The Wild Bunch (1969)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

Walon Green (story) and
Roy N. Sickner (story) ...

Release Date:

7 August 1969 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Western

Tagline:

The land had changed. They hadn't. The earth had cooled. They couldn't.

Plot:

An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.

Plot Keywords:

Mexico | Outlaw | Gun | Mexican | Frontier

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

William Holden	...	Pike Bishop
Ernest Borgnine	...	Dutch Engstrom
Robert Ryan	...	Deke Thornton
Edmond O'Brien	...	Freddie Sykes
Warren Oates	...	Lyle Gorch
Jaime Sánchez	...	Angel (as Jaime Sanchez)
Ben Johnson	...	Tector Gorch
Emilio Fernández	...	Gen. Mapache (as Emilio Fernandez)
Strother Martin	...	Coffer
L.Q. Jones	...	T.C
Albert Dekker	...	Pat Harrigan
Bo Hopkins	...	Clarence 'Crazy' Lee
Dub Taylor	...	Rev. Wainscoat
Paul Harper	...	Ross
Jorge Russek	...	Maj. Zamorra

Runtime:

134 min | USA:145 min (1995 re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

German | English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | DTS (1995 re-release) | Dolby Digital (1995 re-release) | Mono (35 mm prints) | SDDS (1995 re-release)

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (1995) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (re-rating) (1995) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) (original rating) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | UK:18 (re-rating) (1988) (also director's cut) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | France:-18 (original rating) | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-16 (1998) (uncut) (director's cut) | Finland:K-16 (1988) (cut) | Finland:K-18 (1969) (uncut) | South Korea:18 | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:U (director's cut) | USA:R (re-rating on appeal) | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Canada:18A (British Columbia) (1999) | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Australia:MA (director's cut) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | France:-12 (director's cut) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:R16 (director's cut) | Norway:16 (cut) | Norway:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R (original rating) | West Germany:16 (w) | Ireland:18

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts

Trivia:

Before William Holden was cast, the role was turned down by Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, James Stewart, Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Sterling Hayden, Richard Boone and Robert Mitchum. Marvin actually accepted the role but pulled out after he was offered a larger pay deal to star in Paint Your Wagon (1969).

Goofs:

Factual errors: Gen. Mapache's German military advisers stated that they were officers of "The Imperial German Army". At the time of this film's setting, 1913, the only German military forces belonged to the states of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg, and they weren't called the "Imperial German Army". The filmmakers most likely meant the Imperial Prussian Army, as Prussia was ruled by a king and its army was generally regarded as among the best in Europe. It was also known to hire out its officers as advisers to foreign armies.

Quotes:

Pike Bishop: He gave his word.
Dutch Engstrom: He gave his word to a railroad.
Pike Bishop: It's his word.
Dutch Engstrom: That ain't what counts! It's who you give it *to*!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The definitive end of the west Western

An incredible performance by Bill Holden is the high point of this sensational, landmark film. Holden made a whole career out of laid-back, easy-going, what-the-hell sort of characters but here, at his zenith, he departs from type and plays a character so mean and so embittered that in some ways he even out-Bronsons Bronson himself.

The Wild Bunch is a group of disillusioned outlaws who are out of time and they know it. When Sykes says that they've got one of those things (a car) up north that can fly, they gloomily accept that this new-fangled 20th Century is not for them.

It is a movie all about values and about a man's loyalty to his companions. Holden brilliantly declares that if you cannot stand by a man who rides with you, you are like some kind of animal. In the end, that is all these hunted men have: their loyalty to each other.

And so they band together for one last walk to try and rescue their doomed Mexican comrade. The bloodbath that follows is an eloquent summary of their lives. They who live by the gun.....

Superb performances by Holden in particular and also by O'Brien, Ryan, Borgnine, Oates and Johnson. Peckinpah's finest hour. Definitely ten out of ten.