Peckinpah's Tragic Westerns: A Critical Study

"In much film criticism today, `tragedy' as a concept is both overused and frequently misunderstood. Beginning with the classic Aristotelian definition, Simons and Merrill examine its evolution as a useful critical tool, then rigorously apply it to Sam Peckinpah's Westerns. The result provides fresh and, at times, profound insights into how and why Peckinpah's work touches us in such a deep and visceral way."---Garner Simmons, author of Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage

The work of Sam Peckinpah represents a high point in American cinema. This text is the first theoretical and critical attempt to place Peckinpah within the 2,000-year-old tradition of western tragedy. The tradition, enfolding the Greeks, Shakespeare and modern tragedians, is represented in Peckinpah's art in numerous ways, and the fact that he worked in the mode throughout his career distinguishes him from most American film directors. Films covered include Ride the High Country, Noon Wine, The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.

John L. Simons is a professor of modern American literature and film at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He is the author of numerous essays.
Robert Merrill is an emeritus professor of English at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he taught for thirty years and chaired for eleven. He is the author or editor of several books and has published more than fifty articles and reviews in major journals.