The Wild Bunch (1969)

Directed by: Sam Peckinpah | 134 minutes | action, drama, western | Actors: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmund O’Brien, Warren Oates, Jaime Sánchez, Ben Johnson, Emilio Fernández, Strother Martin, LQ Jones, Albert Dekker, Bo Hopkins, Dub Taylor, Paul Harper, Jorge Russek, Alfonso Arau, Chano Urueta, Elsa Cárdenas, Bill Hart, Rayford Barnes, Stephen Ferry, Sonia Amelio, Aurora Clavel, Enrique Lucero, Elizabeth Dupeyrón, Yolanda Ponce, José Chávez, René Dupeyrón, Pedro Galván, Graciela Doring, Major Perez, Fernando Wagner, Jorge Rado, Ivan Scott, Señora Madero, Margarito Luna, Chalo González, Lilia Castillo, Elizabeth Unda, Julio Corona

Director Sam Peckinpah’s ‘The Wild Bunch’ is a must see movie. ‘Bloody’ Sam has you covered with a film that adds a new dimension to the western. He mixes classic western themes with modern ones and brightens it up with an impressive dose of violence. That combination seems to work perfectly. In older westerns, cowboys hunted down Native Americans or the gunfighter eventually put things in order: familiar themes dominated the popular western for decades. ‘The Wild Bunch’ shakes up the old system to eventually arrive at a contemporary, postmodern western.

The ‘bunch’ is a group of aging cowboys who have no other way of life than to grab what they can with loaded guns. Everyone has to give way, even women and children, as evidenced in the beginning of the film when a seemingly simple robbery spirals horribly out of hand and ends in a bloodbath. During the film it appears that the individual is subordinate to the group. Holden is the leader and bonding agent in the gang of unshaven dudes. Holden is Pike Bishop, who keeps the troublesome characters together. He realizes that he is getting older. For minutes he can enjoy playing children, who are still unspoiled. The youths of the “bunch” challenge him, but Holden’s will is still law. The melancholy associated with old age is central. The ‘bunch’ still acts on old-fashioned principles of pride, honor and sincerity as the world changes around them. On the border between America and Mexico, cowboys and horses are going out of fashion and something as modern as a car is making its appearance. The Mexican army behaves unchecked and individualistic, while Holden insists on the group interest of the ‘bunch’. But what if the group interest becomes a dogma and becomes self-destructive?

Director Peckinpah, himself a notorious drinker and bon vivant, must have fought a lot of conflicts before, during and after making ‘Bunch’ with the people he didn’t really like, but who did provide bread on the table. Peckinpah didn’t fit into the glamorous world of Hollywood. ‘The Wild Bunch’ is an example of how idiosyncratic the director worked. Violence seems obvious. Holden’s men don’t know any better and provoke the same behavior from their opponents, leading to bloody clashes and a fantastic finale. The final piece is an orgy of violence, unleashed by the group’s code. The honor of the ‘bunch’ is at stake, and the Mexicans in abundance are surprised when the handful of gringos meet them fearlessly to do what they must do: you are a man and you remain a man no matter how bad you are. also stands for it. There are plenty of notable scenes. From horses and riders on a bridge entering the water in slow motion to the inhumane end of one of the members of the ‘bunch’, after he steals a chest of weapons and ammunition. From small children who seem to laugh at the old cowboys right at the beginning of the story to the memorable climax in the small town of Aqua Verde, the lion’s den. The only downside are the pursuers of the ‘bunch’, which are led by an excellent Robert Ryan. The group of mercenaries seem too amateurish to pose a serious threat to Holden’s men.

Nevertheless, ‘The Wild Bunch’ is an absolute top film. The film is admittedly a western, but a complicated one that is difficult to pigeonhole. Peckinpah tells us that violence and people are inextricably linked. Men, women and children: everyone is at risk when it comes to the marbles. Great movie not to be missed.