The Wild Bunch (1969)
90%RT Audience Score: 90%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 2 Oscars
6 wins & 8 nominations total
The Wild Bunch is Sam Peckinpah’s shocking, violent ballad to an old world and a dying genre.
If you’re looking for a movie that’s equal parts thrilling and gut-wrenching, then The Wild Bunch is the perfect pick. This classic Western flick is a masterclass in storytelling, with a script that cuts like a knife and a director who knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat. Sure, it’s not for the faint of heart, but if you can handle a little bit of violence, then you’re in for a wild ride. So grab some popcorn, buckle up, and get ready to experience one of the greatest Westerns of all time.
Production Company(ies)
Greenwich Film Productions, Herald Ace Nippon Herald Films,
Distributor
Warner Home Vídeo
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
La Loma, Durango, Mexico
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1969
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:2h 22m
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Language(s):English, Spanish, German
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jun 18, 1969 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 10, 2006
Genre(s)
Western
Keyword(s)
Western, Sam Peckinpah, William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O’Brien, Warren Oates, Jaime Sanchez, Phil Feldman, Walon Green, Roy N Sickner, R rating, Warner Home Vídeo, box office, budget, reviewed by Penelope Gilliatt, Tom Milne, Judith Crist, Sheila Johnston, David Ansen, Pauline Kael, Brian Eggert, Mike Massie, Allen Almachar, Jean Carey Bond, Paul Schrader, Fernando Trueba, Neptune Frost, 18 1/2, H.P Lovecraft’s Witch House, 11th Hour Cleaning, Sh*t Saves the World, Stay Prayed Up, Final Caller, Girl in the Picture, Hello, Goodbye, Everything in Between, Confessions from the Hart, The Prey: Legend of Karnoctus, Moon, 66 Questions, Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel, The Road to Galena, Incantation, Dangerous Liaisons, Jewel, Warriors on the Field, Fair Play
Worldwide gross: $638,641
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $5,815,842
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,127
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 634,225
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $6,244,087
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $56,862,344
Production budget ranking: 713
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $30,620,372
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$81,666,874
ROI to date (est.): -93%
ROI ranking: 1,977
Ernest Borgnine – Dutch Engstrom
Robert Ryan – Deke Thornton
Edmond O’Brien – Freddie Sykes
Warren Oates – Lyle Gorch
Jaime Sanchez – Angel
Director(s)
Sam Peckinpah
Writer(s)
Walon Green, Roy N. Sickner, Sam Peckinpah
Producer(s)
Phil Feldman
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 2 Oscars
6 wins & 8 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (64) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (58) | Rotten (6)
Apart from Peckinpah’s simple technical control and the cut of his script, which is a knife that never slips off the bone, there is an angry quality to his mind.
July 7, 2022
Penelope Gilliatt
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
The film drives to its foregone conclusion with the sureness of an arrow.
March 18, 2020
Tom Milne
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
If you must see The Wild Bunch, be sure to take along a barf bag.
January 1, 2020
Judith Crist
New York Magazine/Vulture
TOP CRITIC
Remains hugely impressive, both for its technical brilliance and the emotional ferocity of its themes: old age, friendship, betrayal and the struggle to retain some kind of cock-eyed code of honour in an increasingly cynical world.
December 3, 2018
Sheila Johnston
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Underneath the movie, which is set on the eve of World War I, there’s an elegiac plangency that stays with you long after the shocks have worn off…The Wild Bunch still won’t go down easy.
February 21, 2018
David Ansen
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
It’s a traumatic poem of violence, with imagery as ambivalent as Goya’s.
March 28, 2016
Pauline Kael
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
Demystifying the traditional Western through raw, unglamorous violence, The Wild Bunch exploded onto the screen in 1969 and altered the face of the genre, and filmmaking, forever.
February 23, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
This controversial epic was as highly praised as it was condemned upon its release, boomingly announcing the arrival of daring new director.
August 27, 2020 | Rating: 10/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
It is one of the greatest of all westerns.
July 30, 2020
Allen Almachar
The MacGuffin
It has canonized, for our enjoyment and monstrous edification, the freak-out.
July 16, 2020
Jean Carey Bond
Freedomways
The result is one of the strongest emotional kickbacks of any film. The Wild Bunch does for the emotions what Shane did for the intellect.
July 1, 2020
Paul Schrader
Los Angeles Free Press
The Wild Bunch is the last and indisputable epic story of the Western genre. [Full Review in Spanish]
August 6, 2019
Fernando Trueba
El Pais (Spain)…
Plot
It’s 1913, and the “traditional” American West is dying. Amongst the inhabitants of this dying era are a gang known as “the wild bunch.” After a failed railroad office robbery, the gang heads to Mexico to do one last job. Seeing their times and lives drifting away in the 20th century, the gang takes the job and ends up in a brutally violent last stand against their enemies deemed to be corrupt, in a small Mexican town ruled by a ruthless general.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
William Holden shows range in his portrayal of the blood-letting Pike in The Wild Bunch.
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