Review of The Wild Bunch (1969) by Lee K — 16 Dec 2010
Alot of my friends and fans of my reviews have sent me messages saying why dont I give some of the classics a watch? So what I have decided to do is pick a list of some and write my reviews on them. Well the first on my list is obviously The Wild Bunch.
I am one that is not afraid to offer my true convictions on one of the classics, maybe that's why so many wanted my opinion? Anyhow having just watched a pretty cool little documentary on directors in the 60's and 70's entitled Easy Riders To Raging Bulls, sorry if I got the name slightly wrong as I am having a memory burp.
In this documentary they detail alot of the goings on with the directors during a wild time and era, eg; drugs, women you name it! They talked alot about the late Sam Peckinpah and The Wild Bunch so I said its time to get this off the to do list and have a watch.
For the first half I was bored silly in fact so bored that I almost said screw this and moved down to the next on my list. I like the cast but i'm afraid im still a fan of only a couple of western's and they were both made in the 90's.
I think I was more lured to this film as a result of more interest in Peckinpah's wild ways and wanted to see the end product cause of it. Also the only movie I really enjoyed that was one of Peckinpah's was 78's Convoy.
The storyline was ok, the train heist was one of the highlights of this film, expecially the bridge explosion. That being said this shootout at the end really gets me, ok I got it that the Mexican militia were drunk out of their minds including the general so in turn made it easy for Peck and his men just to waltz up to them toating shotguns, however as soon as they nailed the General you can't tell me that the whole army would've just sat there saying whoa! wait a minute? and started to get to their guns and the shooting, no they wouldve shot these men within getting within so many feet of him.
No but suspension of disbelief I know was extremly required however at least make it look legit. I can see however that the violence in this film rocked the nation so to speak cause of the time frame and the Wild Bunch actually showed bullets penetrating the actors and the ensuing splatterfor the first time.
That in itself was the reason I continued to watch this colossal waste of time. Sorry guys, but next....
This review of The Wild Bunch (1969) was written by Lee K on 16 Dec 2010.
The Wild Bunch has generally received very positive reviews.
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