1913, Texas. A gang of outlaws known as “The Wild Bunch” led by Pike (William Holden) and Dutch (Ernest Borgnine) seek one final job that will see them into retirement. 

Bookended by two violent gunfights The Wild Bunch focuses on the death of the old west as the modern times of the 20th century slowly erode the ways of the gunslinger. The honour code that its protagonists lived by are now outmoded and as they go about their business you will hear them marvel at an automobile and discuss the idea of flying machines. Whilst the likes of a machine gun makes their entire crew defunct. Killing is no longer up close and personal and can be done on a mass scale. 

The film opens with some fantastic visuals and imagery. We see a group of children watching and laughing as they watch scorpions getting swarmed and killed by thousands of ants. A clear visual analogy of the plot of the film. We then get to see “The Wild Bunch” as they make their way to a bank job. The film uses black and white freeze frames to show us the credits in a stylistic flourish that feels effortlessly cool. And then a classic line is uttered, “If they move, kill em!” Before another freeze frame with the credit Directed by Sam Peckinpah. 

We then spend time getting to know Pike, Dutch and some other members of the crew past and present as they head into Mexico, mastermind a train robbery and make one last decision based on their own particular moral code. We may not like their violent behaviour or their specific code but these characters motivations are well explained. It’s particularly intriguing to see the flashbacks from the viewpoints of both Pike and an ex-member of the crew named Thornton (Robert Ryan) who is now forced to track them. 

It is fascinating stuff in a film that is considered a masterwork of the revisionist western and catapulted Sam Peckinpah’s career into international consciousness. 

Peckinpah may be known for violence on screen but there is much more depth under the surface here in one of the great Westerns.