The Wild Bunch

Name: The Wild Bunch
Genre: Action, Adventure, Western
Released: June 18, 1969
Duration: 135 min
Rating: 98
Cast: Ben Johnson, Edmond O'Brien, Emilio Fernández, Ernest Borgnine, Jaime Sanchez

1969

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 20 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Ratings

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7.6

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7.6	Your Score
7.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Ratings

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The Wild Bunch

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts | Release Date: June 18, 1969 | R

Starring: Ben Johnson, Edmond O'Brien, Emilio Fernández, Ernest Borgnine, Jaime Sanchez, L.Q. Jones, Robert Ryan, Strother Martin, Warren Oates, William Holden

Summary: An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.

Director: Sam Peckinpah

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Western

Rating: R

Runtime: 135 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

An extraordinarily well-made film about anachronistic outlaws in the early 20th century, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch feels like it should have been the final western. Read full review

100

Dave Kehr

The on-screen carnage established a new level in American movies, but few of the films that followed in its wake could duplicate Peckinpah's depth of feeling. Read full review

100

Stephen Hunter

It remains one of the best-written and best-performed American films of all time. Read full review

100

Jay Boyar

It is certainly one of the best westerns ever made, and the best film of any kind to come out in 1969. Read full review

100

Pauline Kael

It’s no accident that you feel a sense of loss for each killer of the Bunch: Peckinpah has made them seem heroically, mythically alive on the screen. Read full review

Tom Breihan

While the movie may be a Western—one of the best Westerns ever made, in fact—it’s also an action movie, one that was crucial to action movies becoming what they would eventually be. Read full review

Whitney Williams

Film at 145 minutes is far over-length, and should be tightened extensively, particularly in first half. After a bang-up and exciting opening, it appears that scripters lost sight of their narrative to drag in Mexican songs, dancing and way of life, plus an overage of dialog, to the detriment of action. Read full review

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User Reviews

RatedRex

Dec 2, 2022

The best Western movie of all time. The original movie version is better than the director's cut.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

marshallonfilm_

Mar 18, 2020

“We're not gonna get rid of anybody! We're gonna stick together, just like it used to be! When you side with a man, you stay with him! And if you can't do that, you're like some animal, you're finished! *We're* finished! All of us!”

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Tyranian

Apr 14, 2019

Fairly entertaining and well made western with good acting and writing. Quite good.

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HotelCentral

May 18, 2019

The problem with this film is that a great deal of time is spent showing the protagonists laughing, drinking, and wenching, and riding horses here and there, and after ten or fifteen minutes of this it starts getting very old.

The other problem, of course, is that the protagonists are allThe problem with this film is that a great deal of time is spent showing the protagonists laughing, drinking, and wenching, and riding horses here and there, and after ten or fifteen minutes of this it starts getting very old.

The other problem, of course, is that the protagonists are all bad guys. They're not antiheros. You need to have some redeeming characteristics to qualify as an antihero. And if you're going to carry a movie you need some redeeming characteristics. Don Corleone had his family "honor." Tommy DeVito made for a funny psycho. William Holden and company are all fine actors, but their characters are dry as dust and we the audience are supposed to sympathize because they're ageing out of the outlaw business and the times they are a-changing. So never mind that they shoot up a bunch of civilians and a bunch of fellas from the US Army. Never mind that they shoot up a bunch of guys from the army of Mexico. We're supposed to go along with this. And, sorry, but I ain't buying.

Sure, the bad guys do a couple of things that might be described as "nice," but there's nothing in the film to explain why these particular characters would do things like this, since gold and profit seem to be their only motivation.

I wondered if my criticism of the film might be unfair because, after all, it was shot in 1969. Things were different then. But then I discovered that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was also shot in 1969, and that, as I recall, was a film about bad guys too, but a far far far more successful attempt at entertainment.… Expand

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Compi24

Aug 22, 2023

I'm embarrassed. The score associated with this review should be much higher, but here we are. Let me be clear, I do like "The Wild Bunch" and appreciate everything it is, with its unflinching depiction of violence paving the way for some of cinema's most impactful films and filmmakers. InI'm embarrassed. The score associated with this review should be much higher, but here we are. Let me be clear, I do like "The Wild Bunch" and appreciate everything it is, with its unflinching depiction of violence paving the way for some of cinema's most impactful films and filmmakers. In fact, I'm comfortable saying that the opening and closing gunfights in this are absolutely perfect. Damn near everything between them, however, pales in comparison. I just couldn't find anything to latch on to when it came to these characters, save for maybe Ernest Borgnine's "Dutch Engstrom," probably the only stand-up guy in the whole picture. Everybody else either falls somewhere between stoic blank slate (i.e. William Holden's "Pike Bishop") or literal pile (Jaime Sanchez's "Angel). This hampers the weight of the ending, as well as everything that comes before it. Big hat-in-hand hours here, but it is what it is. Wish I liked this more.… Expand

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