The Wild Bunch Details

Peckinpah classic

The Wild Bunch was a defining moment in the career of director Sam Peckinpah, and also the Western genre as a whole. Peckinpah took a seemingly stock western plot and produced a masterpiece. Set in 1913, the film depicts what happens to all those heroic, lawless gunmen left behind by changing times. Old, tired outlaws just trying to scrape enough gold together to retire, the Wild Bunch are unglamorous, dirty and desperate. Yet Peckinpah makes these stock characters human, and we see them grow together as a group until they give their lives for a friend in one last blaze of glory.

The film features mesmeric performances from William Holden, Robert Ryan and Ernest Borgnine, who look like they've spent years growing old in the saddle. The action is bloody, the set pieces fantastic, and the Mexican army suitably corrupt. Awesome, and a fitting epitaph to Peckinpah's vision of a time and place in history.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Interesting But Beginning To Show Its Age

One is usually chastised for suggesting a Western 'classic' such as 'The Wild Bunch' should deserve anything less than 5 stars. However, considering Pekinpah's attempt to affect audiences comes almost purely through the visceral shock of his images, it can only be, when compared to the violence of contemporary cinema, considered dated.

The film falls far short of a realistic depiction of the desperado lifestyle. The cowboys on which the film is focused are poorly developed, and their lack of camaraderie is made up for by prolongued takes of cringeworthy laughter. William Holden although a fine actor in almost any role is not right for this part due to his well groomed appearance and civilised manner. Put shortly, although these men may be crude in the Hollywood sense, they are nowhere near vulgar enough.

This isn't to say the film has no merit, but its charm will be largely lost on anyone who doesn't consider themselves a film historian to some degree. Although it may have been shocking in 1969, it doesn't come close to getting such a reaction from a viewer today.

Stylistically the film isn't terrible by any means. The use of slow motion footage in particular was incredibly innovative at the time, but the cinematography and performances don't stand up to the work of Sergio Leone and others not content to sacrifice formal elements for shock value.

Ultimately this is a highly influential film and well worth watching for those interested in the history of cinema, but it has been used up, ripped off and spat out so many times that the storyline and characters seem tiresome and uninteresting.