The Wild Bunch is a 1969 English
language western film directed by Sam
Peckinpah, in which an aging group of outlaws hope to have one final score while the West is turning into a modern
society. It stars William Holden, Ernest
Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien,
Warren Oates, Jaime Sánchez,
Ben Johnson, Strother Martin,
L.Q. Jones, Bo Hopkins and Dub Taylor.
The screenplay was written by Walon Green, Roy N. Sickner and Sam Peckinpah. It was
nominated for Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) and
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not
Previously Published or Produced.
Originally a controversial film because of its graphic violence, The Wild Bunch is also noted for making the use of
slow motion shots in mainstream motion pictures acceptable. The technique of slow motion had
existed since the earliest days of film, and was often used in avant-garde and New
Wave films, but in the years following The Wild Bunch, slow-motion became a common method of emphasizing action
sequences in movies, especially action-adventure movies.
In 1993, Warner Bros. resubmitted the film to the MPAA ratings board prior to an expected rerelease. To the
studio's surprise, the originally R-rated film was given an NC-17 rating,[1] delaying the rerelease while the decision was appealed.[2] Approximately 10 extra minutes were not technically additions in that they were all present when the
film was released; Warner Bros. subsequently trimmed some footage to decrease the running time.[3]
In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
In some countries, this movie is called "Pipe Dreams." This causes some confusion, as the 1996 movie Down Periscope is also called "Pipe Dreams" in many countries, particularly in the Middle East.
Warner Bros. released a newly restored version of The Wild Bunch in a two-disc special edition on January 10, 2006.
This edition includes an audio commentary by Peckinpah scholars, two documentaries concerning the making of the film and
never-before-seen outtakes.
Plot
The movie takes place in 1913, during the height of the Mexican Revolution. In the fictional town of San Rafael, Texas (named
after the military academy in California Peckinpah attended as a teenager),
also referred to as Starbuck, the "Wild Bunch", a gang led by Pike Bishop (Holden), and including Dutch Engstrom (Borgnine), Lyle
and Tector Gorch (Oates and Johnson), Angel (Sanchez), Buck (Rayford Barnes), and Crazy Lee (Hopkins), among others, enters the
town, with half of them dressed as American soldiers. They ride past a group of children who are torturing a pair of scorpions by
putting them on a hill of red ants, an image of the violent instinct inherited from nature, and a foreshadowing of the few
professionals being brought down by the faceless and unskilled masses (the bounty hunters and the federal troops, both U.S. and
Mexican). The gang enters the railroad company office and holds it up, but on the roof of a hotel across the street, a ragtag
posse of bounty hunters led by Deke Thornton (Ryan) is waiting in ambush. However, the
robbers spot them and use a parade by the local temperance union to help their
escape.
A vicious, chaotic gunfight breaks out between the two groups, with the innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, resulting
in numerous deaths. The surviving gang members ride to a small Mexican town, where another gang member, the aged Freddie Sykes
(O'Brien), is waiting with horses and saddles. The robbery was a setup by the railroad - the loot is revealed to be nothing, but
worthless bags of steel washers. It is revealed that Deke has been given his parole from prison in exchange for tracking down his
old colleague, Pike.
Pike and his men return to Angel's village and remain there for a day and night. There, Pike learns from the village elder,
Don Jose (Chano Urueta) that the village has been attacked by General Mapache (Fernandez), a Mexican general working for the
government of Victoriano Huerta. The gang then heads to Agua Verde, Mapache's
headquarters, to trade their horses. As they go to visit the General, Angel sees Teresa, his girlfriend, presenting a pony to
Mapache. Angel shoots her in the arms of Mapache. They are hired by Mapache and his German military advisers to steal a US arms
shipment for him, which they agree to for a price of ten thousand dollars in gold - but Angel insists that they allow him to take
a case of rifles to his village to protect them from Mapache. Pike and Dutch agree.
The Bunch holds up the train, but Deke and his posse are also on board the train and pursue them to a bridge over the Rio
Grande, themselves being pursued by a squad of inexperienced and poorly-trained cavalrymen. After a confusing three-way shootout,
the Bunch recrosses the border into Mexico. Deke and his men are dumped into the river when dynamite wired to the bridge
explodes.
While waiting for word of the Bunch's robbery at a telegraph station, Mapache and his entourage are attacked by forces led by
Pancho Villa and routed. After more setbacks, Angel is captured by Mapache's men, and Dutch
simply rides off, leaving him behind. The gang regroups at a canyon outside of town, waiting for Sykes to return with their pack
horses, and they argue over what to do. Pike decides to make a stand. The four gang members load up shotguns and sidearms and in
the famous "long walk", march through Agua Verde to Mapache's headquarters. After demanding Angel's release again, a drunken
Mapache slits Angel's throat. A vicious gunfight results as the Bunch shoots their way through Mapache's officers and takes
control of the machine gun. Pike is finally killed by a Mexican boy who shoots him in the back; Dutch is gunned down rushing to
his side. The film ends with Deke arriving only to find the corpses of his former comrades. Sykes rides up and offers him a
chance to participate in the revolution and stay in Mexico. He accepts.
Production
The film was shot in the anamorphic wide screen process. Peckinpah and his
cinematographer, Lucien Ballard, also made use of a wide angle camera lens, one that allowed for objects and people in both the
background and foreground to remain in sharp focus. The effect is best seen in the shots where the Bunch make their final walk to
Mapache's courtyard to free Angel; as they walk forward, a constant flow of people pass between them and the camera, yet are as
sharply focused as the Bunch.
The editing of the film is also notable: shots of multiple angles of people dying from gunshots would be edited together in
rapid succession, often at different speeds, placing greater emphasis on the chaotic nature of the gunfights. This technique was
also used in several other action shots in the film.
Casting
Peckinpah considered many actors for the part of Pike Bishop. The role was originally written with Lee Marvin in mind, but Marvin declined because he felt it was too similar to his role in The Professionals and because he was offered more money to appear in Paint Your Wagon. Others, including James
Stewart, Gregory Peck, and Charlton Heston,
who was the lead in Peckinpah's Major Dundee were also considered.
The part of Thornton was originally offered to Peckinpah's old friend and collaborator Brian
Keith, who had worked with Peckinpah on The Westerner and
The Deadly Companions. Keith, who was committed to the TV series
Family Affair, declined the role. Also considered were Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Ben
Johnson (who was later cast as Tector Gorch), and another Dundee veteran, Richard
Harris. Robert Ryan was cast based on his performance in The Dirty Dozen. Mario Adorf, who also appeared in
Dundee, was considered for the part of Mapache, but the role ultimately went to Emilio
Fernandez, infamous film director/actor who was a close friend of Peckinpah's.
Among those considered to play Dutch were Sammy Davis, Jr., Charles Bronson, and Richard Jaeckel.
Robert Blake was the original choice to play Angel, but he demanded too much
money for the part. Peckinpah had seen Jaime Sanchez in the Broadway production of Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker (he had also appeared in the film) and was so impressed that he demanded Sanchez be
cast as Angel.
Themes
Critics of The Wild Bunch made note of the film's storyline that depicted the end of both the Wild West and the era of
the American cowboy. Pike himself comments on this, "We've got to start thinking beyond our guns. Those days are closin' fast."
The Bunch also inspects General Mapache's latest purchase, a brand new, red automobile, an invention that marked the beginning of
the end for horse travel. Also, among the guns that the Bunch steals from the U.S. Army is a M1917 Browning machine gun, a weapon that allowed the shooter formidable defense against even
a small army, like Mapache's. (The acquisition of such a weapon is odd given the supposed timeframe of the movie, 1913, when the
US Army did not receive the Browning in significant numbers until after the end of WWI.)
Pike himself uses an M1911 automatic pistol, an obvious break from the traditional
"six-shooter" that cowboys and gunfighters had used in the Old West and in its subsequent films of the 20th Century.
The film's on-screen violence was heavily criticized. Critics have often noted that it was meant as an allegory for the
violence of the Vietnam War, which had been broadcast nightly on television news programs.
Peckinpah made extensive use of Spanish dialogue with no subtitles. This requires the non-Spanish speaking viewer to pay close
attention to the gestures and facial expressions of the actors, and to know the plot of the movie, to get a reasonable idea of
what they the characters are saying. Also, this establishes further the idea of an alternative reality, which is raw and real,
and not reprocessed and dumbed-down for audience consumption.
The most prevalent theme of the film is that of betrayal. Many of the characters suffer with the knowledge that at some point,
they betrayed a friend and left them to their fate:
- Pike encounters this several times during the film; he deserts Thornton (in flashback) when the law catches up to them; he
ruthlessly kills Buck when he is blinded during their escape and cannot keep up (albeit at Buck's request), and deserts both
Sykes (when he is shot in the leg by the bounty hunters) and Sykes' grandson, Crazy Lee (who gets left behind at the railroad
office, ostensibly to guard hostages).
- Pike and Dutch initially attempt to abandon Angel when he is captured by Mapache. Dutch--who had been saved during the train
robbery by Angel--coldly dismisses Angel as a thief and leaves him in Mapache's hands.
Paradoxically, both the Gorch brothers make initial stands to save (or at least pay respects to) Sykes, Angel and Buck; this
is particularly ironic as both Sykes and Angel angered the Gorches by mocking them after the bank robbery, nearly causing the
Gorches to lose their tempers and initiate a shootout.
Although the main characters are ruthless outlaws, the film's only truly unsympathetic characters that are given substantial
screen time are the railroad detective Harrigan (who is portrayed as a spiteful, ill-tempered man who cares only about getting
the Bunch and his commission) and the bounty hunters (who are shown to be rash and incompetent in battle, and who scavenge the
bodies of the fallen outlaws for whatever goods they can find, including gold teeth). The rest of the film's major characters are
given scenes that show an insight to the contrast between their ruthless natures and their more human side:
- Pike is shown to be genuinely remorseful at both the death of his former lover, and of his abandonment of Thornton. Notably,
Pike somewhat redeems himself when he finally refuses to abandon Angel, an act that seals the Bunch's fate.
- Sykes is given a moment for the audience to sympathize with him, when he reveals that Crazy Lee was his grandson (which
distresses Pike, who decided to leave Crazy Lee behind).
- Angel is shown to care very deeply for the people of his village, in marked contrast to his callous disregard for the
innocents who were killed during the railroad robbery.
- Dutch, even after having delivered the famous sarcastic "I'd like to say a few words for the dear dead departed" speech, is
shown to be pained at having left Angel behind (after Angel earlier saved his life); Dutch also adamantly claims there is a
difference between the Bunch (who killed those who were in the way of their profit) and Mapache (who, as a despot, kills for the
sadistic pleasure of it).
- The Gorch brothers, in between the fighting and whoring, are shown to playfully and respectfully flirt with a girl from
Angel's village (Don Jose remarks that "even the worst of us" have the desire to be childlike from time to time).
- Thornton is obviously pained that he has to hunt his old friend, Pike (at one point, both men have a clear opportunity to
shoot the other and deliberately avoid doing so).
- Even Mapache, vividly portrayed as a particularly brutal and repulsive killer, shows a glimmer of humanity at one point:
during the attack by Villa, Mapache stands out in front of his men, even as explosions take place nearby, disregarding the
danger. During this scene, Mapache's aide tells Mapache that they must leave the town and their other soldiers behind, because
they have no guns or artillery to fight Pancho Villa. Mapache refuses to leave, saying, in Spanish, that the men are "nos
compañeros, nos hermanos," "our comrades, our brothers." This is in clear contrast to Pike Bishop, a supposedly more noble person
than Mapache, but who has deserted many whenever it seemed necessary. It is only when a young boy, in a uniform similar to his,
comes up and salutes Mapache that the general offers a saddened smile before advising the boy that they should fall back to
safety (implying that Mapache does not want the boy to end up getting killed for trying to emulate him). A later scene showing a
distraught Mapache watching his wounded men being tended to in Agua Verde reinforces this depiction of his character.
Acknowledgment
- Hong Kong action director John Woo got his slow motion inspiration from The Wild
Bunch, as Woo loved watching Westerns during his youth (Another western, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, is among his favorites). It should be noted
however that Peckinpah's use of slow motion death scenes was influenced by the Japanese films of Akira Kurosawa (for example, Seven Samurai).
- The final gunfight in The Wild Bunch is believed to symbolize "The death of the Wild West".[citation needed]
- Early on in the movie From Dusk Till Dawn, written by Quentin Tarantino, George Clooney's character tells a
convenience store clerk that he will turn the store "into the fucking Wild Bunch" if he doesn't get rid of a Texas Ranger
using his restroom.
- Guy Ritchie's Snatch opening sequence with
the characters walking around and acting normally before they suddenly turn to violence is similar to The Wild Bunch.
[citation needed]
- Joss Whedon included the Bunch's Gorch brothers as vampires, enemies of the
heroine of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer. Additionally, Whedon cites Peckinpah in the DVD commentary as the influence on the episode "Innocence".
- The Wild Bunch is the name of the outlaw gang in the movie My Name is
Nobody.
- Jim Reardon's infamous animated student film, Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown, explicitly parodies the final shootout and
even incorporates the soundtrack from it.
- The Bristol group Massive Attack grew from a small dj collective named "The Wild
Bunch".
- The climactic scene of John Milius's The Wind
and the Lion (1975) is inspired by the final shootout; at certain points ,it is an almost shot-by-shot reproduction.
The film also features a scene where Marc Zuber, as the Moroccan sultan, test-fires a machine
gun while his colleagues leap out of the line of fire.
- The James Bond film GoldenEye
(1995) has Sean Bean's character, Alec Trevelyan, appropriates Pike's line (to a soldier
holding Alan Cumming's Boris character at gun-point): "If he moves, kill him!"
- A banned television spot for the release of Microsoft's XBOX 360, which is appropriately titled "bang" consists of a
large-scale shootout, with the guns being created by extending two fingers from a fist. The advertisement contains several
allusions to the final shootout scene.
Variant versions
There have been several versions released:
- The original European release from 1969 which is 145 min. long, this version had an intermission at the request of the distributor; it came immediately before the train robbery sequence.
- The original American release from 1969 which is 143 min. long.
- The second American release from 1969, edited to allow more show times, 135 min. long.
- The 1995 re-release version which is 145 min. long. It is identical to the original European release minus the intermission,
as the intermission was not intended to be part of the original film. This version is currently available on home video and is labeled "The Original Director's Cut" in most markets.
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2] [3]
- ^ [4] [5]
See also
External links
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