The Wild Bunch

There is a code going on in "The Wild Bunch", it's the code of scoundrels, but non the less it is felt. "The Wild Bunch" is a film about outlaws, murderers,and thieves, yet we come to sympathize with them. We are on their side despite much of the carnage they can leave in their wake.

The film begins with the bunch robbing a bank, they are Pike (William Holden) the leader, Dutch (Ernest Borgnine), Angel (Jaime Sanchez), and Lyle and Tector who are brothers (Warren Oates and Ben Johnson). When the bunch get to the bank, they already have a posse ready for them, they are lead by Thornton (Robert Ryan) who used to ride with Pike, but now he's forced to side with the law in order to stay out of prison.

The robbery becomes a bloodbath, and innocent civilians aren't spared, however Pike and his crew make it out with Thornton's team not far behind. The bank was supposed to be the last score for everyone thought, but they have been tricked finding out the money was replaced with washers. Pike and the others then come across a corrupt Mexican General (Emilio Fernandez) who hires the bunch to steal guns for his army so they can use them to fight the rebels.

I was unsure about "The Wild Bunch" when I first saw it so many years ago. I can't remember when I first saw it, but I can group it together with other important films of that time like "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Easy Rider". These were the films made by a new and young Hollywood, one that separated themselves from old studio systems which worn out their welcome.

"The Wild Bunch" was directed by Sam Peckinpah, a filmmaker I know little about except his reputation of being a hard drinker who was usually at odds with studio executives. I've only seen a handful of Peckinpah's work, from what I have seen his films are full of violence, sex, and a certain nihilistic point of view towards life. But his films are also full of poetry, because despite a bleak outlook, Peckinpah's characters carry with them a code of honor, and that's what I think works with "The Wild Bunch", and that's what makes it one of the great westerns.

Most of the cast of "The Wild Bunch" are men, if there are women anywhere in the film, they are mostly prostitutes who the men have sex with. Pike does have a woman who he was in love with who is shot by her jealous husband in a flashback. Angel also has a woman who he kills because she leaves him for the corrupt General. But if there is a love story, it's between these men, their code, and their honor towards one another. Perhaps the most heartbreaking relationship is between Pike and Thornton, who you could see in flashbacks how one betrayed the other. although they are on opposite sides of the law, their is no animosity to towards the other, but you feel a certain respect between them.

The climax of the film happens after Angel is taken by the General for stealing guns for his village. The Bunch see him dragged across the street by the General's car, so later they get together to get him back. Up to that point the bunch don't have much else except eachother, they have money, but we don't see them doing much with it other than spending it on whores and liquor. They make their last stand for the only thing they believe in, themselves and there is honor in that.

There is a lot going on in the relationships of this film, Peckinpah was one of the great poets of male camaraderie like Hawks and Ford, I miss filmmakers like those. There's usually great sadness in the eyes of these men, they can say very little but the others can understand what they mean. Pike's most common phrase in the film is "let's go", in context, he usually means exactly that, but the final time he says it, before they meet their destiny, there is something behind that. Holden is perfect in the role of Pike, he was an actor who succumbed to alcoholism, he was past his 1950s leading man prime when this came it. There is tiredness in his eyes and melancholy. The same could be said for Robert Ryan who play Thornton, and man who probably was Pike's real soul mate. Holden and Ryan never speak to eachother in the film other than a flashback, but we understand the past between them, it's an unspoken bond.

"The Wild Bunch" came at me unexpectedly with all its carnage and bloodshed, I was young, I probably wasn't ready for it, I wanted to stay in the safe nostalgia of a Ford or Hawks film, I wasn't ready to grow up just yet. Today I changed my tune, "The Wild Bunch" paved the way for the westerns of today more than any other film, I feel a great sadness come over me everytime I see Pike and the others in that final showdown, but I always feel pride towards them. They were men who kept their word, and in their world, it was the only thing worth a damn.