The Wild Bunch [Blu-ray]

Ernest Borgnine

Overview

Sam Peckinpah's controversial revisionist Western takes place in Texas and Mexico in 1913, a transitional year when the Old West was giving way to the New West. The titular outlaw bunch, headed by ethical-in-his-fashion Pike (William Holden), continues staging violent bank robberies in their old, time-honored tradition. After a particularly brutal holdup in the town of San Rafael, the gang -- or what's left of it -- heads for the hills of Mexico, pursued by a posse led by Thornton (Robert Ryan), an old friend of Pike's. The gang discovers that the bank had been set up to be robbed by Thornton's railroad-executive boss Pat Harrigan (Albert Dekker), and that their booty consists of worthless metal washers. Meanwhile, the conscience-stricken Thornton seethes over Harrigan's scheme, which has cost too many innocent lives, but he is powerless to leave the railroad baron's employ lest he be sent back to jail. While hiding out in a Mexican village, the gang is engaged by corrupt general Emilio Fernandez to steal a huge shipment of guns from the U.S. Army. Like Thornton, Pike agrees against his will: his right-hand man Jaime Sanchez is being held hostage by Fernandez, who in turn is being manipulated by a pair of war-mongering German officers. More violence -- both justified and gratuitous -- follows, leading to a final blood-spattered confrontation between the Wild Bunch and 's posse. For many years, no one audience was privy to a "definitive" version of The Wild Bunch. Peckinpah's 144-minute director's cut was butchered by Warner Bros. after its first press showing (curiously, the studio removed not only the gorier scenes, but also several motivational sequences, rendering much of the film incomprehensible). The 1981 reissue was restored to 141 minutes, but it wasn't until the advent of home video that the complete version was once more made available. Once considered the last word in cinematic bloodletting, The Wild Bunch is a model of decorum compared to what was to follow.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/25/2007
UPC:	0085391142669
Original Release:	1969
Rating:	R
Source:	Warner Home Video
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:25:00

Special Features

Commentary by Peckinpah Biographers/Documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle; Additonal Scenes; 3 Documentaries: Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade, 1996 Oscar Nominee The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage, Excerpt From a Simple Adventure Story: Sam Peckinpah, Mexico and the Wild Bunch, a Documentary Film by Nick Redman; Peckinpah Movie Trailer Gallery.

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Bill Holden	Pike Bishop
Ernest Borgnine	Dutch Engstrom
Robert Ryan	Deke Thornton
Jaime Sánchez	Angel
Warren Oates	Lyle Gorch
Edmund O'Brien	Freddie Sykes
Albert Dekker	Pat Harrigan
Strother Martin	Coffer
Emilio Fernández	Gen. Mapache
Fernando Wagner	Mohr
Alfonso Arau	Herrera
Chano Urueta	Don Jose
Jorge Russek	Major Zamorra
L.Q. Jones	T.C
Bo Hopkins	Clarence 'Crazy' Lee
Dub Taylor	Reverend Wainscoat
Paul Harper	Ross
Bill Hart	Jess
Rayford Barnes	Buck
Stephen Ferry	Sergeant McHale
Sonia Amelio	Teresa
Chalo Gonzalez	Gonzalez
Elsa Cárdenas	Elsa
Aurora Clavel	Aurora
Enrique Lucero	Ignacio
Elizabeth Dupeyrón	Rocio,Juan
José Chávez	Juan Jose
Pedro Galván	Benson
Graciela Doring	Emma
Ivan Jorge Rado	Ernst
Margarito De Luna	Luna
Lilia Castillo	Lilia
Yolanda Ponce	Yolis
Ivan Scott	Paymaster
Archie Butler	Jabalai
Tap Canutt	Burt
Gordon T. Dawson	Pinkerton Man
Mickey Gilbert	Frank
Buck Holland	Thornton Posse Rider
Walt LaRue	Abe
Matthew Peckinpah	Boy Watching Robber Scoop Up Moneybag
Joe Yrigoyen	Simkins
Dennis Falt	Townie
Dennis Feldman	Townsperson
'Chico' Hernandez	Boy in Town
Emilio Fernandez	Actor
Erwin Neal	Fray
Bill Shannon	Bounty Hunter
Jim Sheppard	Bounty Hunter
Sheb Wooley	Buck's Scream
Jerry Fielding	Composer

Technical Credits

Sam Peckinpah

Walon Green

Sam Peckinpah	Director,Screenwriter
Walon Green	Screenwriter
Phil Feldman	Producer
John O. Young	Sound Effects
Billy Mauch	Sound Effects
Stanley Martin	Sound Effects
Jack Williams	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

From the opening image of children happily watching fire ants kill a scorpion, Sam Peckinpah presents a relentlessly pessimistic view of frontier life in 1913 as it gives way to modernity; any sense of honor is strictly relative, and "civilization" means venal businessmen and mercenaries. The western's myth of "righteous" violence is literally blasted to pieces in the two battle sequences evocative of the 1968-69 carnage in Vietnam. In elaborately edited montages using different camera speeds and distances, Peckinpah and cinematographer Lucien Ballard show what it looks like when bullets hit flesh, drawing out moments of death amidst bloody chaos in a balletic yet repellent spectacle. The Wild Bunch eventually became a moderate hit, and it got Oscar nominations for Jerry Fielding's score and Walon Green's and Peckinpah's script. Unsatisfied with Peckinpah's 145-minute cut, Warner Bros. pulled the film after its debut and shaved 10 minutes of exposition but left the violence intact. The footage was fully restored in 1995. With its stunning technical finesse and uncompromising view of the West's bloody demise, The Wild Bunch remains one of the most powerful "last" westerns ever made.