The Wild Bunch - The Original Director's Cut |  | Director: Sam Peckinpah
Actors: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Warren Oates
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $2.98
as of 11/24/2009 01:03 CST details
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Rating:  233 reviews
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 2
Picture Format: Letterbox
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 134 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.9 x 0.7
MPN: WARD14034D
ISBN: 0790731037
UPC: 085391403425
EAN: 9780790731032
Theatrical Release Date: 1969
Release Date: May 21, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
DIRECTOR SAM PECKINPAH'S MASTERPIECE IS A WORLD CLASS WESTERN, NOTABLE FOR ITS DARING CINEMATOGRAPHY AND LANDMARK VIOLENCE.
Amazon.com essential video
Here's how director Sam Peckinpah described his motivation behind The Wild Bunch at the time of the film's 1969 release: "I was trying to tell a simple story about bad men in changing times. The Wild Bunch is simply what happens when killers go to Mexico. The strange thing is you feel a great sense of loss when these killers reach the end of the line." All of these statements are true, but they don't begin to cover the impact that Peckinpah's film had on the evolution of American movies. Now the film is most widely recognized as a milestone event in the escalation of screen violence, but that's a label of limited perspective. Of course, Peckinpah's bloody climactic gunfight became a masterfully directed, photographed, and edited ballet of graphic violence that transcended the conventional Western and moved into a slow-motion realm of pure cinematic intensity. But the film--surely one of the greatest Westerns ever made--is also a richly thematic tale of, as Peckinpah said, "bad men in changing times." The year is 1913 and the fading band of thieves known as the Wild Bunch (led by William Holden as Pike) decide to pull one last job before retirement. But an ambush foils their plans, and Peckinpah's film becomes an epic yet intimate tale of betrayed loyalties, tenacious rivalry, and the bunch's dogged determination to maintain their fading code of honor among thieves. The 144-minute director's cut enhances the theme of male bonding that recurs in many of Peckinpah's films, restoring deleted scenes to deepen the viewer's understanding of the friendship turned rivalry between Pike and his former friend Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan), who now leads a posse in pursuit of the bunch, a dimension that adds resonance to an already classic American film. The Wild Bunch is a masterpiece that should not be defined strictly in terms of its violence, but as a story of mythic proportion, brimming with rich characters and dialogue and the bittersweet irony of outlaw traditions on the wane. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com
One of the best action movies ever made, in a cleaned-up print restoring crucial parts of the story. No cavalry ever rode in with more epochal impact than the Wild Bunch in the legendary opening scene. Their steel-eyed leader, Pike (William Holden), and his robbers in stolen army uniforms help an old lady across the street, and then spark a massacre led by Pike's old crony Thornton (Robert Ryan), sprung from jail to hunt down his old gang. In just a few minutes, Sam Peckinpah sets the scene--a dusty Texas town in 1913--sketches a dozen vividly individualized characters, and choreographs one of the most realistic, influential, brilliantly photographed shootouts under the pitiless sun. The cast is superb (even Ernest Borgnine!), the dialog crackling, the bitterly ambiguous moral of the story hard-earned. It's the deeper, dark flip side to 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Consider buying the letterbox Wild Bunch, the review collection Doing It Right, and the Peckinpah bio "If They Move... Kill 'Em!" --Tim Appelo
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 233
 A Failed Epic November 21, 2009
Zarathustra (Sacramento, CA USA)
Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch was released in 1969, the same year as George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, probably the best western ever made. The Wild Bunch lacks the subtlety and humor found in Butch and Sundance. Every character, whether Anglo, Mexican or Indian is a stereotype. There is plenty of action, but not a single character one can identify with.
Peckinpah made a better western in 1973: Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, with a score by Bob Dylan, who also appears in the film. The acting by Kris Kristofferson and James Coburn in Pat Garrett is superior to that of William Holden and Ernest Borgnine in The Wild Bunch, and the pacing of Pat Garrett is much better. The Wild Bunch, with a cast of thousands and nonstop violence, is just too long at 145 minutes with no breaks in the endless killing.
 The wild Bunch November 21, 2009
John T Kerr
William Holden's presence on screen is viewing pleasure,Wild Bunch a great film.Holden holds his own on the Wild bunch.On blu ray still good entertainment and a new experiance on our large screen T.V.
BD vs The Director's Cut November 10, 2009
Thomas Martin (USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The reviewer comparing the BD vs the standard DVD releases missed one important point, I think. The director's cut of this film is 145 whereas the BD version is only 134. Ten minutes doesn't seem like much, but it does matter in this film.
 Every one in this film is killed October 14, 2009
connie
0 out of 10 found this review helpful
This film is strictly for men...or anyone who likes violence at its goriest. I was not pleased with it at all and gave it away to a friend. Sorry !.
Western salvaje y crepuscular en Blu... September 19, 2009
Roberto I. Quesada (Costa Rica)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Se puede observar la calidad de esta transferencia tanto en 720p como 1080p. No me ha decepcionado para nada, al contrario, a pesar de ser un film que tiene sus años me sorprendió ver algunas secuencias tan llenas de color y tan bien amalgamadas. Para aquellos que quieran conocer de que va el montaje (montage) ver este film.
The Wild Bunch es el "anti-western" por antonomasia, el western màs violento que jamás haya existido, aparte de "El Topo" de Alejandro Jodorowsky (palabras mayores). Excelente Blu-Ray que recomiendo a ojos cerrados.
* Una de las cosas de las que WB se debería preocupar es en los booklets de sus BDs, prácticamente vienen sin nada, solamente el disco. Que bueno sería ver algún contenido interesante como bien lo hace Criterion Collection.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 233
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