"When you side with a man, you stick with him. If you can't, your like some animal"

That line is spoken by Pike Bishop (William Holden) halfway through the film and to me it sums up the code of honour these men live by, it may not always make sense but to them it's a way of life and they are far to old and Stubborn to change.
The Wild Bunch is Sam Peckinpah's final nail in the coffin of the traditional western, it's bloody and violent, a film inhabited by real men's men, there's no hero's here, only grizzled veterans who have done whatever it takes to survive in this unforgiving period of history.
One of the best cast…

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…

I had this crazy hockey coach when I was thirteen. His name was Stephen but he told everyone to call him Flint. He was a punk rocker. He played in a band called Rope. He shaved his head and had these big, twelve hole, cherry leather Doc Martins. He wore an old army surplus jacket with the word "Fight" written on the back in red paint. We all thought he was the coolest guy on the planet. 

Some coaches gave pep talks before games. Others would lead the team in a prayer...
Flint would show up minutes before game time. He’d come into our dressing room with a large ghetto blaster. He’d play us Fugazi’s Waiting Room at full volume. When…

Let's talk nihilism. Philosophically I generally subscribe to the nihilist principle that life has no meaning. I'm also pessimistic and deeply cynical. However nihilism is not a justification for immorality. The Wild Bunch seems to miss this. It presents a world without hope or redemption, just harsh temporary survival leading to an inevitable death. Where the film missteps for me is that it replaces the nihilistic setup with a hedonistic tone, revelling in the violence to play things as a macho male fantasy. The Wild Bunch is openly sadistic in its prolonged violent sections. The storytelling is both misogynist and racist, without reason. There's also clear animal abuse, especially regarding horses. Although always unforgivable, such mistreatment doesn't always ruin art for me.…

"It ain't like it used to be, but it'll do."

What struck me first about The Wild Bunch (like Ride the High Country) is its commentary on aging, both in terms of people growing old and of history shifting gears. The titular Wild Bunch is a group of old men who are struggling to live in a changing world which no longer needs them, a world in which they are no longer the heroes they once were. They are scorpions with powerful stings slowly being devoured by the fire ants of the next generation. This theme also fits perfectly into the symbolism of the western: these aging men embody the wildness (literally) of the frontier, slowly receding into the horizon…

One of the last great Western blockbusters, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch is culturally significant for pushing the boundaries of the moral codes of the time by employing then-extreme violence and carefree gunplay. It is probably the most well known film to garner the X rating, and survives and thrives in the minds of western fans everywhere. The film works because it's not just a display of frenetic violence and bloodshed. There's actually a great story, with a great adventure and a great screenplay as well. It feels appropriate that I label this film as one of the last great blockbuster westerns, because the tale embodies the turn of the century, when the dominance of the cowboy slowly but surely began…

Similar to my unfortunate experience with John Ford's The Searchers I am left conflicted. Because I understand the significance The Wild Bunch had on cinema moving forward. The quick cut editing techniques used were revolutionary and ones that are still used to this day. Yet it comes back again to influence vs standing the test of time. For the time The Wild Bunch was considered very crude. Most blockbusters followed characters that we identified with, as in the typical heroic type. The Wild Bunch follows a gang of misfits who are irredeemable in many aspects. Yet my fundemental issue with this movie is nothing to do with the technical aspects. The editing is amazing, the action is great for the…