Review of The Wild Bunch (1969) by Anders H — 11 Feb 2011

In the year 1964, John Ford released his last western he ever did. The movie was called Cheyenne Autumn. It symbolised the end of his career and it was like a farewell movie to the genre he made famous. The film was packed with a lot actors like Richard Widmark. James Stewart, Dolores Del Rio, Sal Mineo, Karl Malden, Arthur Kennedy, Carroll Baker, John Carradine and many more. It was spectacle of a movie, an epic western. It was a great last western to end John Fordâ(TM)s career after 50 years of making movies. It wasnâ(TM)t his last film but he didnâ(TM)t make much after that as he died in 1973. His last film was 7 Women, which was a flop. After John Ford had passed on, the man to take up the torch as the main western director was none other then Sam Peckinpah. Sam Peckinpah was noted for his explicit and innovative depiction of violence in his movies and also for taking a bit more of revisionist approach to the Western genre. In the late sixties and early seventies from what Iâ(TM)ve read and learnt, is that many directors decided to take a different approach to the Western something that their predecessors might not have done. The western became darker, there was more focus on the time period and they favoured realism over romanticism. The main protagonists were more like anti-heroes. We begin to cheer for the villains. Films by Sam Peckinpah took this revisionist look and other examples of this are McCabe and Mrs Miller, Little Big Man, The Professionals, The Misfits, Jeremiah Johnson and pretty much any Western with Clint Eastwood. The movie that made Sam Peckinpah famous and secured his place, as one of the great Western directors was the blood spattered masterpiece that is the Wild Bunch.

In the BFI screen guide of the 100 westerns, it says that the Wild Bunch was one of the few films of the late 60s, which deals with the end of the west. This is very much true for The Wild Bunch. The film is set in the twentieth century and the year is 1913 during the Mexican revolution. The west is changing and civilisation has come to the west in the form of automobiles and new form of weaponry. The Wild Bunch, this gang of killers and robbers, represent what the west was and they seem run away from the change that is happening around them. Doing petty jobs to make ends meet and killing many people in the process. Not intentionally killing random people but only if the situation escalates. The symbolism of the west changing is given in a line by Pike Bishop played by William Holden which is: â~We got to start thinking beyond our guns. Those days are closing fast.â(TM) Pike is the leader of the group and has been with his comrades for a long time in any shape or form and he believes in sticking together and believes â~when you side with a man, you stay with him.â(TM) Pike is an interesting character as he is the leader of the bunch and does have some sort of humanity in him. He knows the west is changing but understands there is nothing he can do about it except keep doing scores and maybe he can â~Back offâ(TM) at some point. But his spirits seem to be broken by his trusted friend Dutch played by Ernest Borgnine when he says â~Back off to what?â(TM) Dutch is a more of a realist then the rest of the bunch. This further proves that the west is changing and they canâ(TM)t do anything about the change. Men like these characters have only two options. Either accept the change or go down guns blazing.

The film is a great example of a revisionist western that had been overshadowed by the controversy that came with it when it was released in 1969. The film is controversial because of its gore and the violence, which may have pissed off a few when it came out. The opening massacre and the amazing gunfight at the end of the movie are sickening as David Carter says in his â~The Westernâ(TM) book, but yet he goes on by saying there is something more cathartic about it. I think theyâ(TM)re very well done. Sam Peckinpah is very good at using quick editing, which most directors have been influenced in later years. Bonnie and Clyde another sort of western kind of movie does a lot what The Wild Bunch did but two years before. Arthur Penn, who directed Bonnie and Clyde, pushes the boundaries of on-screen violence with its bloody machine gun fights. Peckinpah brings this just a little bit further. The quick editing is something Peckinpah and Arthur Penn use very well. Sam Peckinpah isnâ(TM)t really trying to piss people off with the violence in his movies but do something different with the Western genre. Not all of Peckinpahâ(TM)s films are bloody and violent. He may have had a violent attitude and he did do drink and drugs but he has made some not so violent movies as the Wild Bunch. A good example of this is Ride the High Country. Ride the High Country stars Western actors Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott as ex-gunmen trying to make ends meet and this film echoes some of the same things the Wild Bunch was touching on. Major Dundee the movie Peckinpah did next is a bit more like his later films, as it is a bit violent and bloody for a PG movie. Still is a good movie despite the fact it did have a few problems with the final cut. People seem to look at Peckinpah as this violent director of violent bloody films and only look at The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia and The Getaway as examples. But people seem to forget that he has made other kinds of films that are softer on the violence like Ride The High Country, The Ballad of Cable Hogue and the Deadly Companions. His films are not all violent and donâ(TM)t feature that much gratuitous bloodshed. Give him a go.

Casting of this movie is movie is great and has one of the best ensemble of Western actors ever. William Holden takes the lead as Pike Bishop. William Holden is one of those great actors and he is amazing in this film, one of his best performances next to Network, Stalag 17 and The Bridge on the River Kwai. Ernest Borgnine stars as Dutch and he is one of those great character actors and heâ(TM)s great in this as Pikeâ(TM)s trusted friend. Ben Johnson and Warren Oates are great in this film as the Gorch brothers. They are Peckinpah regulars and they have been in Major Dundee together and recently I saw them in Dillinger, which I thought was an amazing Peckinpah influenced film. Robert Ryan plays Deke Thornton an ex-partner of Pike and he is running a gang of gun nut maniacs who are just as crazy as the Wild Bunch. They have been hired by the railroad to hunt them down and kill them. Deke is only doing it as a way of getting a pardon. Deke seems to look like that he prefers the company of his enemies then he does with these blood crazy psychopaths he has been placed in charge of. Edmund Oâ(TM)Brian is the oldest member of the Wild Bunch and he plays Freddie Sykes. He is nothing more then an old hermit who doesnâ(TM)t do any killing in the movie. But from looking at him you can tell that he did some killing in his day. Most of the movie he laughs in a crazy way and gets on Ben Johnsonâ(TM)s nerves. Itâ(TM)s a good performance and itâ(TM)s the second western Iâ(TM)ve seen him as well as The Man who shot Liberty Valance. The cast is great and they really make this movie.

This film should be seen by any Western fans and for anyone who likes to watch awesome action films. The gunfight at the end of the movie is one of the best cinematic moments ever and it took them 12 days to shoot it. Itâ(TM)s bloody and a lot of people (Mexicans) get killed. Mexicans donâ(TM)t really get any justice in Westerns. See Vera Cruz to see my point. This movie is great and I will go so far as to call it Sam Peckinpahâ(TM)s masterpiece and it is one of his best. Seriously watch this film. Itâ(TM)s amazing. Guys may like it. Girls not so much. Anyway with the release of True Grit Iâ(TM)m going to more western reviews and my next western review will be Django. Iâ(TM)m also going to review The Fighter and also True Grit after I see it this weekend. Thank you and Goodbye.

A.H.