European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 20, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                 i Sam Peckinpah Convoy by Aljean 11arme1z new York times Sam Peckinpah sits in a Canvas chair in the Middle of an empty Highway near Albu Quer Licking the peanuts off a packaged ice Cream knee it for a of Beer with each the 52yearold director of the wild the and Strom dogs has been a Teet Taler or the lost eight now i am addicted to diet he mocking himself in a lie has never been a Man to raise his voice now he can hardly be heard Over the rustic of wind in the Green Sagebrush beside booze had me whipped 1 was too Loo too decided it was Lime to quit being a work into they frown on that in this the Only thing they frown on is a director whose pictures lose Peckinpah last three Pic bring me the head Alfredo the killer and of Iran have been flops in the United getting a critical mauling that seems in direct ratio to the critical Praise ladled Over his earlier but Crasi at Iran germans Hussion in world War ii told from the German Point of View is the years big Gest Success in and so  has been hired to imprint his own vision of violent men cursed with outdated codes onto a million film about truck Drivers protesting governmental restrictions to their starring Kris Kristofferson and and Mac without the men who Hind him much caring whether he is drunk or Peckinpah mops his face with a Blue Bandanna and leaves the Bandanna rolled around his Gray with a pair of dime store dark glasses on a leather thong around his he looks like an aging thu has been it mexican resident for Sev eral having fled o thut country when Richard Nixon was elected there is a former wife in Mexico and a baby and now he dreams of going to Montana when work on Convoy is there Are grass stains on the Seal of his ancient Blue and his shirt is tied at the hawaiian the dark Brown color of his face and arms is in violent contrast to the Pale White skin of his the new Mexico Highway is As hat As the Edge of the world and As hot As whatever lies lined up facing Peckinpah arc 11 they Are his wild anthropomorphic monsters that will crush and destroy and he the men inside the 12foatnlgh cabs Are deliberately not the i wheel truck trailers Are immense and with its Black cab and its Silver Lank Load of dangerous Kris Kristoffer sons massive Mack tick is obviously the Leader of the just As Kristo Hurson is the reluctant Leader of the ant establishment Mun who drive the trucks based on Mccall hit the Pic All Macgraw and Burt Young in new Peckinpah film with cast of sex 100 which started shooting in new Mexico an May has been a logistical the script of Convoy reads sin people and 110 says Ali one Hundred it More difficult than anything you can you have to traffic far you have to turn them it Rains and the transmissions drop we Start with seven trucks and build to says each truck needs a minimum of one camera mount and As Many As in cars were bought at a tremendously Low Price and was surprised they didst we wreck six police cars director Sam Peckinpah surveying his August 1977 on a Dusty three of them we wanted Lothi truck one of our four major characters was driving broke Down and no one could fix i that Cost us a Day of shoot and a Day Peckinpah spoons Ginseng into his diet cola and grud Birly admits that Convoy is no worse than where we often woke up to find we had re horses and considerably better than Cross Iron when i Wake up to find we literally had no ites Piu the fact that Peckinpah financial arrangements Cross of t ran will be gone into in courts of Law or years in the producers arc already begging him la direct a there is no such thing As an easy Peckinpah location the greatest fantasy life in the world Doest equip Yot to Deal with the Way Sams mind Saya the difficulties come partly because of the mans com partly because his themes usually demand High mountains or lost deserts in which to play themselves the number of people Peckinpah puts on an air plane Back to los Angeles has always been this to has discharged Only one Crew the others who Havu left have gone Al the 20 trucks and two dozen police cars sit in the parking lot of the Albuquerque where the company has been quartered for nearly three two mechanics move from truck to trying to hold them together for the last week of the mechanics and the trucks Are part of a is million  in the trucks and the 100 men who drive them Are costing More than the at 9 Peckinpah yellow helicopter descends on the parking there is a lot of Little Bey in says a Crew member who has worked with him the helicopter is part of the it has been a tranquil and Peckinpah is in a Good on tranquil he is walking the Dusaj Highway talking gently to his looking leaner More upright than he did a year ago on Cross of but sobriety Hast improved his says one Man who was with him a year on in loan quit he closes the door of hit and no not even the darn to enter unless in Sam lives out of a says the Robert who bears the scars of his encounters with i have another a a Peckinpah other life consists of three former four children somewhere in a 4yearold daughter in two pairs of and a trailer on in attach at but the paucity at his possessions when he Steps away from the camera is Al this it has Laken five hours to gel the the trucks and the five cameras positioned to fit the image inside his ready when you he and the trucks crash through the Twilight to the shape of his the stars and stripes Page 13