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Amazon.co.uk Review
Here's how director Sam Peckinpah described his motivation behind The Wild Bunch at the time of the film's 1969 release: "I was trying to tell a simple story about bad men in changing times. The Wild Bunch is simply what happens when killers go to Mexico. The strange thing is you feel a great sense of loss when these killers reach the end of the line." All of these statements are true, but they don't begin to cover the impact that Peckinpah's film had on the evolution of American movies. Now the film is most widely recognized as a milestone event in the escalation of screen violence, but that's a label of limited perspective. Of course, Peckinpah's bloody climactic gunfight became a masterfully directed, photographed, and edited ballet of graphic violence that transcended the conventional Western and moved into a slow-motion realm of pure cinematic intensity. But the film--surely one of the greatest Westerns ever made--is also a richly thematic tale of, as Peckinpah said, "bad men in changing times." 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. --Jeff Shannon
Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
DVD 10
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Interactive Menus
Production Notes
Scene Access
Documentary
Arabic
English
DVD 10
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Interactive Menus
Production Notes
Scene Access
Documentary
Arabic
English
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is among the classic westerns, one which must be seen only in the 145-minute director's cut version to be fully appreciated. Yes, it is an exceptionally violent film but none of the graphic violence seems to me gratuitous, unlike in some of director Sam Peckinpah's other films. Pike Bishop (William Holden) heads a gang which robs banks and trains. Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan) is a former member whom railroad owner Harrigan (Albert Dekker) arranges to be released from prison on the single condition that Thornton lead efforts to kill or capture Bishop and his gang. If he fails, he will be returned to prison. The quality of all performances is outstanding, as are Peckinpah's direction and the cinematography provided by Lucien Ballard.
The primary plot involves Thornton's efforts to complete his assignment but there are several interesting sub plots, notably one involving Coffer (Strother Martin) and his fellow scavengers. (Martin once observed that he and Dub Taylor specialized in portraying "prairie scum.") The opening scene shows a scorpion being consumed by fire ants. Coffer and his motley crew hope to have a similar opportunity to feast on what remains of the Bishop gang. I was also fascinated by the interaction between the Bishop gang and the Mexican federales (headed by General Mapache played by Emilio Fernandez) who also pursue them. Time eventually runs out. Bishop and his associates must decide: Either quietly depart with their tails between their legs or take a stand and probably be killed.
In my opinion, the final sequence justifies all of the violence which precedes it. Many of those who have seen this film are offended by its especially graphic portrayal of bloodshed. They have a point unless they take into full account the frontier culture in 1913 in which Bishop and his associates challenge all manner of conventions (as does Peckinpah) while fulfilling their destiny as robbers and killers. They are what they are. They have no self-delusions. None. Thornton is the only sympathetic character, Bishop's reluctant and weary adversary. In the last scene, his body language is especially eloquent. He and we feel spent. Enough. No more. It's over.
Question: Given the recent advances in technologies of various kinds, why does the visual and/or audio quality of DVDs often vary so much? Why can't "they" get it right every time?
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I first saw this movie in 1970 and was stunned by it. I had seen nothing like it before. Unlike the Hollywood westerns of old, characters are not simplistically divided into "good" and "bad" men, heroes and villains. Instead, they are fully rounded, reflecting all the moral ambiguities of real people faced with desperate situations. The violence too, for which this film was controversial, is not the sanitised violence of earlier times. Although aestheticised (after all this is a work of art), it unflinchingly depicts the consequences when guns are fired and bullets strike human flesh. One of the finest films ever made about men in battle, and arguably the greatest of all westerns. A movie of tremendous power, far more moral, and honest, than todays mindlessly violent, special effects driven Hollywood actioners. See it!
The DVD is a restored 'directors cut' and is superior to the version which most movie goers will have seen at the cinema. My only criticism is that it is not anamorphic.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I had never seen "Wild Bunch" before so decided to buy it after a strong recomendation. I wasn't disappointed. The film is fantastic. It has all of the elements that you would expect a western to contain. The action sequences speak for themself. The only downside to this great film is that the disc is a flipper. Why??? It seems that flippers are gone now, but why in the early days did they have to put such great films as "Goodfellas, The Rock, Air Force One and The Wild Bunch" on flippers. A MUST BUY DVD ANYWAY, EVEN THOUGH A BOX SET COULD BE ON ITS WAY VERY SOON.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Smells like an old sock ...
I'm not sure what Sam P was thinking about when he created this one. Western? No way! It may be set in sun, sand and horses, but this plotless wonder of bang! bang! bang! Read more
Published 2 months ago by Dr John N Sutherland
The Wild Bunch
This is one of my favourite films directed by Sam Peckinpah. It is a classic. However this disc was a little disappointing because the film in recorded on both sides of the disc,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by pas
An All Time Classic
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Cross of Iron, The Wild Bunch...all decades old, all very different - and all imprinted with Sam Peckinpah's peerless ability to depict the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dash Riprock
Dreadful product
This DVD is double-sided so you have to turn it over half-way through. Also the slow-motion action at the end of the film has been cut. Do not buy.
Published 6 months ago by C. Beattie
The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch is a very enjoyable western whilst not being as good as the true classics of the gentre. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jim Jim
An IKON
In this last sceen they used more blank cartridges than during this entire war!
Nice guns Colt1911 and Winchester 1897. Read more
Nice guns Colt1911 and Winchester 1897. Read more
Published on 13 May 2010 by Jansson Sven-olof
Man shoot gun. Man frown.
"Ain't like it used to be - but it'll do," says Freddie Sykes (Edmond O'Brien) before guffawing into the closing credits. Read more
Published on 2 May 2010 by R. J. Harvey
A Very Good Film
The Wild Bunch is a very good film directed by Sam Peckinpah. Having read some criticism of it I was expecting a shoot-fest from beginning to end but I was very pleasantly... Read more
Published on 27 April 2009 by HBH
"If they move, kill em....."
"Its time we started thinking beyond our guns, those days are closing fast," muses Pike (William Holden) shortly after the bloodiest shootout in cinema history. Read more
Published on 3 July 2008 by Billy Ray Cyrus
The dark side
The Wild Bunch is a brutal masterpiece of a western. It depicts the end of the western era (the film is set in 1913) through a group of ageing outlaws who just want to pull off one... Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2007 by S J Buck
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