In the world of the maverick film-maker, Sam Peckinpah was king. A womanising ex-Marine whose appetite for cocaine was matched only by his passion for hard liquor, Peckinpah married his extreme lifestyle with excessive meticulousness and ludicrous studio-baiting tactics. That he completed any movies at all is remarkable. That he made such extraordinary films as The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs is miraculous.

The personification of controversy, Peckinpah's work combined bloodshed and misogyny with warmth and sincerity, as in his films detailing the decline of the Wild West like Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid and Junior Bonner. Tenderness and passion temper the insane action move Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and the epic Cross of Iron was described by Orson Welles as the greatest war movie ever made.

The Pocket Essential Sam Peckinpah reviews and analyses every one of the director's films and includes interviews with some of Peckinpah's closest friends and collaborators. There is also an account of his TV work and unrealised projects and a profile of Peckinpah's favourite actor and on-screen alter ego, Warren Oates.