The Wild Bunch

Pursued by one of their own (Robert Ryan), an aging band of outlaws (William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Edmond O’Brien, Warren Oates, Jaime Sánchez, and Ben Johnson) heads to Mexico seeking one last big score.

“If they move, KILL EM!” barks William Holden in The Wild Bunch’s opening sequence and director Sam Peckinpah’s elegy for the Old West is off and running.

A poignant look at a group of men whose way of life is coming to an end around them, the film resonates like few others. These aren’t good men. They have no qualms about killing, stealing, or even grabbing a woman to use as a human shield, but they have a code, and a way of life that they cling to.

They’re outlaws. They rob and run from the law. Only now, they find themselves stealing worthless steel washers instead of gold, and the railroad, not the law, hot on their trail. And worst of all, there don’t seem to be many places left to run.

It’s this desperation in seeing your world close around you, the frustration at feeling yourself forced out of society that hits you. You react to this film in a primal way. Once you’ve seen The Wild Bunch, it stays with you.

The film culminates in a violent, bloody finale that seems almost inevitable, but it’s the emotional apex just before this final scene, that elevates The Wild Bunch to a classic.

The men are holed up in a Mexican brothel, drinking and whoring in an attempt to blot out the memory of their friend Angel, who’s been taking prisoner by the Mexican General running the town. William Holden takes a long look around the dingy room he’s just shared with a prostitute, sees her washing off his sweat and stink with her baby in the corner, then he rises, strides to the adjacent room where two of his partners are enjoying themselves. He stands in the doorway, looks them both in the eyes and says, “Let’s Go.”

They’re not going to save Angel. He’s just the excuse. They’re going to die. They used to hold up banks for gold, now they’re going to hold up the General for Angel. It’s the last big score they’ve been dreaming about. One last chance to feel like they matter. One last chance to belong. None of this is verbalized, but you can see it in all their eyes. It’s a brilliant scene and easily one of the best ever captured on film, which is why The Wild Bunch is a must-see. Trust me, you won’t regret it.