Bergorks
If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Mathilde the Guild
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Equimanthorm
Unlike everyone here (except one) one of the best parts of this movie is the cockfighting scenes. Cockfighting is a truly amazing thing. Unfortunately, if you don't know how to follow it, it just looks like two birds flailing. Here the director films in perfect slow motion a real cockfight and you see the intelligent strategic way roosters fight. They duck each others attacks and counter attack and fight from the bottom. People need to get over themselves and realize that poultry chickens (the ones you eat) live much worse lives then these gamecock, so enjoy it for what it is, an amazing display of real nature! This movie, besides the cockfighting, is also brilliant. The silent main character puts on a hell of a performance without saying a word. All the praise for the actual movie has already been said here, I just wanted to emphasize that in fact one of the best parts of this movie is that its probably the only place you'll ever see one any film cockfighting with any respect for whats actually going on. In short clips in news or TV about cockfighting, theyll film it from far away so you cant actually understand whats going on. Its almost as if they're afraid if people actually could see the action they might actually enjoy it. Everyone who hates cockfighting will hate it even more if you see it up close. For those with an open mind, see what its all about.
Ham_and_Egger
It's really about much more than cockfighting, but it does have an authentic, quasi-documentary feel to it. If I'm not mistaken those are actual chickens actually killing each other, which is an almost mind-bending concept in 2005 film-making. PETA and the ASPCA must really gnash their teeth over this movie.The script is terse, due mostly to the fact that Frank Mansfield (Warren Oates) has taken a vow of silence until he wins the 'Cockfighter of the Year' medal handed out by some caricature of a southern Senator. But the story flows, would you really expect any Roger Corman-produced movie to get too bogged down, and largely because you're never more than twenty minutes away from another bloody cockfight.Warren Oates is really feeling his... (no, I won't do that to you). He plays a guy totally driven by cockfighting, something that I find sort of brutal and more than a little boring, but his skill as an actor and the authenticity he brought to the role really drew me in. None of the other actors are really given a chance to make an impression.Ultimately I only watched 'Cockfighter' to see where it fits into the Rednexploitation genre, movies such as 'Moonrunners' or 'Walking Tall.' I'd say it's near the top of that heap and it's moderately enjoyable as a slice of life and for Oates' acting, but really if cockfights are one of those traditional forms of entertainment replaced by the Gameboy then I'm not so sure it was a bad trade.
julesee
I'm just glad I saw this movie on an empty stomach. The cockfighting scenes are too graphic and made me nauseous. It's not clear whether Hellman sees these guys as heroes or idiots. Maybe both. Still, I thought Warren Oates was amazing. He's the only actor I can think of who can make a mute, borderline-retarded cockfighter seem poignant, without being exploitive or gimmicky. He's one of the great character actors from the 1970s and 1980s, and he has good chemistry here with Harry Dean Stanton.Piece of trivia: The videostore guy told me that Hellman rented rooms to hold the cockfights but neglected to tell hotel management about it.
Oak26
I`ll be quick and to the point without going into details about the film itself. I caught this a few years back for the first time on one of the movie channels and became immediately engrossed in it. A terrific character study with a performance by the late-great Warren Oates that consumes the screen.The kind of film most people don`t have the attention span for anymore....and that`s a shame. If you`re familiar with Hellman`s work, and appreciate it, it`s a must see. 8/10
