Review of The Wild Bunch (1969) by Raven D — 28 Dec 2017

Great production, but a weak story and characters fail to involve. One would imagine "the wild bunch" would be a clear cut group of characters, each outstanding in their own way. Instead, we only get Holden and Borgnine as the stars of the bunch, and not very interesting ones at that, due to the thin script. The other characters only play supporting roles grounded in laughing, shouting, and being nasty. "Angel" plays a more prominent role, actually showing the most depth of all the characters in the film, yet he never feels like a part of the group, more like a reluctant tag-along. They should have kept Bo Hopkins' character alive, he was more interesting in the brief screen time he had than most of the characters in the whole movie. El Generalisimo was another shallow character, but damn did he look and act the part.

They could have delved deeper into the relationship between Pike and Deke, but we just get a quick flashback and that's it. Same goes for Angel's love interest who leaves everything for El General, only to be killed (you almost can't tell she dies in the scene) immediately afterward. Wasted opportunities.

I really wanted to like this movie, but I can't bring myself to give it a higher rating, dozens of slow-motion graphic deaths notwithstanding. I loved the intro credits though. "If they move...kill em".