Review of The Wild Bunch

The final shootout of the film is incredible. It's the best shootout in the history of Westerns that I have seen so far. After it was over I asked my "do you think you could do something as good in a film you make?" I had to say no I couldn't. It was that good. The film is as good as the best of the Leone Westerns. I drew a comparison to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and, in my opinion, it ranks in the same class as that film. It has all the elements that The Good.. does. More on that later. The films was released in 1969. Directed by Sam Peckinpah, it stars William Holden and Ernest Borgnine along with Robert Ryan.

The film follows aging bandits out for a last heist before they move South to Mexico. But all is not easy. Bounty hunters are hot on their trail, anticipating their every move. The plot thickens when the bandits meet up with a Mexican warlord out to get guns and become a power in Northern Mexico. The bandits commit to the general. They plot to steal guns from an American arms shipment. The bandits steal the guns and defeat the bounty hunters. But they still have to get payment for the guns from the general. This they do, but when one of their own is taken prisoner and tortured it's one step to far. The Wild Bunch stands up to the general and dies in a hail of bullets killing the general, his top men, and themselves in a great, final shootout.

I have to say upfront that I'm a big William Holden fan. So anything he does I'm biased for him. This was his last major role. And I thought he pulled it off well. I bought into him as the aging leader of the gang with baggage. His near apprehension with Thornton. His ongoing rivalry with him. The flashback to his lost love. Killed by her husband and severely wounding Pike. Holden is no John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. He is older, scarred, and looking for a way out. Like Holden, Dutch (Borgnine) wants a way out. He plays his role well as the trusted sidekick. I couldn't get over his little chuckles or his crazy eyes at the beginning of the shootout. Both put in solid performances.

The film uses creative techniques to tell the story. In particular the use of slow motion was effective and gruesome. Every time the slow motion effect was applied there was a gruesome death depicted. The use of fast cutting, close ups, and deep focus revealed the film in all it's glory. The palette of a filmmakers tools were all used in The Wild Bunch.

A strength of the film was it's violence. The shootouts at the beginning of the film, and in particular the end of the film, were excellent. They coordinated actors, guns, and cameras in a final sequence that was memorable. Perhaps too violent for some people, the shootouts were clearly influential on other filmmakers. Quentin Tarrantino for one, and, I'm sure, others delved into the horrific portrayal of violence shown in The Wild Bunch. The spurting of blood, the slow motion falls, the close ups on the guns, the faces, and the fallen bodies were a montage of violence unrivaled in film up to that point. Of course there have been similarly violent sequences in films after The Wild Bunch, but to my knowledge, none before it equaled it's depiction of blood and guts.

The film is true to it's name. The group of bandits stays close to one another. In the end they decide to rescue their friend. They take the side of the underdog. They throw away everything and fight for what they believe is right. The films message isn't too preachy or some kind of high minded narrative about human nature. It is simply that fighting for what's right at the cost of death is the right thing to do. Sticking close to the American Revolutionary slogan of "give me liberty or give me death" the group of bandits sticks it to the general in the final sequence.  They die an honorable death in the cause of freedom.

The Wild Bunch is a rather unique film. It reminds me of Shakespeare in the way that everyone dies. But they do die honorably. In past Westerns it is almost always that someone lives to collect the gold. In The Good... Clint Eastwood is left standing to collect his gold. In The Searchers John Wayne has put aside his racial hatred of Indians and embraced his niece. In The Wild Bunch there is no one left standing to collect the gold. Thornton is left to resume his life as a bandit. He is no richer and is a rather minor character in the film.

The film ranks as one of the best Westerns ever made. Alongside The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and The Searchers it upped the ante for filmmakers to out do what Peckinpah did with the use of violence, camera techniques, and editing. It ushered in a new era of Westerns like the films of The New Hollywood. It is brilliant and beautiful. I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in film.