Conference bookie::movies

848.0. "The Wild Bunch" by CTHU26::S_BURRIDGE () Wed Jun 07 1995 13:34

Recently re-released "classic" 1969 western, directed by Sam Peckinpah,
starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Ben Johnson, Warren
Oates, others.  (This re-release contains scenes cut from the original 
release.) 

Story concerns a gang of outlaws, led by the Holden character.  They are being
pursued by a former comrade (Robert Ryan), on behalf of a railroad company. 
After fleeing to Mexico, they re-cross the border and rob a train of U.S. Army
weapons, for a dissolute Mexican warlord.  There is a huge, over-the-top
shootout at the end.

The explicit violence of the gunfights -- blood flying, slow-motion shots of
people hit by gunfire, etc. -- isn't as shocking as it must have been a
quarter-century ago.  One thing that interested me was the depiction of the
Holden and Ryan characters (and a few others).  They are shown as coarse, 
brutal men.  At the same time, there is an admiring quality to the portrayals, 
as if these guys are meant to represent the best of a dying era.  

Most of the characters are vicious, treacherous and/or stupid.  We're often 
shown small children watching as adults shoot and torture each other.  The 
warrior virtues of courage and (conditional) loyalty to comrades are the only 
"redeeming" qualities anyone seems to possess.

I thought the big gunfight scenes were excessive (and went on much too long.) 
I was also somewhat disturbed by a scene of what appeared to be incidental 
cruelty to a small bird.  However, I did enjoy the movie.  Like Eastwood's 
"Unforgiven," it has it both ways, criticizing the conventions of the western 
while delivering the excitement people expect.

-Stephen