The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Timing: 2:25 (145 min)

7.589/10
1292

7.701/10
8664

7.9/10
95000

All about film

Video 6

Photo 78

Actors and characters

Release date

1969-06-19

Country

United States

Production

Warner Bros-Seven Arts

Genre

Western

Budget

$6 000 000

Revenue

$638 641

Website

Director

Sam Peckinpah

Actors

William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Jaime Sánchez, Warren Oates, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson, Albert Dekker, Strother Martin, Emilio Fernández
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Phil Feldman

Operator

Lucien Ballard

Composer

Jerry Fielding

Artist

Audition

Editing

Lou Lombardo
All team (109)

• In 1999, the Library of Congress included 'The Wild Bunch' in the National Film Registry as a cultural treasure.
• In 1996, 'The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage,' a film about Sam Peckinpah and his work on 'The Wild Bunch,' was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary.
• 'The Wild Bunch' was the first film from Warner Bros. to use various sound effects to simulate gunshots from different weapons, at the director's request.
• According to editor Lou Lombardo, the film contains 3643 edit cuts; this is one of the cinematic records.
• Matthew Peckinpah, the director’s young son, played in the scene where two boys watch a fleeing robber.
• The film is based on a story by actor and stuntman Roy N. Sickner. The screenplay was written by Walon Green and rewritten by Sam Peckinpah. However, Green did not believe this justified Peckinpah putting his name alongside his. Following this conflict, the Writers Guild revised its rules – now, for a director to be credited as a screenwriter, they must rewrite at least 60% of the script.
• At the beginning of the film, children torment a scorpion. This scene was not in the script; actor Emilio Fernández (General Mapache) suggested the image to the director, recalling his childhood games.
• The train robbery was also not in the script. This scene was entirely improvised during filming.
• A constant lack of funds made itself felt. For example, not all actors received costumes; as soon as one character 'died', their performer immediately washed the fake blood and bullet hole depictions off the costume and passed it on, like a baton, to other actors.