movie poster for THE WILD BUNCH

Flicks ID

1408

Cert

18

Running time

138 mins

Country

Language

Format

DVD

THE WILD BUNCH (1969)

SAM PECKINPAH

Plot

Peckinpah completely rewrites John Ford's Western mythology by looking at the passing of the Old West from the point of view of marginalised outlaws rather than law-abiding settlers. While never ignoring their brutality he contrasts their code of loyalty with that of the corrupt railroad magnates. In purely cinematic terms, the film is a savagely beautiful spectacle, Lucien Ballard's superb cinematography complementing Peckinpah's darkly elegiac vision.