Like most things in American culture in the 1960s, the Western was altered significantly by events in the country.  I do not know how else to back into explaining The Wild Bunch (1969) than to say that it simply would not have existed in this form only ten years before it, arguably less.  It is number seventy-nine among the American Film Institute’s (AFI) 100 greatest American films of all time.  What is not among those is the original The Magnificent Seven (1960).  I am not sure why the former is on that list instead of the latter.  There are some striking similarities between the two in terms of their body count in both heroes and villains.  I guess the only thing to say is the old cliché about how there is no accounting for taste.  The Wild Bunch takes some of the themes you see in its forerunner and makes them gratuitous.  There is blood and nudity.  I would also argue that The Magnificent Seven has the better cast.  Apparently, AFI does not agree with me, which is why you are getting a review of The Wild Bunch.

If you know your history, there is one thing apparent about The Wild Bunch from the start, and that is that this is not your familiar Old West.  Indeed, it is 1913, and at the head of a group of men dressed as United States Cavalry soldiers is Pike Bishop (William Holden).  I say “dressed as” because they are using the uniforms as a disguise to sneak into a town and gain access to a bank.  Waiting for them is Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan), and a number of other gunmen.  Deke and his men have been hired by Pat Harrigan (Albert Dekker), who represents the railroad.  Pike and his outlaws have been a menace to their operations and Pat wants them dead.  He has used his connections to pull Deke out of jail to go after Pike.  Deke and Pike had once been associates, but Pike had abandoned Deke to avoid being arrested, and Deke had gone to jail.  While Deke does not hold a grudge, he would do anything to not have to spend more time behind bars, which is where he will go if he does not bring in Pike.  Unfortunately, their first attempt at doing so turns into a bloody fiasco when Deke’s undisciplined posse opens fire.  Some of Pike’s compatriots are killed, but more civilians die as the shooting is indiscriminate.  Those who are left alive escape into Mexico, while Deke has to explain to Pat what went wrong.  Deke wants better henchmen, but Pat refuses to give them and instead tells the former outlaw that he basically has a month to complete his mission or he goes back to prison.  Pike and company meet up with one of his old comrades, Freddie Sykes (Edmond O’Brien), to divide their loot.  However, when they open the pay bags, they find it full of steel washers instead of coins.  Everybody is pretty mad, and they know that they have Deke in pursuit.  Seeking further shelter, they ride to the village of one of their number, Angel (Jaime Sánchez).  Upon their arrival, the leader of the community, Don José (Chano Urueta), informs them that they have been visited by General Mapache (Emilio Fernández), a brutal officer and representative of the corrupt Mexican government.  Making matters worse is the fact that General Mapache killed Angel’s father and took his lover.  What Pike sees is an opportunity.  Traveling to General Mapache’s headquarters, Pike offers his and his men’s services, for a price, of course.  There is a tense moment when Angel shoots and kills his ex-girlfriend while in General Mapache’s arms.  All is forgiven, though, when Pike promises to bring in a shipment of arms that he plans on stealing from the United States army.  Deke anticipates this move and is on the train with his posse when Pike springs his trap.  Regardless, Pike is able to get away with the weapons, and nearly kills Deke when he blows up a bridge behind him.  At this point, Angel begins to demand that Pike fulfill a promise made to give his village a portion of the rifles they stole.  Angel enforces the agreement by having some of his compatriots sneak up on where they are camping and take the guns.  I would have thought that Angel would have left the group at this point, but the lure of the promised pay off for their delivery is too much for him to resist.  Fearing that General Mapache will try to double-cross them, they decide to bring in portions the weapons to the town where him and his soldiers are encamped.  They save Angel’s run for last, going along with “Dutch” Engstrom (Ernest Borgnine).  Yet, just as they are about to leave, they remind Dutch that they know about the guns given to Angel’s people.  Thus, they take Angel and drag him through the streets behind General Mapache’s car.  Pike and the rest come to beg for Angel’s life, but they are refused.  Instead, after spending some time enjoying the, ahem, delicacies of the village, they decide to demand the return of Angel by brandishing their guns.  General Mapache seems about to comply when he cuts Angel’s throat.  In response, Pike puts a number of bullets into the Mexican officer, killing the general.  For a moment there is a stunned silence until a massive gun fight erupts.  Pike and his men manage to make it to the machine gun that had been part of the cache given to General Mapache, which, for a brief time, levels the fire power slanted overwhelmingly against them.  It is not enough, though, and eventually they all die.  As this comes to an end, Deke and the posse ride in to find a mass of dead bodies.  They fill their pockets with as much loot as they can carry before leaving with Pike’s corpse and those of the others to present to Pat.  Deke decides not to go.  Instead, he stays behind to greet Freddie and Don José, closing with him joining their revolution.

If you are at all familiar with The Wild Bunch, you might remember that there are a few moments of specifically Catholic religious ephemera making an appearance on screen.  Being that the majority of the film is set in Mexico, this makes sense.  It had been a predominantly Catholic country since the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531.  I could go on about some further context here, but instead I would like to talk about a part of the opening scene that I did not mention in the synopsis.  It involves a meeting of the local Temperance Union going on in the town where the robbery is to take place.  It is incidental to Pike’s activities, and unfortunately many of their number are killed when the bullets start flying.  I suspect that director Sam Peckinpah was likely trying to say something about what would have been considered sanctimonious busy-bodies in the 1960s, a time when recreational drug use was on the rise.  There is probably also an allusion to how the film attempts to tie the movement to Christianity.  In fairness, there is some truth to this last bit.  At the same time, this is a movement that Catholics largely did not involve themselves.  Indeed, the next time you drink champagne, you can thank Catholics for that one, as well as a number of beers.  What is important about drinking that they did not understand at the time is moderation.  It is clear from historical research that Jesus himself likely enjoyed a glass of wine occasionally.  Yet, at the time the film is set in, there were those who felt that even that was a gateway to sin.  Anyway, just a little further context for you if, for some reason, you decide to watch this movie.

Fun fact: the phrase “teetotaler” came out of the temperance movement, though from a much earlier time than that which you see in The Wild Bunch.  It is credited to Richard Turner, who is said to have advocated total abstinence from all liquor with a capital “T.”  In actuality, Turner was a stutterer and the word originated with him trying to just say “total,” as in total abstinence from alcohol.  This has nothing to directly to do with the film, but it is largely more interesting than anything you will see in it.