THE WILD BUNCH
A film review by Dan Hartung
Copyright 1995 Dan Hartung
Sam Peckinpah is not around for this reissue, but his presence colors a wide swath of the action films made today, as this film makes clear. If you live near a major city and can go see this in the theater, you are in for a filmgoer's treat--certainly one of the best Westerns ever made, and easily on my Top 100 list.
"Nine men who came too late and stayed too long" is one of the blurbs for the original release, and it is apt. The focus of the film is on the traditional elements of the Western: honor, loyalty, the ethics of violence. But the underlying theme sets it apart, beginning with the time: at the end of the West, when civilization and law were encroaching on the men who had chosen this life for its freedoms. Watching it again, it's interesting to see how many background elements as well as basic plot elements and dialog snippets refer to this theme. From the juxtaposition of a religious rally and a gunfight to one of the gunmen toppling off his horse into a dress shop, from Thornton's conversation with Harrington ("How does it feel to be *right*?" "Good.") to Pike's confrontation with Dutch over the ethics of loyalty, the sense of men being unable to cope with a changing society is clear. Yet at the same time Peckinpah suggests that violence, cruelty, and venality are omnipresent elements in all men's character.
There are eleven more minutes added to this release, mostly violence and female nudity; but they are enlightening additions to have. Two are flashbacks by Thornton and Pike, the two adversaries, to moments when their character was formed: these are revealing moments. Another, expansive addition is an entire battle sequence between General Zamorra and Pancho Villa's men, placed just before the meeting between Pike's men and Zamorra's lieutenant. This is not only a terrifically staged sequence, with another classic Peckinpah moment of a young boy exposed to horrific violence, but it lends urgency and motivation to the meeting that is simply not there in the video version. (Curiously, though, unless I was distracted, they seem to have lost the exchange where Angel negotiates with Pike for a box of rifles; this just suddenly happens, and if I hadn't been familiar with the story, I might believe that Angel did indeed "steal" the rifles.) Finally, of course, and most important, seeing this film on the wide screen restores 40% of the movie that is lost when seen on video. Peckinpah knows very well that he's got a lot of room to compose shots in this format, and he uses every inch. When I saw this on video in 1994, it was one of a short list that I dearly wished I could see in its full glory, so I was elated to hear about this reissue.
To watch this film is to realize how important a source Peckinpah is for the action directors of our day--James Cameron, Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino. Not all of them have learned their lessons well. This movie, today, would be pitched as a "roller-coaster ride," rolling smoothly from one action sequence to another, the tension rarely letting up. Studios today owe Peckinpah a large debt. But what they have not paid attention to are the complex character dynamics, both between, and within, individuals. In this film, the protagonists--anti-heroes all the way--are definitely affected by the violence they experience and do, and by the end are permanently changed. Few Hollywood films of the nineties would dare to dress up a big summer star-fueled blockbuster with such distractions and philosophical undercuts. Just like Arnold or Sly today, the main characters are having a certain amount of fun, but not at the expense of the audience's intelligence. We know there's no way this story can have a triumphant ending, yet even so we expect a heroic resolution with honor, and we are not disappointed.
Rating: 8.5 (1-10 scale)
-- Daniel A. Hartung * dhartung@mcs.com * http://www.mcs.net/~dhartung/home.html
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