a review of

MANNVANUARY FOUR: Definitely a learning experience for Peckinpah that shaped his future approach for the better, but not especially compelling beyond the initial setup and denouement. There's suggestions of the moral ambiguity and cynical worldview that mark his later, better movies, but by and large these aren't paid off the way I would have hoped. It starts off fairly lively, but once it becomes more of a two-hander between O'Hara and Keith in the middle section, the movie slows to a crawl and only comes back to life at the end.