This is a blood and guts art film with unforgettable intensity and stark scenes that few films have managed to capture with such fervor.

I cannot decide why I think Hellman is in many ways a genius. Is it because he managed to make an existential drama out of a movie about something so violent & arcane as cockfighting? Or is it due to the fact that he managed to see the brilliance of both Warren Oates & Harry Dean Stanton & had them share the screen in not one, but two of his films? I don't know exactly. The jury is still out. But like his previous film "Two-Lane Blacktop", the viewer follows the exploits of a lone anti-hero, looking to make his own way in this mixed-up world. His drive to cockfight seems to be the product of some sort of compulsion. People in his life lecture him incessantly on the virtues of self-control, but those people, like most other things in his life, aren't much more than pawns to him. Movable when an opportunity to improve his game presents itself. It isn't the brightest study of the post-sixties American character, but it is sure fascinating. I can understand why this film didn't go over so well with the general public. The animal cruelty on display is at times hard to bear. Yet, Hellman expertly cuts back and forth between the violence of the pit and the audience jeering & grinning at the carnage, looking to be both entertained and to make some extra cash. One guy is even seen ostentatiously choking back chicken during one fight. Also, the faces of the dead birds are juxtaposed with the faces of those onlookers who seem to understand the depth of the depravity. Again, it is hard to watch, but Hellman uses the slaughter to great effect. When it is all over, it is hard to decide who to pity more: the birds or the people? It is a sad portrait of a people who seem to find their meaning in such a brutish existence. While it may not be on the whole better than his other films, Hellman proves once again that he can capture the underbelly of the American dream like nobody else.

The second film I've seen by Hellman, and the second one that is a comment on a popular genre of the time. This one is is about sport films. The narrative is set up like alot of sport films, and what's brilliant is that on one level plays out like a brilliantly directed one. Of course there's the whole bit about it not being consenting, competing humans, but chickens killing each other. It seems doubtful they faked it in anyway. I would bet money on the fact that they used and killing actual chickens. Therefore the whole exploitation and viciousness of sports is set up on full display. But here's the catch. These horrible, souless human beings, you actually care about and it made in such a way that you are almost cheering like the rednecks in the crowd. Now let me saw that for the content I use the thrift store fur coat or John Waters defense. But to continue on with it, it does throw the content in your face in an interesting way. And despite what you see, the acting, direction, writting, are all decent, and contain a great naturalistic feel to it. Thanks in no small part to Mr. Hellman. If you eat chicken, see this film.