are fascinating in some way, even the bad ones. His great ones in my opinion are Ride the High Country, Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, Junior Bonner, The Getaway and Cross of Iron. If you have not seen any of these films, give them a try. I have NEVER been high on Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and consider it a terribly overrated work....

Comment by Paul De Angelis

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 12:45:02 EST

D.B. I should have made a point of singling out Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It certainly is a great movie. Interesting that you made that connection, with Peckinpah, since he's another director I have little respect for. I find his post-Wild Bunch films repulsive at times, though Wild Bunch itself is a classic.

Comment by D.B. Cooper

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 11:51:33 EST

Great blog Paul on a film which I admire more than I like. Hell is for Heroes is not a great film, but it does have some admirable qualities considering the era in which it was made. There's a genuine attempt to convey the harsh realities of war. Granted, the casting choices are unintentionally funny, but this film was one of the first times to esablish the darker side of the McQueen persona, one of the great legendary stars in film history. I admire Siegel, though agree he is overrated at times. But Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a brilliant film from the 1950s era. Madigan is one of the greatest cop films ever made. Siegel made some dogs, but there's a thread of brutal honesty and cynicism that runs through his films, a style of realism later perfected by his protegees Sam Peckinpah and Clint Eastwood. Hell is for Heroes is drive-in crap, but there are still several gritty scenes unusual for its era. Much of Siegel's work was like that. I suppose I just wanted to put in my two cents on Siegel, a director with a handful of brilliant, trend-setting films.