I watched The Wild Bunch again last night. I think I'm nearing double-digit views and it's undoubtedly my favourite Western. Why? First of all, it's a seminal film. Peckinpah's use of varying cameras was new to North American cinema (the master, Kurosawa, introduced this technique in The Seven Samurai). He used multiple cameras - as many as half a dozen for the major shootouts - all running at different speeds. The result is an ebb-and-flow to the action as death is sped up and slowed down like water from a faucet. This technique is common today but in 1969 it was a thrilling new way to present action.
My second reason for loving The Wild Bunch are the performances. No one could have been more suited to the role of Pike, the saddle-weary leader of the Bunch, than William Holden. When he snarls his the immortal line, "If they move, kill 'em!" it's not enough to realize that he's serious but that he's probably said it many, many times over dozens of hold-ups. But it's not just his portrayal that I love. Ernest Borgnine's Dutch is the moral centre of this gang. When Pike shoots Mapache and everyone freezes in shock and uncertainty, it is Dutch's surprised cackle that I always anticipate with relish. Then there's Warren Oates, a Peckinpah regular, who animates the dopey Lyle Gorch as a dumb, whore-loving, sneering bandit who you just know would be long dead if it weren't for Pike's alpha-dog keeping him in check.
Hell, all the performances are superlative. Even the throw-away roles of Coffer and T.C., two posse-members, are elevated by the acting chops of Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones who interject their characters with a blend of greed and homosexual leanings. They're squawking vultures picking over the remains of dead men.
My third reason to mark Bunch as my favourite Western are the chaotic shoot-outs that bookend the film. You'll not see two more thrilling and bloody fracas' anywhere. Often copied, never bettered (even Spielberg admitted that he turned to Peckinpah when working on the battles that begin and end Saving Private Ryan), the conflicts are a blaze of blood and bullets. I'm in awe by the sheer scale of the fights, all done on-location without CGI. How did they trip up the horses without killing them?
For anyone who's not yet experienced the genius of "Bloody Sam" Peckinpah, The Wild Bunch is your entry point. It's pretty straight-forward and not as bizarre as some of his other films. Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, for example, is a terrific show but borders on Lynch-like weirdness. Best to begin with The Wild Bunch and then ease into Peckinpah's other terrific films.
