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    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1960s
    Movies - 1960s Movies - W 3 Mins Read

    Wild Bunch, The (1969)

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    The Wild Bunch is regarded by many as the last great Western, although Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales has its followers too.

    It’s 1913 and a group of ageing outlaws led by Pike Bishop (William Holden) rob a railroad office and then engage in a savage shootout on a dusty western town’s Main Street with a posse of lawmen who have been trailing them.

    Dozens of people are killed including gunmen on both sides, but mostly innocent bystanders who happen to be in the street or who are used as human shields by the crooks.

    Pike and a few of his men – including the loyal Dutch (Ernest Borgnine), a young Mexican named Angel (Jaime Sanchez), and the rowdy Gorch brothers, Lyle and Tector (Warren Oates and Ben Johnson) – manage to escape the shooting gallery and hide out on the Texas/Mexico border.

    Pike discovers his ex-partner Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan) is leading the gang who are coming after them, so they decide to hide out in the little Mexican village Angel grew up in.

    wildbunch

    The village has been taken over by an insane Mexican general named Mapache (Emilio Fernandez) and has become a hellhole full of sex, tequila and robbery to feed his loyal troops.

    When Angel spots his ex-lover in the general’s arms, he shoots and kills her, which angers Mapache. To appease him, and possibly now save Angel’s life, the gang agree to do a job for him, stealing arms from a US military train.

    The middle section of the film is the train heist and its aftermath wherein they try to get a portion of the weapons to Angel’s people so they can one day overthrow their tormenters.

    On delivering the arms to Mapache, the bunch know they could be walking into a death trap but decide to go out in a proverbial blaze of glory.

    And what a blaze of glory it turns out to be!

    When Mapache shoots Angel, Pike’s natural reaction is to shoot back, killing the general.

    The four men give each other a look – almost with relief knowing they are about to die – as dozens of Mapache’s men, at first stunned, prepare to respond. And that begins maybe the greatest gunfight in movie history, highlighted by the use of a Gatling machine gun and some well-placed slow-motion editing.

    The two episodes of violence in the film caused a furore because of the blood-spurting, slow-motion, repetitive detail in which they are shown.

    Director Sam Peckinpah claimed the realism (and the action replays) were necessary to condemn violence. The debate went on and on.

    The violence would get much worse with Soldier Blue the following year, but here it is seen as almost operatic.

    Pike Bishop
    William Holden
    Dutch Engstrom
    Ernest Borgnine
    Deke Thornton
    Robert Ryan
    Freddie Sykes
    Edmond O’Brien
    Lyle Gorch
    Warren Oates
    Angel
    Jaime Sanchez
    Tector Gorch
    Ben Johnson
    Mapache
    Emilio Fernández
    Coffer
    Strother Martin
    T.C.
    L.Q. Jones
    Pat Harrigan
    Albert Dekker
    Crazy Lee
    Bo Hopkins
    Mayor Wainscoat
    Dub Taylor
    Lieutenant Zamorra
    Jorge Russek
    Herrera
    Alfonso Arau
    Don José
    Chano Urueta
    Teresa
    Sonia Amelio
    Aurora
    Aurora Clavel
    Elsa
    Elsa Cardenas
    Ross
    Paul Harper
    Jess
    Bill Hart
    Buck
    Rayford Barnes
    Sergeant McHale
    Stephen Ferry
    Ignacio
    Enrique Lucero
    Rocio
    Elizabeth Dupeyron
    Yolis
    Yolanda Ponce
    Juan José
    José Chávez Trowe
    Juan
    René Dupeyron
    Benson
    Pedro Galvan
    Emma
    Graciela Doring
    Perez
    Major Perez
    Mohr
    Fernando Wagner
    Ernst
    Jorge Rado
    Margaret
    Señora Madero
    Luna
    Margarito de Luna
    Gonzalez
    Chalo González
    Lilia
    Lilia Castillo
    Carmen
    Elizabeth Unda
    Julio
    Julio Corona

    Director
    Sam Peckinpah

    Video

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