Lennon's first-ever tour in the spring of 1985 was documented as part of the film Stand By Me: A Portrait Of Julian Lennon — a film profile started by Sam Peckinpah, but completed by Martin Lewis after Peckinpah's death.

Filming began without a completed screenplay, and Peckinpah chose several remote locations in Mexico, causing the film to go heavily over budget.

After Peckinpah completed his own cut of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, MGM re-cut the film without his input, removing several significant scenes and re-shuffling most of Dylan's music in the process.

With the screenplay completed they went looking for a director, and an offhand comment led them to Sam Peckinpah, the controversial and troubled man who had helmed The Wild Bunch ( 1969 ) and Straw Dogs ( 1971 ).

In 1958, Peckinpah wrote a script for Gunsmoke that was rejected due to content.

Unable to rewrite the screenplay or edit the picture, Peckinpah vowed to never again direct a film unless he had script control.

The script offered Peckinpah the opportunity to explore themes that appealed to him: two former partners forced by changing times onto opposite sides of the law, manipulated by corrupt economic interests.

In another departure from the script, Peckinpah attempted to add a new dimension by casting a pair of black actors as members of the convoy including Madge Sinclair as Widow Woman and Franklyn Ajaye as Spider Mike.

Peckinpah approached him with 25 pages of the film's script.

United Artists agreed to pay Peckinpah to write the script but he told Baum that he did not want any money for it because he owed him one.

Peckinpah told Baum that if United Artists liked the script then they could pay him.

Rosenberg next hired Sam Peckinpah, who finished his first script on 11 November 1957.

Apparently, Peckinpah liked it and made some suggestions about the script.

King wrote a second draft for it, but Peckinpah died before King finished the script.

Peckinpah requested and was given permission to work on the script himself, but after submitting his first few pages the producers forbade him from any more rewrites.

In another departure from the script, Peckinpah attempted to add a new dimension to the film by casting a pair of black actors as members of the convoy including Madge Sinclair as Widow Woman and Franklyn Ajaye as Spider Mike.

Peckinpah found the script in late 1963.

Marvin was originally cast as Pike Bishop ( later played by William Holden ) in The Wild Bunch ( 1969 ), but fell out with director Sam Peckinpah and pulled out in order to star in the Western musical Paint Your Wagon ( 1969 ), in which he was top-billed over a singing Clint Eastwood.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, in which Peckinpah appeared in a cameo as Charlie the meter reader, starred Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter.

Peckinpah claimed to have done an extensive rewrite on the film's screenplay, a statement which remains controversial.

An experienced hunter, Peckinpah was fascinated with firearms and was known to shoot the mirrors in his house while abusing alcohol, an image which occurs several times in his films.

Peckinpah wrote and directed a pilot called Trouble at Tres Cruzes, which was aired in March 1959 before the actual series was made in 1960.

The Westerner, which has since achieved cult status, further established Peckinpah as a talent to be reckoned with.

Peckinpah entirely rewrote the existing screenplay, inspired by the books African Genesis and The Territorial Imperative by Robert Ardrey, which argued that man was essentially a carnivore who instinctively battled over control of territory.

Much of the criticism centered around Amy's complicated and lengthy rape scene, which Peckinpah reportedly attempted to base on his own personal fears rooted in past failed marriages.

While not suffering from the cocaine abuse which marked The Killer Elite, Peckinpah continued to drink heavily causing his direction to become confused and erratic.

Peckinpah accepted the job but reportedly hated the convoluted screenplay based upon Robert Ludlum's novel ( which he also disliked ).

* Over a 4-year period German film maker Mike Siegel produced and directed Passion & Poetry-The Ballad Of Sam Peckinpah a two-hour long film about Sam Peckinpah which includes rare Peckinpah-interviews and statements.

It was based upon an episode of the 1960 Sam Peckinpah television series The Westerner called " Line Camp ," which was also written and directed by Tom Gries.

Also Stanley Kubrick ( in Paths of Glory, and Dr. Strangelove, among others ) as well as Orson Welles ( in The Trial, partly Orson Welles ' London, segment Four Clubmen ), Sam Peckinpah ( in Straw Dogs ), and Sidney Lumet ( in The Offence ) have occasionally done the same in the past, though mostly in moderation, for single shots or sequences only, while Gilliam hardly ever uses any lens longer than 14mm, which has garnered lenses of that particular focal length the informal nickname " The Gilliam " among film-makers.

A few years later, McCrea united with fellow veteran of Westerns Randolph Scott in Ride the High Country ( 1962 ), directed by Sam Peckinpah, which was to be his last feature film for four years, when he made The Young Rounders ( 1966 ).

Like Peckinpah, Lettieri was a heavy drinker which caused problems during filming due to his unpredictable behavior.

The Dimension of Continuity claims that Tormé had bid to reclaim control of Sliders in the fourth season ( which is the first season on the Sci-fi Channel ), but that he did not want to work with David Peckinpah, who had been contracted for another season.

It has been suggested that Slow Fade was influenced by Wurlitzer's time with director Sam Peckinpah on the set of Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, for which he wrote the screenplay.

" Stinging from the failure of Junior Bonner but eager to work with Peckinpah again, McQueen presented him Walter Hill's screenplay to The Getaway, which they would film months after completing Junior Bonner.

Inside jokes in the film include invocations of director Sam Peckinpah: his name on a tombstone, the villains being known as " the Wild Bunch ", and use of the duster coats which Peckinpah vigorously exposed on screen.

Intimidated by the size and scope of the project, Peckinpah reportedly drank heavily each night after shooting.

A project in development for many years and based on an idea by Frank Kowalski, Peckinpah wrote the screenplay with the assistance of Kowalski, Walter Kelley and Gordon Dawson.

The film's producer made a deal with Paramount Pictures ' production chief Robert Evans who allowed Peckinpah to do his personal project if he would first direct The Getaway.

Directors Sam Peckinpah, Hal Ashby, and Jim Jarmusch where all attached to the project at some point, but the film was never made.

But in spite of his distaste for the project, Peckinpah immediately accepted the job as he was desperate to re-establish himself within the film community.

Before the film's production, Peckinpah had been working on a Custer project, based on the novel by Hoffman Birney The Dice of God, but later abandoned it for this film.

Columbia studio executives feared that the project was out of control, and that Peckinpah was too unstable to finish the picture, so they cut the shooting schedule of the film by several weeks.

Heston gave up his entire salary for the film in order to keep Peckinpah on the project — a gesture rarely equaled in Hollywood history.