Cockfighter

R

Released Jul 30, 1974

1h 23m

Drama

List

86%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

A man (Warren Oates) who trains fighting cocks vows to remain silent until one of his birds wins a championship.

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Richard Combs

Sight & Sound

Cockfighter looks as sleek an item - and almost as exploitable - as any of the company's recent work in the girl gang prison revolt cycle, and far less bizarre than the two Westerns which [Roger] Corman allowed [director Monte] Heilman to make.

Apr 2, 2020

Full Review

Richard Brody

New Yorker

Hellman embraces, with visual nuance, a world of back roads and forests, grim motels and ramshackle arenas, and he approaches the intricacies of the subculture ... with a cool Hemingwayesque moralism.

Sep 18, 2017

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Its 97 minutes can feel very long, as characters in various states of poorly defined (not to mention acted) torment carry on boring dialogues with one another, all ending in pathos and/or revulsion...

Feb 26, 2024

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Jun 30, 2005

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

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

Rated: B+

Mar 23, 2004

Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

San Francisco Examiner

A great film with a masterful silent performance by Warren Oates.

Rated: 5/5

Jan 17, 2003

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Audience Member

Warren Oates stars as a champion cockfighter who lost out on winning a championship medal because he couldn't keep his mouth shut. He vows not to speak again until he wins the medal. This flick is well-known as one of the only films that Roger Corman produced that failed to make any money. Although it's really a great film, you can see why it didn't exactly set the exploitation circuit on fire. The only real exploitation angle that the film has going is cockfighting ... and there's a lot of it and it's real. Corman seems to have dropped his sure fire formula of including some violence, nudity or some other angle to appeal to the punters. What you do get here is a really classy bit of American existentialism, the kind that Hellman excels at, with a very strong wordless lead from Oates, and able supporting turns from Harry Dean Stanton, Steve Railsback and a very young Ed Begley, Jr. If you can stomach lots of birds trying to kill each other and succeeding quite often, it's a real gem.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Audience Member

An existential art house flick about a mute cockfighter. Ah, the underground 70's.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Audience Member

This was a film that I was happy to finally cross of the list, as it's something from the year in which I was born and also a film I've heard a lot about over the years. Warren Oates plays a largely silent role after taking a vow of silence after becoming too boastful and proud and being brought low when his bird loses. We watch him train a new bird and the various oddballs he encounters while working this circuit of cockfighting, all of which is done with real roosters, so beware if you're too much of an animal lover, as it's pretty rough going in several spots. Well worth a look if you can deal with the realities of it, but understandably a pass if you can't.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Cockfighting trainer takes a vow of silence in attempt to rebuild his career after loose talk costs him his prized cock in a late-night hotel match. Another gem from Monte Hellman featuring the great Warren Oates in a rare lead role, showcasing the sport's subculture. Cockfighting scenes are rather unpleasant, however, to anyone advocating animal's rights.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Audience Member

Warren Oates. Harry Dean Stanton. Monte Hellman. 'Nuff said.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This same combination is in full flower in Monte Hellman's Cockfighter (1974), available free via FilmOn's on demand service. The film is essentially a Warren Oates vehicle (and Stanton's friend and fellow Kentuckian is great here). Oates' character is the lead and is willingly mute for much of the film, allowing Stanton to toss off many of the film's best lines in this subtly surprising and always fascinating post-Easy Rider look at a micro-culture of the '70's deep South. Based on the book by the great crime fiction writer Charles Willefored, it of course looks at the rooster fighting. The near-wordlessness of Oates in Cockfighter also must have come to Stanton's mind in his later iconic performance in Wim Wenders' 1984 Paris, Texas). to see more of this review and view the film, go to http://www.tvmix.com/gotta-watch-harry-dean-stanton-in-cockfighter/#more-3304

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Monte Hellman

Director

Warren Oates

Frank Mansfield

Richard B. Shull

Omar Baradansky

Harry Dean Stanton

Jack Burke

Troy Donahue

Randall Mansfield

Millie Perkins

Frances Mansfield

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Synopsis

A man (Warren Oates) who trains fighting cocks vows to remain silent until one of his birds wins a championship.

Director: Monte Hellman
Screenwriter: Charles Willeford
Distributor: New World Pictures
Production Co: New World Pictures, Artists Entertainment Complex
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 30, 1974, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 11, 2016
Runtime: 1h 23m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm

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