Cockfighter (also known as Born to Kill, Gamblin' Man and Wild Drifter) is a 1974 drama film by director Monte Hellman, starring Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton and featuring Laurie Bird and Ed Begley, Jr.
[1] 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.
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.
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.