Review of The Wild Bunch (1969) by Catherine R — 02 Jun 2009
Words are not enough to describe how I felt when I first watced The Wild Bunch. Being a girl, I was supposed to dislike westerns. But from the very first moment I was captured by this film. How can a western be so well-directed, (un)ethical, dirty, disrespectful and funny at the same time ?
Peckinpah questioned all the "rules" of the western genre. He rejected the pop image of John Wayne, Lee Van Clif, Clint Eastwood, Henry Fonda and created human characters instead. Cowboys who don't care how they look or how cool they shoot. What John Ford tried to achieve with "The Man who shot Liberty Valance", what Sergio Leone tried to avoid with the Clint Eastwood trilogy and what Eastwood copied in the amazing "The Unforgiven" was what Sam did with 13.152 bullets, 145 dead bodies and William Holden. He showed a filthy West, not a West living nice in its filth. John Wayne himself said that the film "Ruined the legend of the old West". True John, but it ruined it in the most artistic and creative way.
West will hate you, shoot you, make you bleed and then spit on your grave. No sympathy, no laws: every man fights alone. Peckinpah knew that. And that's why The Wild Bunch IS the West.
This review of The Wild Bunch (1969) was written by Catherine R on 02 Jun 2009.
The Wild Bunch has generally received very positive reviews.
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