The Wild Bunch
Brendan Quinn

Review by Brendan Quinn

The Wild Bunch

1969

Rewatched 28 Apr 2021

A movie more responsible for Tarantino's career than any other. And I'm not just talking about the violence.

You have to consider a movie like this in terms of its place in movie history. The graphic gun violence had only recently been allowed due to the end of the US's cinema code and this really pushed it as far as it could.

Yet at its heart is a story of the brutality of life on either side of the US/Mexico border in the early 20th century and the struggles of the men who choose a life of theft and killing.

And yes I do mean men. Women do exist in this world but they aren't people. They are objects to be used/dispatched by the men. Oddly, this isn't a complaint, it serves to highlight just how awful life was for the women too.

The innovative use of frenetic editing during the action sequences keeps them looking fresh even over 50 years later.

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