from Willeford's cockfighter journal, about the making of Monte Hellman's adaptation, which starred Warren Oates

"Friday is the first day of the spring semester, and I'll be back in the classroom, back to mundane reality, teaching D. H. Lawrence to bewildered strangers.

The more I think about things, the more I admire Roger Corman and his intuitive mind.

Cockfighter, I am certain, is a winner. It will cause some controversy, pro and con, but we can't lose with this film. Because audiences can see an illegal sport legally, they will come to see the film out of curiosity, and then will spread the word about it because it has a good strong story. Frank is the first totally silent hero since Singer, in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, but Frank is willfully silent, not a deaf-mute. So Frank's stubbornness will appeal to anyone who talks too much, which includes writers like myself. "