Cockfighter [DVD] (D)

Set in Georgia, this drama of an obsessive man who has vowed not to speak until he has won the Cockfighter of the Year Award, was conceived as a low budget ($400,000) genre piece for the action circuit. It is transformed through a parable on the theme of the single-minded drive to find a kind of freedom through competition. Warren Oates puts in another fine performance as a man driven, obsessed with success, even on this depraved scale. As Frank drifts from fight to fight he becomes increasingly fanatical about triumphing over rival Jack Burke (Harry Dean Stanton). Frank displays an amorality that is particularly disturbing when it comes to women - upon losing his trailer, due to gambling, he blithely discards the young girl with whom he is attached, handing her over with the booty. The film is imbued with a particular ambivalence, refusing to take a stance on the humanitarian issues behind this brutal and underground sport. Reputedly director Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop) felt uncomfortable with the more sadistic aspects of the subject matter and producer Roger Corman inserted numerous graphic scenes of actual fights. Based on the novel by Charles Willeford, who also wrote the screenplay. Please be advised: scenes involving graphic violence against animals may disturb some viewers.