From the vicious opening sequence, in which a circle of laughing and cruel children poke at a scorpion writhing in a sea of ants to the infamous blood-spurting finale, Sam Peckinpah completely rewrites John Ford's Western mythology - by looking at the passing of the Old West from the point of view of the marginalized outlaws rather than the law-abiding settlers. Though he spares us none of the callousness and brutality of Holden and his gang, the director nevertheless presents their macho code of loyalty as a positive value in a world increasingly dominated by corrupt railroad magnates and their mercenary killers. "The Wild Bunch" is a savagely beautiful and nihilistic spectacle with Lucien Ballard's gorgeous cinematography oozing from the screen. An absolute must-see and perhaps the best western ever made.
Review of The Wild Bunch
