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The Wild Bunch (1969)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
7 August 1969 (Hong Kong)
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Tagline:
The land had changed. They hadn't. The earth had cooled. They couldn't. more
Plot:
An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars.
Another 5 wins
&
2 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(31 articles)
More Cast For Red
(From EmpireOnline. 12 November 2009, 11:36 PM, PST)
The Sunday Movie Quotes Quiz – The Answers
(From HeyUGuys. 9 November 2009, 9:38 AM, PST)
(From EmpireOnline. 12 November 2009, 11:36 PM, PST)
The Sunday Movie Quotes Quiz – The Answers
(From HeyUGuys. 9 November 2009, 9:38 AM, PST)
User Comments:
Still Savage, Still Bloody, Still Great
more (230 total)
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 | ... | 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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
134 min | USA:145 min (1995 re-release)
Country:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.20 : 1 more
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 (Manitoba) |
Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) (original rating) |
UK:18 (re-rating) (1988) (also director's cut) |
UK:X (original rating) (cut) |
France:-18 (original rating) |
Brazil:14 |
Finland:K-16 (1988) (cut) |
Finland:K-16 (1998) (uncut) (director's 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:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The shootout/massacre in the end took 12 days to film. When completed, about 10,000 squibs (simulated bullet hits) had been used.
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Goofs:
Anachronisms: At least twice in the movie, characters refer to Gen. Huerta as the president of Mexico. This would place the time period between early spring of 1913 and the summer of 1914. However, when Sikes is telling his colleagues about a "flying machine", Pike informs them that he heard the machines would be used in "the war", which would place the time period late 1914, after Huerta had been overthrown. Also, at least twice during the film a character refers to Pancho Villa indicating he was a major figure in the rebellion against Huerta. During the revolt Gen. Venustiano Carranza was the leading rebel; Villa was a minor figure, although he did ally his forces with those of Carranza (he also later led a rebellion against Carranza after Huerta was overthrown). Mentioning Villa's name may have been an attempt to place a well-known name before the audience to give them an historical context.
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Quotes:
[referring to the bank customers]
Crazy Lee: I kill 'em now?
Pike Bishop: No. Hold them here until the shooting starts.
Crazy Lee: I'll hold 'em here 'til Hell freezes over or you say different.
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Crazy Lee: I kill 'em now?
Pike Bishop: No. Hold them here until the shooting starts.
Crazy Lee: I'll hold 'em here 'til Hell freezes over or you say different.
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (2004)
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FAQ
A Note Regarding SpoilersHow much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
Is this movie based on a book?
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more (230 total)
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"The Wild Bunch" is one of those movies people don't agree on, even those that agree it's great. It's definitely complex, entertaining in a disturbing way, and manages to be at once nihilistic and moralistic, not an easy trick, especially for a cowboy film.
The first problem we have to deal with when watching this film is the fact there's very quickly a gunfight going on and, against all movie convention, no one to root for. There's an all-star cast on one side, including William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson, and Warren Oates, but against all expectation, they turn out to be a pretty black crew. About the first thing out of Holden's mouth, said about a cowed group of innocents, is "If they move, kill 'em," and before the battle is over, we've seen him and his team commit all sorts of savagery. About the only reason we don't immediately see them as evil is that the people they battle are no better.
Over time, we are encouraged to find something of value in Holden's Pike Bishop and his ruthless confederates, as they ride away, lick their wounds, and try to figure out how to get something else going, anything. The only problem is its 1913 and these outlaws are running out of time and options. "I'd like to make one good score and back off," is how Pike says it, to which Borgnine's faithful buddy Dutch exclaims: "Back off to what?!"
Chasing the bunch, and offering the viewer the film's one sympathetic character, is Robert Ryan as Deke Thornton, a former partner of Pike's who doesn't want to go back to jail and for whom killing the bunch is the one unpleasant means of securing his freedom. Ryan, who died in 1973, is probably not as recognizable as the other leads today, but he lends a sad, elegiac presence to his on-screen moments that give the film much of its grace and warmth.
The final star is director Sam Peckinpah, who made a truly revolutionary film that not only pushed the art of film forward but holds up today as a cinematic experience. Time has been kind to this film in a way it hasn't to other ground-breaking auteur moments from the same era, like "MASH" and "Easy Rider." When "The Wild Bunch" came out just as the 1960s were ending, people were truly shocked by the violence and cruel characters. Today, of course, such things are so common, and so mindlessly celebrated, that we find ourselves admiring what Peckinpah does for the surprisingly subtle and restrained way he goes about presenting us with mayhem and carnage, and his refusal to glorify it, however exciting and entertaining the overall package.
Surprisingly for a director who had trouble getting work at the time, Peckinpah landed three Oscar winners in the cast, and a fourth, Ben Johnson, who'd win his a couple of years later. Obviously, the acting is strong, each player investing his spare lines with the right degree of space and spirit, but it's probably worked even better that the movie game in 1969 was in the process of passing the fuddy-duddy likes of Holden, Borgnine, and Edmond O'Brien behind. This makes them very believable as a group of hard-nosed has-beens. In that light, it's kind of cool how hip this film so quickly became when it was released.
It's such a good film it's easy to overlook minor weaknesses. There's a nice bit of symbolism in the beginning, now famous, where the gang rides past a group of children tormenting scorpions and ants, but the point, once made, is beaten into the ground. There are some bits of convenience that stick out, like when a gunned-down outlaw rises and mows down his attackers with a few too-precise shotgun blasts. The general dislikeability of just about everything and everybody does feel a bit of a weight after a couple of viewings.
But what's great is just awesome, especially that opening sequence and the final showdown at Bloody Porch. Such terrific punch-drunk ambiance, it's almost a shame to watch it sober. The feeling of a new era coming upon us, which we see in everything from the doughboy uniforms at the outset to the car General Mapache rides around in, is redoubled by the glorious splendor, even clarity of this picture. Is it too much to praise a movie for the quality of the film stock itself? This is a paradox film, one about obsolescence and growing old that remains startling new-looking and fresh 35 years on.