Trivia / The Ballad of Cable Hogue

• Creator's Favorite Episode: A Sam Peckinpah western that's comedic as opposed to grim and violent.
• Creator's Oddball: Unlike Sam Peckinpah's other westerns, this one is character focused, almost non-violent story about a man trying to adapt in the New Old West.
• Magnum Opus Dissonance: While most critics would cite The Wild Bunch or Ride the High Country as Sam Peckinpah's best film, this was his own personal favorite. Often, when asked to speak about his work, he brought a print of this film to show, instead of one of his more famous works.
• Prop Recycling: The automobile featured in the film is the "Leslie Special," from The Great Race. The car was repainted from white to green, and the red upholstery replaced with white upholstery.
• Referenced by...: One episode of CSI featured the locale of Cable Springs, Nevada. It's conceivable that a small desert town might've eventually been built at the site of Cable's watering hole.
• Those Two Actors: Sam Peckinpah started work on this film almost immediately after finishing work on The Wild Bunch. That is why Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones were cast in similar roles in both films.
• Troubled Production: Ironically, a film shot on desert locations was plagued by constant rain. With shooting delayed, the cast and crew spent most of the time drinking. Peckinpah, as usual when his alcoholism flared up, became irascible, and fired dozens of crew members over the course of production. Slim Pickens came down with pneumonia, and there was a gonorrhea outbreak among some of the crew. The film went over schedule and over budget, and Warner Bros. wasn't willing to give the film much support on release, despite its scoring exceptionally well with test audiences.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The leading role was originally meant for Warren Oates. Charlton Heston turned it down, because he thought the script wasn't great. James Stewart also passed, thinking it would be bad for his image.
  • Henry Fonda was interested in playing Joshua, but negotiations broke down.

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