The Wild Bunch (1969)

"Let's go"

That final shootout will always remain the benchmark for sheer visceral cinema. It's to Peckinpah's credit that he gives us these thieves and murderers but never apologizes for them, they are what they are.

Peckinpah's well known for his misogynism but during that scene where Angel confronts his woman, there's a certain wounded smile she gives that's always fascinated me.

It's amazing, and I would easily give it a 10/10 rating.

To this day, I'd say this might be the most exciting movie ever made. I love every second of it, even if it's not my favorite Western (I love the genre).

Hypothesis: Dutch is totally gay for Pike.

Discuss.

Don't like it much. It doesn't even come close to being engrossing. It doesn't have that "magic" that genuinely great movies have. It's just one of those things that gets by because it doesn't really having anything wrong with it.

But their final death march is the greatest, purest thing ever. Every red-blooded man kind of wishes they could die like that.

Borgnine uses a woman as a shield during the end shootout. Now that's friggin' shocking.

The bunch were outright bastards, but you can't help but want them to get out, even though they've signed their death warrants by killing Mapache. They're laughs after killing him only solidifies they're knowledge that they won't make it out.

When I was in video tech class in tenth grade, we were given an assignment to write a review on any movie from the AFI 100 Greatest American Films Of All Time list that had come out a few months before. I picked this because I hadn't seen it before and because of the controversy surrounding it.

It turned out to be one of the few good decisions I've made. This and Apocalypse Now are the only films I consider to be truly life changing, to me at least.

When I watched this for the first time I thought to myself that it says a lot of the things that The Assassination of Jesse James says about the Western and the types of people in them except in big bold letters.

I love both of them, but this is the better film by a long shot and one of my favorites.

Not to mention Pike get's taken out by a goddamn kid, A KID.

Paul, what "magic" are you talking about, are you saying this film is boring?

Kind of reminds me of the last season of a certain TV show.

Paul is clearly insane.

One of them shot Pike in the back, women are almost a non-entity in this film.

Besides the bloody sweeping finale, my favorite scene is Pike's brief speech about the gang staying together. "When you side by a man you stay with him and if you can't do that you're like some animal," paraphrased from memory, so it might be a little off.

One of my favorite scenes in this film is the scene where they're riding off from the village and the people are singing as they ride off, it's almost romantic, like they're saying farewell to the world they know and they're going to die in the emergence of a world that doesn't need them.

Some great movies, whether they're your favourites or not, whether you feel you need to own them on DVD or not, are just indisputably great. Stuff like ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. They have the "magic".

THE WILD BUNCH just felt like going through the motions. There's nothing that any actor did that couldn't have been done by another actor, better. It just ticks all the boxes to coast by.

And yes, I was bored out of my skull both times I attempted it.

That song they sing is called "Las Golondrinas". It's a song about death and dying.

I hope the ghost of William Holden kicks you in the balls.

"Let's go."
[a moment of Silence]
"Why not?"

And I love how Robert Ryan's Deke has made a bad decision but now feels honor-bound to follow through on it. The heart of the movie for me has always been Deke's tragedy; he'd much rather die with his old partners than pursue and kill them with his contemptible posse.

Kind of get that feeling as well. Especially when Pike gets killed.

Need to see it again.

I watched the film on blu-ray this week. I'd seen it once when I was a teen on a pan & scan VHS about fifteen years ago. I had not been impressed.

Now I know this film is fucking great. Sure widescreen presentation is essential to appreciate it but I think I also needed the maturity. When you're 15, every film character is old, whether they're 25 or 55. I now really understand the impact of them being old man, especially Pike and Deke.

I agree about the misogyny being overblown, much like Dirty Harry's fascism. Viewers have heard about it and they look for it throughout the film. The Old West may be dying but it's still a violent, man's world. It's the nature of things that women are victims in The Wild Bunch.

I hate that whenever two male characters share a strong bond people immediately go for the gay interpretation but I also got that vibe about Dutch. What brought this on is when Dutch and Pike have a discussion before going to sleep. Pike is telling stories about old partners and I realised Dutch hadn't always been in the gang. That changed my interpretation about his total devotion.

The Wild Bunch is not only one of the greatest Westerns ever made, but it's also one of the greatest movies ever made. I thought The Wild Bunch was a tad slow the first time I watched it(I was in my early twenties then), but seeing it a second time a couple of years later showed me the error of my ways. Now, it's a movie I can watch over and over.

My favorite movie. Not just for the themes, acting, scope, story, violence and pathos, but for the copious amounts of old men cackling,

I love how Ernest Borgnine plays over the hill in this, yet he's still kicking, The Borg will never die.

The only gay characters in this are the two bounty hunters played Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones. Pike and Dutch are brothers in spirit.

There was a featurette on The Wild Bunch DVD where L.Q. Jones admitted that he and Strother Martin played their characters to be a little bit gay.

Amazingly shot and staged, one of the all time classics. It's a definitive man movie and I found myself a tiny bit disturbed by the hints of misogyny throughout the film. If the film doesn't outright hate women than it is deeply suspicious of them. As someone largely unfamiliar with Peckinpah I'm not sure if this is a consistent facet of his films, or if the subject matter leads to this misogyny.

Being a film about a bunch of old,murderous, thieves it could be that the film's general dim view of women is just representing the groups view in general. 

Despite that it's a stunning piece of cinema with some amazing performances. Holden and Borgnine are the stand outs for me, just fantastic dynamic performances. I think that because of how great those two were I didn't pay as much attention to the other members of the Bunch, but the film definitely seems to view those two as the main protagonists. 

The final gunfight, despite its legendary status, is just kind of insane. Even when you know its reputation the final scene is still kind of shocking and still insanely violent.

I wouldn't say this film is misogynist, the only significant female role is Angel's former lover and although it's an unflattering view, there is a certain depth to that character, just watch the scene where Angel confronts her, there's a subtle reaction from sadness to laughter, it's brief but it's there.

I don't think it would need to take much of a stretch to pick up at least a wiff of misogyny in The Wild Bunch. In addition to Angel's former lover(who yeah gets a short moment, but is still treated like a whore) pretty much every other female character is a prostitute, or a victim of violence.

 

That's not a knock against the film either, by and by. Peckinpah had a lot of personal demons(obvious) and hang-ups with women seem to be an obvious part of that. Those demons though fuel the best of his movies, and considering that I think the Wild Bunch is one of the best American films ever made? I can't imagine what it'd be like without those hang-ups.