''Cockfighter'' (also known as ''Born to Kill'', ''Gamblin' Man'' and ''Wild Drifter'') is a 1974

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

by director

Monte Hellman Monte Hellman (; born Monte Jay Himmelbaum; July 12, 1929 – April 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the ho ...

, starring

Warren Oates Warren Mercer Oates (July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982) was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah, including ''The Wild Bunch'' (1969) and ''Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'' (1974). A ...

Harry Dean Stanton Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017) was an American actor, musician, and singer. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Stanton played supporting roles in films including '' Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), ''Kelly's Heroe ...

and featuring

Laurie Bird Laurie Bird (September 26, 1953 – June 15, 1979) was an American film actress and photographer. She appeared in three films during the 1970s. Two of them were directed by Monte Hellman. She was romantically involved with Hellman and Art G ...

and Ed Begley Jr. The screenplay is based on the 1962 novel of the same title by

Charles Willeford Charles Ray Willeford III (January 2, 1919 – March 27, 1988) was an American writer. An author of fiction, poetry, autobiography, and literary criticism, Willeford is best known for his series of novels featuring hardboiled detective fiction, ...

Plot

A mute Frank Mansfield is locked inside a trailer preparing his best cock for an upcoming fight. He slices the chicken's beak slightly so that it looks cracked in order to obtain higher betting odds in the upcoming fight. He bets his trailer, his girlfriend, and the remainder of his money with fellow cocker Jack. Mansfield loses the fight because of the cracked beak. Frank visits his home town, his family farm, and his long-time fiancée, Mary Elizabeth. Mary Elizabeth has long grown tired of Mansfield's cockfighter ways and asks him to settle down with her. Frank decides in favor of cockfighting, leaves Mary Elizabeth, sells the family farm for money to reinvest in chickens, and starts a partnership with Omar Baradinsky. The partnership takes them all the way to the cockfighting championships.

Cast

as Frank Mansfield *

Richard B. Shull Richard Bruce Shull (February 24, 1929 – October 14, 1999) was an American character actor. Biography Early life Shull was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Zana Marie (née Brown), a court stenographer, and Ulysses Homer Shull, a manufa ...

as Omar Baradansky *

as Jack Burke * Ed Begley Jr. as Tom Peeples *

as Dody White Burke *

Troy Donahue Troy Donahue (born Merle Johnson Jr., January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American film and television actor and singer. He was a popular sex symbol in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Early years Born in New York City, Donahue was ...

as Randall Mansfield *

Warren Finnerty Warren Finnerty (April 9, 1925 – December 22, 1974) was an American actor best known for his Obie award-winning performance as the character "Leach" in the stage production ''The Connection'' (1959) and its film version. Career After maki ...

as Sanders *

Robert Earl Jones Robert Earl Jones (February 3, 1910 – September 7, 2006), sometimes credited as Earl Jones, was an American actor and professional boxer. One of the first prominent Black film stars, Jones was a living link with the Harlem Renaissance of the ...

as Buford *

Patricia Pearcy Patricia Sue Pearcy is an American film, stage, and television actress. She began her career in theatre, appearing on Broadway and in local theatre companies in Connecticut and Kentucky before making her film debut in Monte Hellman's '' Cockfig ...

as Mary Elizabeth *

Millie Perkins Millie Perkins (born May 12, 1938) is an American film and television actress known for her debut film role as Anne Frank in ''The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film), The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959), and for her supporting actress roles in two 19 ...

as Frances Mansfield *

Steve Railsback Stephen Railsback is an American theatre, film, and television actor. He is best known for his performances in the films ''The Stunt Man'' and Lifeforce (film), ''Lifeforce'', and his portrayal of Charles Manson in the 1976 television mini-series ...

as Junior *

Tom Spratley ''Where the Lilies Bloom'' is a 1974 American drama film adaptation of the novel by the same name, written by Bill and Vera Cleaver. The film was produced by Robert B. Radnitz and directed by William A. Graham in Watauga County (towns of Boon ...

as Mr. Peeples *

as Ed Middleton * Pete Munro as Packard * Kermit Echols as Fred Reed

Screenplay

Willeford adapted the novel to the screen himself and made several major plot changes among many smaller changes in detail. The author indicated that ''Cockfighter'' is based loosely on the structure of the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

'',Herron, Don. ''Willeford''. Dennis McMillan Publications, 2003. so it is most significant that the author removed the entire subplot with the beautiful widow Berenice, perhaps the Calypso character. Removing this character also excluded the protagonist's short-lived music career from the plot, although the movie does show Mansfield plucking a guitar at one point. Two other significant characters in the novel are also missing from the movie: Doc Riordan (a pharmacist/inventor who supplies Mansfield with conditioning medicines for his chickens) and the judge who sells the Mansfield farm. The final scene of the movie also presents a dramatic shift from the end of the book: Mansfield claims that Mary Elizabeth loves him as she walks off, whereas in the book he realizes that the relationship is over and he is free. There are many subtle details changed in the movie, most of which are insignificant to the plot. For example, it is emphasized in the book that Icky is a rare blue chicken, whereas in the movie he is a white chicken called "White Lightning". The Mansfield farm is in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

in the book, in

Decatur, Georgia Decatur is a city in, and the county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, which is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 census, the municipality is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple ZIP Codes in ...

in the movie. Possibly for some comic relief in the movie, Baradinsky goes back to the motel tournament, rather than driving on to a separate tournament as in the novel. He hides his cash under the dead chickens in the bathtub and does not lose money like everyone else in the holdup. By the time of the

Milledgeville, Georgia Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon and bordered on the east by the Oconee River. The rapid current of the river here made this an attractive location to buil ...

tournament, Middleton's wife had died in the book, but in the movie Middleton (played by Willeford himself) refers to his wife as living. And finally, in the movie, Mansfield does not "regain" his voice until after Mary Elizabeth leaves.

Reception

The film struggled to find an audience and Roger Corman said that it was the only movie that he backed in the 1970s that lost money. He had it re-cut and re-released under the title ''Born to Kill'', but it still did not succeed.Ed. J. Philip di Franco, ''The Movie World of Roger Corman'', Chelsea House Publishers, 1979 p 153

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* * Two articles by Jonathan Rosenbaum and Toshi Fujiwara about COCKFIGHTER on ''La furia umana'' in the dossier dedicated to Monte Hellma

{{Monte Hellman 1974 films Films based on American novels Films directed by Monte Hellman Cockfighting in film Films produced by Roger Corman Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state) 1970s English-language films