'The Wild Bunch' opens with some children forcing some scorpions to battle ants, before setting fire to the whole mess. This is representative of the outlaws turning on each other while the times change and their world shrinks. At the core of the movie is the story of a betrayal, and its eventual forgiveness. The bandits live by a code of honor, but also have to live with the
guilt of having violated it when they betrayed one of their own in the
past.
This theme is explored in several ways during the movie: the group effectively leaves one of their number to die, but no guilt is felt until the leader discovers that he was married to his friends granddaughter. The Mexicans are not trusted at all, and for good reason, as they attempt to take the stolen guns by force. At one point someone remarks that these days one must sleep with one eye open to save having one's throat cut.
Times, they are a changin, as several characters remark during the
movie. The aging bandits are big fish in a shrinking pool, with nothing
to show for their lives of crime but $1000 on their heads and a bag full of
steel washers. This is another major theme (Major Theme) of the film. Other signs of the wider world advancing around the weary
bandits is the appearance of a motor car (and talk of the early
airplane) and the presence of a machine gun in with the crates of
weapons that they steal from a train (which was a great scene - anything involving guns and fast moving trains is fun to watch).
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| Say hello to my little mustache. |
This was a violent movie
for 60s America. The director intended to horrify the audience into
appreciating the seriousness of killing through use of more realistic gore, gun effects, and general awfulness (General Awfulness) of the time. He was disturbed when
audiences grew to enjoy it rather than be repulsed.
The movie features a ridiculously forward-thinking opening montage (the style of which continues throughout the other shootouts of the film). It was pioneering in its use of fast cuts during the shootout and slow motion shots during the montage of violence. Though this had been used before in films such as 'Seven Samurai' I don't believe it had to this fully-realised standard.
Speaking of editing, I also liked the us of black and white freeze frames at the beginning to include credits, and the cut from a noisy Mexican battle to jarring silence and the view through a pair of binoculars.
Watching this movie for the first time, I've just realised that the line from 'From Dusk till Dawn' that I quoted - "What's in Mexico? Mexicans." - may have been inspired by this movie. As they cross into Mexico the leader of the bounty hunters asks "What's in (insert Mexican village name here)? Why, Mexicans, what else? (laughter as the leader grimaces)
This is an example of a great old western. The genre has never particularly appealed to me (and what I find even more confusing is it's prevalent popularity in Europe) but this is one of few films in the genre that does something new. Not just different, but new in a way that movies very rarely can be anymore.
The Wild Bunch: 61.2