The Wild Bunch
1969 Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Synopsis
If you only want to spend two hours in a movie theatre and go home and forget it, stay away from THE WILD BUNCH.
The Wild Bunch is one of the best representations of the Western genre; An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.
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Finally got around to this one and it did not disappoint. William Holden commands the screen. Those eyes are awesome.
It's brutal, looks fantastic and the ending is perfect. Basically I loved it.
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One of my favourite films of all time,I watched this for the first time on blu-ray and was astounded at the quality of EVERYTHING. Peckinpah directs this 1969 masterpiece with genuine love for the genre and with real vigour in his quest to re-establish himself in the film industry after his troubled time on "Major Dundee" and his firing from "The Cincinnati Kid" .
Shot in Mexico, this was a labour of love for Peckinpah who cast some of the best middle-aged actors around at the time. Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates,Robert Ryan and a rejuvenated William Holden give arguably some of the best performances of their careers in this blood-soaked epic. Holden especially is perfectly cast as the ageing leader… -
Sam Peckinpah is slowly becoming one of my favorite directors. I've only seen this, Straw Dogs, and Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia but it's clear that all three are absolute masterpieces from a master director.
By 1969's standards, this is one of the New Hollywood westerns that ended up redefining the western genre in so many ways. Instead of the usual romanticized and melodramatic westerns of the John Wayne era, this feels real, brutal, violent while showing how the Old West was really like. The acting is superb. This has one of those casts where everytime you think one specific actor stands out above the rest, another one ends up outsthining everyone and then so on. Peckinpah puts so much energy into this film. The story is interesting and complex while the action is exciting at every turn, up until the thrilling conclusion.
From beginning to end, this film is pure cinematic brilliance and entertainment.
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Building up to one of the best shootouts ever put on film, this movie is a rough-edged cowboy type picture. A bunch of guys who used to be great are now getting older and the era of cowboy train-robbers and bankrobbers is coming to an end. It's all they really know how to do. Naturally, they have to pull just one more job. This is the story of that one more job pulled by those last chancers that history is already leaving behind.
At times funny and sad with plenty of excitement, this is a good one to add to your Have-Seen list.
Some people consider this Peckinpah's masterpiece. For me, it doesn't have the immediacy of The Getaway or the emotional intensity of Straw Dogs, but it's well worth the watch.
Another great film by a truly great director.
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Sam Peckinpah's definitive achievement and one of the most acclaimed westerns of all time, and both are completely worthy distinctions. Known for his stark and technically rebellious style that used violence as a way to explore the darker confines of humanity, Peckinpah crafts the film with a visceral brutality that forces us to ponder the psychological context and implications of chaos happening on the screen.
Following a gang of ruthless outlaws being pursued by a group of incompetent bounty hunters lead by a former member of the outlaw gang. The outlaws are lead by Pike who is played by William Holden in perhaps his finest later performances while the bounty hunters are lead by Thornton, Robert Ryan in one of…
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I was watching this movie in the bar last night, and I was amazed that it still shocks. It wasn't the sexism or racism that was doing it (which is what I was expecting), but it was the violence. People were commenting about it all night. It's rare that a 40 year old movie can still evoke the same response in people that it did upon release, and these were customers coming to see Lawless and The Expendables. Most of these customers also missed the final shoot out.
Also Warren Oates is fucking more rad than Clint Eastwood yelling at a chair.
I'm not yet comfortable writing on here, so sorry that I suck.
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Disappointing to say the least. For some reason this had been built up in my mind to be this great western, a homage to the new age while looking back at the golden age of the cowboy. Not sure whether I completely missed the point but it just did not click with me. Most of the characters were useless, and the Mexicans just felt like complete stereotypes.
Special mention has to go out to the DVD for this one. What a pile of crap. Warner Brothers must have rubbed the original VHS in the dirt and then just copied it over for this one. This double sided compressed mess needs burning. I'm told the blu-ray is stunning but unfortunately I will have to just imagine it.
This is one of those films built up to be so much more than it actually is.
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Brutal tale about ethics among the amoral. If there's a better film shootout than the finale, I certainly haven't seen it.
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Watching this with new eyes after reading "If They Move... Kill 'Em." Enters my Top 10 all time list (probably Top 5) with a head of steam.
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Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch is probably remembered for its bookends — the bloody, visceral, stylized, detailed, and incredibly well sustained shootouts and the tense moments leading up to them. Nearly wordless, these sequences are breathtaking; easily misconstrued as glamorizing violence, but powerful pieces of cinema regardless.
The direction of the first twenty minutes is so strong that we can almost hear Peckinpah speaking to us. He gives us a number of indelible images — children toying with ants and scorpions, a band of suspect soldiers, a temperance movement meeting, and a group of even more dubious bounty hunters — then sets them in motion like an expert craftsman. His spirited use of slow motion during the resulting gunfight works…
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a complex story about violence and war carefully woven with many plots and characters; it is an outstanding achievement in directing and writing.
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Wonderful. That’s how I’d sum up Sam Peckinpah’s western from the slow, tense opening to that legendary cinematic climax. Great direction, good solid dialogue and a great cast of actors all combine to make this film a joy to watch.
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old men
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Que filme chato! Basicamente se resume a um monte de gente morrendo e rindo o tempo todo a troco de nada.
A única estrela fica pela cena do roubo do trem.
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Set in 1913, in the volatile American west, a gang of ageing outlaws attempt to rob the rail-road company of its payroll. However it's a trap and they barely escape in a bloody massacre, losing several of their members. Wounded they take on one last heist job for a Mexican tyrant, all the while trying to elude a group of bounty hunters headed up by the former partner of the head of the gang...
I quite enjoyed it. It's not your typical western and had several quite interesting writing choices and direction from Peckinpah. It's depicting the end of an era and the entrance of a new modern time, a time these outlaws have no place in. It's very violent…