elshikh4
Oh boy. I've read about how great this movie is since I was a kid. In books, in magazines' lists for the best westerns, or the best movies of all time. I've never ever read something remotely bad about it. And I've never imagined that when I got to watch it, I would be the one to say something bad about it (actually, it's "some things" !).First off, what a trivial script. I read that this was the ultimate elegy about the old west's end. OK, that itself is an elegy about the honesty of whoever wrote it ! The movie's plot summary on IMDb says : "An aging group of outlaws look for a last big score as the traditional American West is disappearing around them". Now that meaning is embodied in that line more than it is in the movie ! We have no character development, or characters. What we have is : a Mexican revolutionary wannabe, a man who had a fling with a married woman someday, a fat man who is called the Dutchman, and a Mexican general with inexplicably sad eyes. They don't talk much, and when they do, no valuable thing is uttered. Plus, every time the leads laugh, I don't get it. And they laugh a lot throughout the movie. These moments could have been classic, touching, or just funny. Though it ended up as incomprehensible ! Speaking of which, I didn't get why the whole Mexican village went to bid farewell to the American thieves ? How a gang member complains continually about its leadership, then forgets that utterly later ?! Why nobody moved when the Mexican general is killed ? Why William Holden character killed the German leader ? And how the gang's oldest member survived while he was left alone, seriously injured, in the middle of the desert ?? The odd moments are many. At one, 2 of the gang members follow a girl in a Mexican village, while their leader jokes about the child's part in the man. Clearly the 2 men were sexually frenetic over the girl ! At another, a gang member tries to detonate his fellow while the latter is about to excrete. What's the meaning of that ?! Is that they're crazy ?? We know that since the start. Was is a relief moment ?? It wasn't played that way !! And then, a recruited Mexican child looks extremely respectful to the Mexican general. Is it about false gods ?, the infancy of whoever believes in a dictator ?? What was the meaning of it ??!! Robert Ryan's character is the worst conflict's part I've seen. He doesn't make a thing for all the time, being more of a laughingstock, and – worse – presented in a massively serious way !And I got enough when the leads had THE WALK to save their Mexican fellow. Well, 4 men against 2 hundreds isn't heroism inasmuch as stupidity. And if it was made like they have a death wish, since their world was falling apart, then it wasn't built well, or at all. Btw, they were about to kill that same guy themselves after the first robbery gone sour (they did kill one of them already while the escape of that robbery !). So when some critics babble about the movie's so-called "strong thematic standpoint about friendship, betrayal, and self-destruction", you have to ask "Where is that ?". Nevertheless, I have to admit that the movie's drama "destructed itself" indeed ! I recall another critic saying "It has legendary actors in legendary roles". OK, where are those roles for god's sake ?! Nobody can evaluate acting in a movie that didn't care of making any characters ! This movie cared of 3 things only. Firstly, smashing the legend of the decent west, which was established in all the previous westerns done while The Motion Picture Production Code (1930 – 1968). Simply the past's bank robbers were super violent, whore-loving, and foul-mouthed; meaning a lot of on-screen violence, nudity, and swearing. However, ask yourself what was director Sam Peckinpah's true goal when he showed us bare breasts and an orgy ? If it's realism, then why didn't he – with greater reason – showed us CHARACTERS ?! So when violence, nudity, and swearing are all the realism you have, with the absence of drama too, then it's degenerated commercialism masquerading as art. And it's what gradually ate up Hollywood movies, of all genres, since 1968, till they became cheap exploitation, and pornography with a story !Secondly, the editing. It's a wild, rather crazy, insurrection towards the old school of Hollywood, assuring a new age, with new generation, that has new snappy pace. And thirdly, the visuals, which were beautiful and grand. Though Peckinpah had a zoom-in fetish, immersing the movie with hundreds of it. So with all of these aspects, 143 minutes running time, and huge bloody sequence as a climax—the movie looks epic, but the thing is it doesn't feel epic.I admired the moment of Holden character while he couldn't ride his horse, and then did it with pain and pride. It represents, single-handedly, the movie's doleful heart. Plus moments like when Ryan couldn't kill Holden, and Holden greeted Ryan sarcastically; they seem like splinters of a potential drama which was exploded by the movie's devoted frenzy. And the train robbery sequence, it's the only perfect thing here.The Wild Bunch is a cool western but not meaningful, being a good example for style over substance. It can be a pioneer among the mindless violent movies, not one of the best movies ever. And the worst thing about it is that how critics inflated it from a bit stylistic commercial movie about a gang, to artsy thought-provoking film about the end of an age !
Knox Morris
Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH is not your typical western. It does not lapse into the clichés THE BIG TRAIL and STAGECOACH plagued upon its genre. Our heroes don't walk into a saloon and order a whiskey. It does not have a duel at high noon, nor a shootout at midnight. What we do have is a gritty, gutsy film set in the old west, where the word old is an understatement. It is 1913, the world war is about to begin. Our heroes struggle to live in a time they don't belong. The characters aren't restrained to fighting with old-fashioned colts, they have machine guns, in fact some of the cowboys carry weapons similar looking to James Bond's Walther PPK. The story begins proper. Five cowboys ride into town. They rob a bank, and have a bloody battle with authorities. You are immediately told that this is not your standard, sprawling epic western. People fall off buildings, blood splatters out when someone gets shot. Do you hear the Magnificent Seven theme playing? I certainly don't. Our characters are not virtuous like John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. They are not necessarily good men, but by no means bad men. They are flawed. Holden is old, and has seen a lot. Betrayed far too many good people. Been responsible for the deaths of innocent citizens. Borgnine is a follower. He's tough as nails but rational and refuses to give up on his friends. Oates and Johnson only care about the dames, Sánchez just wants a thrill.In finality I classify The Wild Bunch as the Sunset Boulevard of it genre, a tribute to the old west, rather than to the silent era. 10/10.
gilligan1965
This is certainly not a TV movie; and, it is certainly not for those who fear the sight of blood. In other words, it's not "The Apple Dumpling Gang!"This is a no-nonsense, shoot-em-up, hardcore western about a gang of bank and train robbers called "The Wild Bunch" who make outlaws in most other movies look like "The Brady Bunch." It was the first movie of its kind in this genre, and, many movie-goers were shocked and/or amazed when they saw this for the first time. I know I was!Directed by the ultra-violent ex-US Marine, Sam Peckinpah; and, with an all-star cast lead by veteran actors William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, and, Robert Ryan; this movie is 'still' held in very high regards by both directors and actors of today...as well as lovers of westerns, crime-dramas, and, high-adrenaline action flix. I've never met any guy who didn't like this. It will never lose its luster!I read that the DVD includes all or most (can't remember which) of the edited footage that wasn't in the original release.If you like westerns-with-a-kick like "The Long Riders" (1980) (directed by Sam Peckinpah's protégé, Walter Hill);" or, crime-dramas like "The Getaway" (1972) (directed by Sam Peckinpah) - you'll like this movie!
