The Wild Bunch (film)
"The Wild Bunch" is a 1969 western film directed by Sam Peckinpah that explores themes of redemption, honor, and the morally ambiguous nature of its characters. Set in 1913, the story follows a group of outlaws led by Pike Bishop as they attempt a heist in Texas, which leads them into a violent confrontation with bounty hunters and eventually forces them to flee to Mexico. The Bunch, comprised of Pike and his associates, is hired by an antirevolutionary general named Mapache to retrieve arms from a train. However, their plans unravel as they confront the harsh realities of their violent lifestyle and personal failures.
The film is notable for its graphic depiction of violence, juxtaposed with moments of beauty and camaraderie among the characters. As they attempt to rescue their captured comrade Angel, the Bunch engages in a climactic battle that ultimately proves futile, reflecting the film's commentary on the elusiveness of victory and the complexities of heroism. With its ambivalent portrayal of the Western genre, "The Wild Bunch" invites viewers to reflect on the contradictions inherent in the myths of the frontier, making it a significant work in American cinema.
The Wild Bunch (film)
Released 1969
Director Sam Peckinpah
An elegy for lost causes and nobility gone awry. The film both celebrates and exposes the United States’ cherished myths of manhood, frontier, and friendship.
Key Figures
Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984), director
The Work
Led by Pike Bishop, a group of outlaws sets out in 1913 to accomplish a heist that will set them for life. The film opens as the Bunch, dressed as soldiers, ride into Starbuck, Texas, to rob a bank. They pass children who are enjoying the spectacle of hundreds of ants doing battle with a scorpion and a temperance meeting. They are also the target of a group of railroad bounty hunters hiding above the false fronts of the town’s buildings. The robbery ends in a bloody gun battle in which innocent bystanders as well as robbers and bounty hunters are shot. Several of the Bunch escape only to discover that the loot they managed to get away with is nothing but iron washers. Knowing a posse is after them, they flee to Mexico where they fall in with the antirevolutionary general Mapache. Mapache hires the Bunch to go back across the border and capture arms from a train carrying munitions for the army. The Bunch now consisting of Pike, Dutch, Lyle and Tector Gorch, and Angel accomplish the mission and return to Mapache. Knowing Angel is a Mexican who sympathizes with the revolution, Mapache tortures him. The Bunch decide to rescue their comrade, and a final battle of apocalyptic proportions takes place.
Impact
The Wild Bunch, at once lyrical and violent, presents an ambivalent vision of redemption. As the 1960’s came to an end, the vision of peace and love so ardently held by that generation of young people became difficult to sustain. Old certainties did not hold, and Sam Peckinpah’s film expresses both the beauty in the myths of heroism, friendship, and hope associated with the Western frontier as well as the violent implications. The film’s heroes are deeply flawed men who claim to live by a code but whose lives are testaments to the failure of that code. Pike Bishop, leader of the Bunch, has on more than one occasion in the past acted with dishonor, selfishness, and rashness. Flashbacks in the film inform us that he failed to keep the woman he loved from death and failed to stick by his friend, Deke Thornton. For Pike, a measure of redemption comes when he leads the Bunch to the square in Agua Verde to rescue their comrade, Angel, from Mapache. The final carnage is futile since Mapache kills Angel and the Bunch cannot achieve victory over Mapache’s numerous men. In the battle, however, the Bunch decimate Mapache’s forces, thus allowing the Mexican rebels to scavenge guns and materials after the battle ends. In a curious manner, then, the Bunch support a revolutionary movement.
Related Works
Bonnie and Clyde (1967), directed by Arthur Penn, initiates the aesthetics of violence that Peckinpah perfects. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), directed by George Roy Hill, provides a light-hearted version of a Western elegy.
Additional Information
For an eloquent interpretation and defense of The Wild Bunch, see Paul Seydor’s Peckinpah: The Western Films, a Reconsideration (1997).