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BEAU'S
NOTES: This brilliant film requires a deep appreciation of western
movies. It violates all the "rules" set down by the Saturday Matinee
style oaters (as The Searchers did years before and Unforgiven
would years later) to make a statement about not only it's characters
but western movies as a whole. The "Bunch" claims to live by a
code of honor typical of western heros yet violates that code
over and over again ... in the end, sick of themselves and how
far they have fallen they pass judgement on themselves, throwing
themselves into a deadly situation to "save' one of their band
who is so close death he could not possibly survive. This film's
bravery is that it counts on you knowing enough about Westerns
and being smart enough to make a number of connections without
it all being spelled out for you ... it counts on an intelligence
that the studio didn't believe it's audience had. Mutilated for
many years by recutting to try to "fix" it's "problems" I discovered
that it only makes sense in this restored version. Truly the Apoclypse
Now of Westerns ... Amazing.
Outlaws on the Mexican-U.S. frontier face the march of progress,
the Mexican army and a gang of bounty hunters led by a former
member while they plan a robbery of a U.S. army train. No one
is innocent in this gritty tale of of desperation against changing
times. Pump shotguns, machine guns and automobiles mix with horses
and winchesters in this ultraviolent western.
The year is 1913 and the fading band of thieves known as the
Wild Bunch (led by William Holden as Pike) decide to pull one
last job before retirement. But an ambush foils their plans, and
Peckinpah's film becomes an epic yet intimate tale of betrayed
loyalties, tenacious rivalry, and the bunch's dogged determination
to maintain their fading code of honor among thieves. The 144-minute
director's cut enhances the theme of male bonding that recurs
in many of Peckinpah's films, restoring deleted scenes to deepen
the viewer's understanding of the friendship turned rivalry between
Pike and his former friend Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan), who now
leads a posse in pursuit of the bunch, a dimension that adds resonance
to an already classic American film. The Wild Bunch is a masterpiece
that should not be defined strictly in terms of its violence,
but as a story of mythic proportion, brimming with rich characters
and dialogue and the bittersweet irony of outlaw traditions on
the wane.
STARRING: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan,
Edmond O'Brien, Warren Oates, Jaime Sanchez, Ben Johnson, Emilio
Fernandez, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Albert Dekker, Bo Hopkins
DIRECTED BY: Sam Peckinpah
Approxomate Running Time: 144 Minutes
U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in
other countries.
DVD Release Date: May 20, 1997
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The
Wild Bunch 