A simple down-home country-spun Hicksploitation whose minimalism makes it feel like you're watching someone's home movies. There ain't much here, and Monte Hellman and Co. are fine with that. Unfortunately for them, home movies aren't all that interesting.
It feels like Junior Bonner, only instead of Rodeo, it's chickens going at it. Warren Oates stars as a Cockfighter who only has the sport going for him, breeding a champion rooster. Harry Dean Stanton has a supporting part as his rival and Laurie Bird has a very minor role as the young wife Oates leaves to pursue the sport (all three previously worked with Hellman on Two-Lane Blacktop). The film looks like it was shot on a potato, and that both gives it an intimate feel, bolstered by it's ultra-low budget and believable performances, while also, well, making it look and pan out like crap. The sound is also horrendously bad, all garggled and I had to turn the volume all the way up, and even then there's parts I still couldn't make out. There may be restored versions, HD transfers, and I may have watched a crap copy, but it's one of those movies where you can't even see a restoration making all that much a difference. It's '70's indie home-video crap, but approaching something like a simple charm, albeit at a distance.
Review of Cockfighter
