"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.…