There were giants in those days; men of renown. Holy Bible.

Since I understand that there are a number of versions of The Wild Bunch floating around, this review refers to the 145 minute Director's Cut in Letterbox format.

Pike and Dutch are career criminals leading a gang they call The Wild Bunch. The only thing is, they're not that good.

Take their last score for example: They planned it out perfectly, so they thought. Stole horses, uniforms, and arms from the Army and rode straight to the railroad office and stole the payroll. The only problem was it was a set-up. A whole brigade of riflemen was waiting outside on the rooftops. They opened up on the bunch when they exited the building. Luckily for them, the Christian Temperance parade happened along at the same time, providing cover for their getaway. It was a bloodbath, with three of the bunch getting shot and dozens of innocent civilians who got caught in the murderous crossfire between the gang and the bounty hunters. As they outdistanced the pursuers, one of the bunch, horribly wounded in the head, falls from his horse. He begs Pike to finish him. Pike calmly dispatches him with a 230 grain bullet from his stolen Colt 45 automatic pistol. Later, at camp they discover that the bags of coin they stole are filled with washers. When they realize the irony, the gang has a good laugh in spite of itself. Lying around the campfire Pike muses to Dutch about their advancing age, "I'd like to make one good score and back off." "Back off to what?" Dutch shoots back. The question never gets answered, as the gang's next score proves to be its last.

The gang's nemesis, Deke Thornton, portrayed by Robert Ryan, is never far behind. Deke Thornton is offered a trade - release from prison if he brings back the Wild Bunch dead. Deke is given a motley crew of mercenaries to assist him, led by none other than veteran character actor Strother Martin. Deke and Pike go wa-ay back, in fact they were partners in crime up until Deke was captured while Pike made good his escape.

William Holden is Pike and Ernest Borgnine is Dutch, the leaders of the Wild Bunch. These two actors deliver career performances, showing aging outlaws unable to escape from their destructive lifestyle. The supporting cast, including Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Strother Martin, Warren Oates, and Ben Johnson deliver sterling performances and make this a memorable viewing experience. Edmond O'Brien in particular distinguished himself as an almost unrecognizable rummy with tobacco-stained teeth and beard, the oldest member of The Wild Bunch. Strother Martin and L. Q. Jones, as the cowardly bounty hunters, offer comic relief to the often dire story.

Director Sam Peckinpah deserves beaucoup credit for setting the scene with such meticulous care and choosing the sequences to tell his story visually, as well as with the terse dialog. As the beautifully choreographed scenes visually move the viewer towards the climax, so too does the script. "If they move, kill ‘em," is the opening dialog, spoken by Pike and indelibly establishing his character in one spare sentence. As the film progresses, Pike repeatedly says, "Let's go," and you sense that he means "to destiny" more so than just "Let's go." The masterful quick cutting between sequences, including the foreboding opening, combining images of heartless children torturing scorpions and fire ants and the abortive bank robbery shoot-out indicate all too well the oncoming fate of The Wild Bunch. Peckinpah creatively inserted snippets of material illustrating the relationship between Pike and his pursuer Deke using tremendously evocative and often beautiful imagery in the form of flashbacks.

Photography by Lucien Ballard makes the best use of Panavision I have seen in a long time. The color on the restored version is simply breathtaking and each shot is meticulously framed to take advantage of the best possible scenery. Film editing by Lou Lombardo is among the best of any movie I know. I'm sure that Peckinpah's hand was involved in the editing, too. The score by Jerry Fielding was top-notch and was perfectly suited to the action.

While there are a number of "definitive" Westerns among film critics, including The Searchers, Red River, The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly, and Unforgiven, it would, in my opinion, be a grave mistake for a Western fan, or a fan of great films in general to leave The Wild Bunch off their must-see list.

Five stars.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening