The Wild Bunch

THE WILD BUNCH (18)
D: Sam Peckinpah 
Warner Bros./Seven Arts (Phil Feldman)
US 1969
145 mins

Western

W: Walon Green & Sam Peckinpah
DP: Lucien Ballard
Ed: Lou Lombardo
Mus: Jerry Fielding
PD: Edward Carrere

William Holden (Pike Bishop), Ernest Borgnine (Dutch Engstrom), Robert Ryan (Deke Thornton), Edmond O'Brien (Freddie Sykes), Warren Oates (Lyle Gorch), Jaime Sanchez (Angel), Ben Johnson (Tector Gorch), L.Q. Jones (T.C.)

The Wild Bunch is possibly Sam Peckinpah's finest hour as director, the last classic western of the genre's golden age which appears to be reflected in the story itself.
A group of bank robbers outlaws team up for one last big score in the traditional old west, which itself is dying around them, culminating in a violent shootout in the director's finest style. 
Perhaps Peckinpah knowingly made this as a prophetic swansong to a dying genre which has become rather dormant since the 1960's, or perhaps it's because not many westerns since have been much better. Either way, it's a prime example of life imitating art.
9/10
 
The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch