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The Wild Bunch Overview:

The Wild Bunch (1969) was a Action - Western Film directed by Sam Peckinpah and produced by Phil Feldman and Roy N. Sickner.

The Wild Bunch was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1999.

Academy Awards 1969 --- Ceremony Number 42 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Music - ScoringJerry FieldingNominated
Best WritingStory by Walon Green, Roy N. Sickner; Screenplay by Walon Green, Sam PeckinpahNominated
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The Wild Bunch BlogHub Articles:

The Wild Bunch (1969)

By Beatrice on Apr 23, 2020 From Flickers in Time

The Wild Bunch Directed by Sam Peckinpah Written by Walon Green, Sam Peckinpah, and Roy N. Sickner 1969/US First viewing/Amazon Instant One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die This bloody, violent Western holds out little hope for humanity.  Maybe not the thing for the disgusted during Lockd... Read full article

The Wild Bunch - Looking Back on Peckinpah's Classic After 50 Years

By Rick29 on Oct 16, 2019 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

William Holden in The Wild Bunch. Fifty years ago, two of American cinema's most influential Westerns were released: the revisionist Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. Neither film staved off the decline of the Western genre, but each impacted Hollywood in signif... Read full article

The Wild Bunch (1969, Sam Peckinpah), the director’s cut

By Andrew Wickliffe on Apr 15, 2017 From The Stop Button

The Wild Bunch opens with a methodically executed heist slash shootout sequence. Director Peckinpah quickly introduces cast members, partially due to the dramatic plotting, mostly due to Lou Lombardo’s fantastic editing. All juxtaposed with some kids watching ants kill scorpions. The Wild Bunch op... Read full article

The Wild Bunch (1969)

By smumcountry on Jan 21, 2015 From Smum County

January 21, 2015 by smumcounty It’s 1913. A band of outlaws in Texas headed by Pike Bishop (William Holden) are looking to make one more big score so they can retire. To that end they plan the robbery of a railroad office which reportedly has a safe full of silver coins. They manage to ride into t... Read full article

The Wild Bunch (1969)

By smumcountry on Jan 21, 2015 From Smum County

January 21, 2015 by smumcounty It’s 1913. A band of outlaws in Texas headed by Pike Bishop (William Holden) are looking to make one more big score so they can retire. To that end they plan the robbery of a railroad office which reportedly has a safe full of silver coins. They manage to ride into t... Read full article

See More The Wild Bunch Articles

The Wild Bunch Quotes:

Pike Bishop: Let's go.
Pike Bishop: [the Gorches are protesting the dividing up of the loot] Sharin' up will be the same as always.
Lyle Gorch: Well, me and Tector don't think that he
[points at Angel]
Lyle Gorch: oughtta get the same amount. He's just startin' out and this is mine and Tector's openin' for a new territory!
Tector Gorch: That's right, and I figure a share to that old goat
[points at Sykes]
Tector Gorch: for watchin' them horses is damn sure a share too much!
Lyle Gorch: So, we decided; it ain't fair.
Pike Bishop: If you two boys don't like equal shares, why in the hell don't you just take *all* of it?
[pauses]
Pike Bishop: Well, why don't you *answer* me, you damn yellow-livered trash?
Lyle Gorch: [realizing the rest are backing Pike] Now, Pike, you know damn well...
Pike Bishop: [angered] I don't know a damn thing, except I either *lead* this bunch, or end it *right now*!
Deke Thornton: [addressing his posse] You think Pike and old Sykes haven't been watchin' us. They know what this is all about - and what do I have? Nothin' but you egg-suckin', chicken stealing gutter trash with not even sixty rounds between you. We're after men - and I wish to God I was with them. The next time you make a mistake, I'm going to ride off and let you die.
Deke Thornton: We're after men. And I wish to God I was with them.
Pike Bishop: You know what we are then?
Don Jose: Si, the both of you!
Pike Bishop: [laughing] And you!
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The Wild Bunch Facts
Body count: 145
Co-writer/director Sam Peckinpah stated that one of his goals for this movie was to give the audience "some idea of what it is to be gunned down." A memorable incident occurred, to that end, as Peckinpah's crew were consulting him on the "gunfire" effects to be used in the film. Not satisfied with the results from the squibs his crew had brought for him, Peckinpah became exasperated; he finally hollered, "That's not what I want! *That's not what I want!*" Then he grabbed an actual revolver and fired it into a nearby wall. The gun empty, Peckinpah barked at his stunned crew: "That's the effect I want!!"
After filming the scene where Ernest Borgnine and William Holden sit by a campfire and their characters vow they "wouldn't have it any other way", it was hard for director Sam Peckinpah to yell, "Cut!" because he was crying.
There were not enough uniforms for all of the stunt people and extras in the gun battle. If someone was filmed getting shot, the costume people would repair a uniform by washing off the fake blood, taping and painting over the bullet holes, drying the paint and sending either the same or a different performer out to get shot again.
Sam Peckinpah's first two choices for the role of Deke Thornton were Richard Harris (who had co-starred in Major Dundee) and Brian Keith (who had worked with Peckinpah on The Westerner and The Deadly Companions). Harris was never formally approached, but Keith was, and turned the part down. Robert Ryan was ultimately cast in the part after Peckinpah saw him in The Dirty Dozen.
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