The Wild Bunch

Ever seen one of those flicks that starts off pretty interesting and thinking that this story has some promise, then it just drives off the cliff into sheer lunacy? This is one of those tales, and the quick pan, fast zoom camera work of overcooked expressions has spaghetti western written all over it. A lot of talent on the screen, but wasted on a script filled with tons of animal house stupidity. There are three good scenes in this movie that might take up 20 minutes, but you have to sit through more than 2 hours of drunken frat boy jokes, senseless snickering, misplaced laughter and unexplained Spanish language dialogue with no English interpretation to witness them. I was a young teenager when this first hit the theaters and my parents wouldn’t allow me to see it, but I can bet that those who did were walking back to their cars wondering what the hell did I just spend time and money to see? I was generous with the 2 stars, believe me, I was, because you only need to see this film once and that’s enough!

This is a grim and unentertaining film. It is Peckinpah as his most edgy and uncomfortable extreme. Just a bitter old man who hated everyone and treated his actors like slaves, spewing bile at the world.

This is a great show. I list this in a movie subgenre I like to call the Dying West. These are Westerns where the setting takes place between 1899-1920. Other movies of The Dying West: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance (1969) Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Ellen Ross Big Jake (1971) Starring: John Wayne, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Hara, Patrick Wayne

Movies are personal and everyone sees things from their particular ant hill...including me. This movie is a masterpiece. Visually stunning. Great acting. Great story. There are no good guys only folk surviving in their own way. There are many iconic scenes like the town shoot up at the beginning, the train being sent back, the bridge being blown up and of course the most iconic shootout in the history of cinema. Even today nothing comes remotely close to the raw, bloody spectacle that plays out like a train wreck. As I said, maybe the best American movie ever made.

Un-Hollywood western of old outlaws who are being hunted down by one of their own. Hard plot with hard characters who, in the end, make a stand for justice, in the only way they know how. Borgnine performance stands out.

This has to be the most violent western ever produced. However it was not produced for the sake of violence but to tell a story of desperate men who knew only violence.The casting was perfect: using older, experienced, gifted actors to play the lead roles of aging desperadoes. The supporting cast was excellent also. A great film.

Best movie of its kind 5 stars at best

I get why this movie is an iconic guy flick. Fantastic cast, it looks great, and it's got classic macho moments everybody else has imitated ever since. But at almost 2.5 hours this director's cut feels about 1 hour too long. It'd be nice if the greater length revealed a stronger plot and deeper characters, but sadly it's just the opposite. Now more than ever you can see there just isn't enough story here to go the distance, and not enough to these characters for us to really care what happens to them in the end. Between the famous opening sequence, the famous train robbery in the middle and the famous shout-out at the end, these old geezers spend at least an hour just wandering around the desert repeating scenes over and over. I think they, and Peckinpah, were searching for some larger, grander, epic meaning the movie never quite finds. Yeah I get it's The End of the Wild West. I got it the first time. Didn't need them to beat me with it over and over. Meanwhile the giant subplot with the bounty hunters feels more and more intrusive and pointless as the film meanders on. Still, those classic scenes are still great, and you can easily see why this helped kill the awful, phony Technicolor Westerns of the 1950s and 60s and ushered in the grittier, hairier, sweatier, dustier 70s Westerns. Thanks for that, Mr. Pechinpah.

Lots of action and good acting by the bunch!

OK, this movie is AWESOME! It is set in 1913, when the Wild West is dying out due to the modernization of the industrial age. Hmmm, I wonder if there's a certain video game made by RockStarGames that owes a little bit of the idea from this movie? Anyway, this movie is great because of its story and its portrayal of gunfights. The bullet-fests in this movie are so great I don't know how many times I've seen it. I just love it. If you claim to love shoot'em ups, westerns, drama, a good story, or perhaps all of the above then you shall not be disappointed. So, check it out. Sam Peckingpah, the guy who was responsible for this movie, also made one of my favorite old TV shows that I am glad was not ruined by today's remakes- THE RIFLEMAN!!! (Though, I still am trying to figure out how to get them all since the Rifleman and the Guns of Will Sonnett were the two best western TV shows. Maybe Apple could be kind enough to upload it someday for us western fans.)