The Wild Bunch (1969)

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

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

Walon Green (screenplay), Sam Peckinpah (screenplay)

Stars:

William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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	...	Mapache (as Emilio Fernandez)
Strother Martin	...	Coffer
L.Q. Jones	...	T.C
Albert Dekker	...	Harrigan
Bo Hopkins	...	Crazy Lee
Dub Taylor	...	Wainscoat
Paul Harper	...	Ross
Jorge Russek	...	Zamorra

Storyline

It's 1913, and the "traditional" American West is dying. Among the inhabitants of this dying era are an outlaw gang called "The Wild Bunch." After a failed railroad office robbery, the gang heads to Mexico to do one last job. Seeing their times and lives drifting away in the newly formed world of the 20th century, the gang takes the job and ends up in a brutally violent last stand against their enemies deemed to be corrupt, in a small Mexican town ruled by a ruthless general.

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Plot Keywords:

arizona | yuma territorial prison | shoulder holster | arizona territory | texas | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Western

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish German

Release Date:

7 August 1969 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Divlja horda

Filming Locations:

Bavispe, Sonora, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$6,244,087 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$638,641, 31 December 1995

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts

Technical Specs

Runtime:

145 min (director's cut)

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)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During a screening in New York, Sam Peckinpah invited Jay Cocks, of Time magazine, who brought his friend Martin Scorsese. They sat in an empty Warner Bros. screening room with only two other critics, Judith Crist and Rex Reed. That final scene knocked them out of their seats. Recalled Scorsese, "We were mesmerized by it; it was obviously a masterpiece. It was real filmmaking, using film in such a way that no other form could do it; it couldn't be done any other way. To see that in an American filmmaker was so exciting." Cocks remembered that he and Scorsese "literally turned to each other at the end and were stunned. We were looking at each other, shaking our heads, like we had just come out of a shared fever dream."

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Goofs

When Edmund O Brian or Freddie Sykes in the movie, goes to the rocks to relieve himself, the gang throws a bundle of dynamite at him for a laugh. He pulls out the cap and fuse, however the sound of the cap exploding is never heard.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[indistinct voices]
Rev. Wainscoat: Do not drink wine or strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, least ye shall die. Look not though upon the wine when it is red, and when it bringeth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright at the last, it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Now folks, that's from the Good Book, but in this here town it's five cents a glass. Five cents a glass, now does anyone think that that is a price of a drink?

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Alternate Versions

The second domestic version (sometimes called the American version) is missing all the material just described and runs about 135 minutes.

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Connections

Referenced in Making 'Taxi Driver' (1999)

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Soundtracks

Shall We Gather at the River?
(uncredited)
Written by Robert Lowry
Played by the Temperance Union Band in the shootout at Starbuck

User Reviews

The Wild Cinema of Peckinpah

Peckinpah has a rep and this is the film which provided most of it. I had the privilege of actually seeing this on the big screen once, in the late seventies. As the beginning credits end, Pike (Holden) tells his bunch "If they move, Kill 'em!" Then Peckinpah's credit appears. A woman seated behind me gasped, whispering "oh, no..." Oh, my. It sounded like the lady didn't know she'd wandered into a Peckinpah film and she knew what she was in for. When you enter Peckinpah-land, you need to be prepared. There are no punches pulled, no sidestepping the unpleasant aspects of life. Peckinpah's characters are tough men; I mean, really tough, not phony-Hollywood tough. In this case, they are coarsened by what seems to be years on the trail, blasted by the sun, snapped at by rattlesnakes, and harassed by bandits. And at this point, they've pretty much had it.

Not that they're complaining, mind you. They've lived their lives how they saw fit, this bunch, and they make no apologies for any of it. I believe the actual year is around 1913, just before World War I begins. Most of the action takes place in Mexico, where the Bunch becomes involved with a local general (Fernandez) with the usual delusions of grandeur. If you go by the name of the character Angel, the general can be viewed as a version of the devil. That would make the Bunch avenging angels at the end. But heroes? No, not at all. They have their own code, they know instinctively they're stronger together than on each own, but they reason this concept out also - Peckinpah wants to make sure it's clear these are not unthinking savages. They're just men, who've reached a point in history where they must make a crucial turn. History, it seems, has no real use for them anymore. It's quite simple - they either fade slowly or go out quickly. In a film such as this, with its now insurmountable rep, you tend to wait for those big set pieces, especially the climactic battle. Wait for it, wait for it... here it is. Bam! - you're in Peckinpah territory. You're a part of history.