The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film

by W.K. Stratton

For the fiftieth anniversary of the film, W.K. Stratton’s definitive history of the making of The Wild Bunch , named one of the greatest Westerns of all time by the American Film Institute.

Sam Peckinpah’s film The Wild Bunch is the story of a gang of outlaws who are one big steal from retirement. When their attempted train robbery goes awry, the gang flees to Mexico and falls in with a brutal general of the Mexican Revolution, who offers them the job of a lifetime. Conceived by a stuntman, directed by a blacklisted director, and shot in the sand and heat of the Mexican desert, the movie seemed doomed. Instead, it became an instant classic with a dark, violent take on the Western movie tradition.

In The Wild Bunch , W.K. Stratton tells the fascinating history of the making of the movie and documents for the first time the extraordinary contribution of Mexican and Mexican-American actors and crew members to the movie’s success. Shaped by infamous director Sam Peckinpah, and starring such visionary actors as William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Edmond O’Brien, and Robert Ryan, the movie was also the product of an industry and a nation in transition. By 1968, when the movie was filmed, the studio system that had perpetuated the myth of the valiant cowboy in movies like The Searchers had collapsed, and America was riled by Vietnam, race riots, and assassinations. The Wild Bunch spoke to America in its moment, when war and senseless violence seemed to define both domestic and international life.

The Wild Bunch is an authoritative history of the making of a movie and the era behind it.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, History, Media Tie In, Westerns, Biography, Classics

352 pages, Hardcover

Published February 12, 2019

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-compiled and educational study of the making of The Wild Bunch (1969), which ranks as one of the greatest westerns ever made and like so many films of its era unburdened by the Hays code, hit audiences like nothing they'd seen before. W.K. Stratton doesn't have the ability that Peter Biskind does to put the reader right there as key decisions involving the greatest movies of all time are made, but he's at a disadvantage in that most of those involved in The Wild Bunch have long since passed away.

Anyone who loved Once Upon A Time In Hollywood ... might enjoy this book, as it takes place in 1969 and traffics heavily into the men who Quentin Tarantino based Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth on. The genesis of the film was Roy Sickner, one of the greatest stuntmen of all time, who had an sketchy idea for a movie set in 19th century Mexico revolving around action sequences he'd devised. The book peels back how screenwriter Walon Green and screenwriter-director Sam Peckinpah came to be so enamored with Mexico and reflect its culture and history on screen in ways that Hollywood films had never done before.

-- Roughly the same age as Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison, Walon Green grew up as a member of the first rock 'n' roll generation: too young for World War II or Korea, too old to be drafted for duty in Vietnam. Though born in Baltimore, Green grew up in L.A., where his stepfather was pop composer James V. Monaco. Through Monaco, Green was exposed to movie-industry people throughout his childhood. He attended public schools in Beverly Hills and was of the right age and in the right place to have been an angst-ridden 1950s teenager of the sort portrayed in Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without A Cause.

But Green held a wider, less self-obsessed view of life than many youths of his time. And he had cojones. When he was barely into his teen years, he talked his way into a group from the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History that traveled to Baja California to collect birds and small mammals. One night the group camped unknowingly on a tidal marsh. Green and the others were awakened by a foot of seawater that rolled in with high tide. No one was hurt, but their car sank to its axles in the wet sand. The group set out walking to find help. It took nearly six hours, but they finally found a bunkhouse on a ranch that was miles away from their stranded vehicle. One of the ranch workers spoke a little English, and once he understood the plight of the group, he mobilized a crew of other vaqueros to help the gringos. They traveled to the stuck car, and, with the aid of a World War II-vintage half-track, the vaqueros freed the car. Then the ranch hands invited the yanquis to return to the ranch with them, where they fed Green and his companions and put them up in the bunkhouse. Green was moved by the kindness. "I thought, 'Jesus, these are really special people,'" Green said. "You're stuck in the mud, and they haul you out, but they want nothing for it. To them, it was just the right thing to do. That started my love affair with Mexico." After that, Green returned to Mexico whenever he could and eventually went to college there.

Lee Marvin plays a prominent role in the book as the star long attached to play Pike Bishop (he ultimately dropped out to collect the then-unheard of sum of $1 million to star in the ill-fated musical Paint Your Wagon with Clint Eastwood). I can never read too many anecdotes about Lee Marvin and stuntmen developing a movie project between rounds of tequila. I did start skimming the book, with its many sections that read a little too much like Wikipedia posts. I didn't feel I needed to know this much about the wardrobe supervisor. In giving me even greater appreciation for The Wild Bunch, Stratton does his job.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I wrote 'The Wild Bunch' to show that the world is an immensely violent place . . . I wrote it, thinking that I would like to see a Western that was as mean and ugly and brutal as the times, and the only nobility in men was their dedication to each other." -- screenwriter Walon Green, on page 46

Boy howdy, did he succeed - when The Wild Bunch was released at the start of the summer of 1969, it was like a mule kick to the head for American audiences who had grown accustomed to, with rare exceptions, a certain type and tone of a U.S.-made film in that durably popular 'Western' genre. (Some few notable anomalies include director Sergio Leone's so-called 'Dollars' trilogy - starring a young Clint Eastwood - just a few years before, but those films were strictly European productions.) However, maverick director Sam Peckinpah attempted something a bit different with 'The Wild Bunch' - it was set in the early 20th century (just prior to the start of WWI), he shot the film in Mexico with a large Mexican supporting cast and/or production assistance, and depicted on-screen violence with a then-graphic nature that was supposedly so startling for the era that some theater viewers would stumble outside to vomit (!). (This was one of the first major Hollywood productions to extensively use 'squibs' - condoms filled with fake blood that were hidden under a performer's outfit and rigged to burst, simulating a gunshot wound impact.) It was influential but initially only a modest box-office success, belatedly receiving its major acclaim in the decades after its release.

Stratton's The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film was a wonderfully thorough and often entertaining look 'behind the scenes' at the genesis of and eventful making of the film. I think the book's skillful and major hook was the author's many biographical detours delving into the personalities at work on the production - not just the hard-drinking director or his ultra-masculine cast populating said aging outlaw 'Bunch' (William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson, Edmund O'Brien - all Oscar winners! - and the underrated but dependable Warren Oates), but also a squadron of tough-as-nails stunt men, the screenwriters, the argumentative producers, the composer, and even the two-fisted wardrobe supervisor. It is all presented in a fairly in-depth manner, but yet - as I commented to a GR friend earlier this week - the narrative moves along with the hustle and confidence of a galloping steed outrunning a bullet.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This movie, The Wild Bunch, is probably the ultimate "guy" movie. I don't know a single lady who cares for it, although who knows, maybe at some point in time, somewhere, some woman may have seen the movie without complaining about it. Could happen, right? Just like maybe, in these enlightened times, some guy somewhere might like soap operas. We can't judge that type of thing anymore. I first saw this movie as a wide-eyed teenager in Quesnel, B.C., in 1969 (the year of release). I left the theatre very conflicted, stunned by the action and a little aghast at the graphic bloodshed, which was new in the movies at the time but today is eclipsed on a daily basis by zombie movies streamed right into your home.

I loved it. I loved the message of the movie, the sacrifice of the self for the brotherhood, the subjugation of manly principles to modern compromise and technology. Subsequent viewings caused me to understand that the message is mixed and that there are some anachronistic flaws, particularly insofar as weaponry is concerned, but it remains my favourite movie ever, if you go strictly by the number of times I've viewed it...which has to be in three digits by now. I could probably act out any of the roles in the film without referring to a script.

Needless to say, when I saw that this book was coming out I pre-ordered it immediately, and Stratton does not disappoint. He has told the complete story of the making of this movie right from conception to the last edit. I was so envious of his interviews with the surviving cast members and other people associated with the movie. He details the making of the film clearly and concisely, takes the reader on the road in Mexico to find the location, explains budgeting concerns and staffing problems, and serves up many bits of enticing trivia pertaining to the actors involved. His chapters are brief, sometimes only a page and a half in length, which sort of causes the book to move right along much like the action in the movie itself.

I loved it. Just loved it, and will probably read it many times. So why only 4 stars? Mr Stratton got under my collar with the photographs. He went to the trouble of getting rare photos of the actors and scenes from the film, and then scatters them throughout the book in reduced size and printed on the same paper as the print. Why oh fucking why would you do that, Sir? Whatever happened to the day when the printed photograph was printed on glossy paper, often with onionskin inserted between the pages? Is it to save a few measly bucks? I would have happily paid more for a better book. However, I am somewhat mollified by the Sources section which I have already started to mine for Peckinpah and Wild Bunch-related literature.

If you are a fan of The Wild Bunch, I have no reservations about recommending this book to you. I'm going to go and watch the DVD.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We’re not gonna get rid of anybody. We’re gonna stick together, just like it used to be. When you side with a man, you stay with him. And if you can’t do that, you're like some animal - you’re finished! We’re finished! All of us!”

4.5 stars. A fascinating, highly detailed look at what went into the making of one of the best Westerns of all time. Although this was filled with interesting facts and relevant context—you get everything from a (super) brief primer on the Mexican Revolution to an overview of the general times (and the climate in Hollywood) in which the film itself was made, as well as bios on Peckinpah and damn near everyone else involved in the process of making the film. You also learn how the idea for the movie originated in the first place, and then you get numerous stories from the set, also an examination of the basic plot and thematic elements explored in the movie, and a look at the critical reception of the film, too—it never felt bogged down by anything that’d qualify as filler. And what’s more, it related all of this in quite an entertaining fashion; the book was anything but dry.

If you want to learn more about how this incredible movie was made, and about all of the players involved in bringing it to life, Peckinpah especially, then I’d highly recommend this impressively comprehensive, compulsive page-turner of a book. Ultimately, it made an already stunningly powerful film feel even more striking and profound, which was something I didn’t anticipate, something I didn’t think was even possible. Stratton really knew his stuff.

A few quotes from the book itself:

“Green wrote The Wild Bunch “to show that the world is an immensely violent place.” He later said, “I wrote it, thinking that I would like to see a Western that was as mean and ugly and brutal as the times, and the only nobility in men was their dedication to each other.””

“Holden was a first-rate actor but also a deeply troubled man, a real-life killer himself. He was on a conditional suspended sentence for manslaughter when he signed with Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. He had a full reservoir of internal turmoil to draw upon as he created Pike Bishop.”

“Sam [Peckinpah] made everybody feel that you go for broke. Not to go for broke was an act of dishonor.”

“The crew quickly learned the wisdom of employing the seasoned desert rat’s trick of placing the legs of beds and cots into pails of water before retiring at night. The next morning, they’d find drowned centipedes, tarantulas, and scorpions in the buckets that would otherwise have crawled between the sheets.”

“Peckinpah pushed himself and pushed himself—never mind his pain—with days beginning at four A.M. and lasting until midnight. Peckinpah was also afflicted with insomnia and often couldn’t sleep during the precious four hours between the end of one workday and the start of another.”

“The work of the director is to love the cliché, adopt the cliché, and then work against it. You have to remake the cliché in a way that nobody has ever made it before. That is the creative work of the director.” (Peckinpah, on how to employ clichés to your advantage)

“Lombardo allowed the film to take him to extraordinary places, creating what cinema scholar Stephen Prince would call “complex montages of violence.” What Lombardo was doing echoed the work of Arthur Penn and editor Dede Allen on Bonnie and Clyde. Lombardo was pushing the cutting-room art to a whole new level. He had studied the work of the great masters of montage, beginning with Sergei Eisenstein. Like Peckinpah, Lombardo had been influenced by the movies of Akira Kurosawa, particularly the slow-motion montage, fashioned from footage shot with multiple cameras, that appears in Seven Samurai. Yet Lombardo possessed his own distinct artistic vision as a film cutter. He put together several reels that included the particularly violent opening shoot-out as well as other scenes from the early parts of the movie. The slow-motion sequences in particular were unlike anything that had ever appeared at an American cinema. Future director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) referred to Lombardo’s bullet ballets as “almost gestalt editing” that was “radical and tremendously vibrant.””

“Peckinpah and his associates felt that a film score should be like a man in a green suit walking in a forest, as Gordon Dawson put it.”

[Tristram Shandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I’ve never seen a better movie.“

These are the words with which author W.K. Stratton concludes his impressive account of how The Wild Bunch was made, and these words, as well as the panegyric-labyrinthine title The Wild Bunch. Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film indicate more than just subtly that the writer is an inveterate fan of the western in question. [1] Nevertheless, this book is not an example of uncritical and bland fanboy gushing but a well-researched and extensive journey into the making of The Wild Bunch, starting from how Roy N. Sickner, a stuntman, came up with the idea of a western about a group of outlaws fleeing to Mexico after an armed robbery and becoming involved into several fights – the idea being to make a film that would offer a lot of action and opportunity for doing stunts – to how Peckinpah’s later movie, which only shared the basic outline of the plot with Sickner’s project, was received by critics and the American public on its release.

Stratton covers every possible detail connected with The Wild Bunch, e.g. Sickner’s efforts of arousing interest in his idea among Hollywood actors, producers and directors – in fact, Lee Marvin was also captivated by the idea of such a western but later would refuse to play the role of Pike Bishop because he was afraid of being typecast after playing a major role in Richard Brooks’s The Professionals – and it takes quite a few pages before Sam Peckinpah actually enters the pages of the history of this film, but when he does so, he quickly embraces the project with the enthusiasm, zeal and determination he put into most of his work, and so, by and by, what we know as The Wild Bunch would emerge. Stratton not only concentrates on Peckinpah, telling us a lot about the director’s fears of never being allowed to make another movie at that time, but he also makes us aware of the wider picture of the film industry, particularly the goings-on at Warner Brothers, at the time. We learn about the background stories of all the major actors involved, but also about many other people involved in making this movie, especially about the strained relationship between Peckinpah and producer Phil Feldman. Apart from that, Stratton has something to tell about the use of violence in movies in the 1960s, which was somewhat revolutionized by Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, or on how Peckinpah dealt with virulent stereotypes in American movies, e.g. about Mexican women.

The author’s style is very readable – slightly to the detriment of a clearer structure of the book; but then there is an index that might be helpful if you want to look up things after reading the book –, and you get the impression of listening to a knowledgeable, yet unpretentious film buff who happens to love this very movie a lot but still abstains from merely raving about it in order to share his knowledge in an intriguing way. Partly, my enthusiasm for this book may stem from my own love for The Wild Bunch, which, along with The Big Lebowski, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Naked Spur and Rashomon, and some others, is one of the films I must have watched more than a dozen times; but still, even if you are not too familiar with the movie, I have a hunch that Stratton’s way of interlacing personal anecdotes with the bigger picture will be an enjoyable reading experience, provided you are interesting in film history. What Stratton does not do, however, is give you a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the film itself, but then again, you will want to watch that movie after finishing the book and can come up with your own analysis yourself.

[1] So am I, who would rank The Wild Bunch among the ten best movies I have ever seen in my life, and that was one of the reasons I jumped at the recommendation of this book by one of my Goodreads friends.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first time seeing The Wild Bunch was on the big screen when first released. I've seen it more that a few times over the years.

After reading this book, I won't experience seeing the film the same way again. The most illuminating aspect for me was gaining a new appreciation of Peckinpah's vision in reinventing the genre of the Western with the innovation of reverse cliché.

A detailed study in the making of a masterpiece.

[Stephen Robert Collins]

Today we just do not make Western movies it is all Super hero & over the top fantasy special effects.
Back when people need escapeism just much as today but after bang, bang flea pit cowboy John Wayne or Ràndolf Scott we got real West of America were we had shit pilled high in the streets, everybody had a gun .Nobody washed & Mexico was another name for H E L L.
This Sam P's classic with opening seen of load of filthy snotty kids pissing on nest of scorpions .Pissing on life that sums this. This every fucking thing the Magnificent Seven isn't it make a Dalek look good.

[Doubledf99.99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about the making of the Wild Bunch and the movie making process from an idea, some involvement with Lee Marvin and Peckinpah's long road to get it to the big screen. Lot of good bio's on the cast and crew especially Sam's stock company of actors, such as L.Q Jones, Warren Oates, and Ben Johnson. . Some of the cast and crew were ex-serviceman and former Marines and one a Marine Raider. A fine quick read and highly recommend for fans of the Wild Bunch.
"When The Wild Bunch was released, it placed a tombstone on the head of the grave of the old-fashioned John Wayne Western. It changed all the rules."

Stratton, W. K.. The Wild Bunch (p. 304). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In April 1969, I left a Kansas City theater amazed and virtually breathless after attending a sneak preview of a film that to this day remains one of my all-time favorites. Sure, I was just 18 but I had never seen anything like "The Wild Bunch." Nobody had. Sam Peckinpah's tale about a gang of outlaws trying to adjust to a changing West in 1913 was raw and bloody and made a point of showing -- some said glorifying -- graphic violence in a way that had never been done. Created during a period of historic unrest in America, it was a landmark film. W.K. Stratton's "The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood and the Making of a Legendary Film" (2019) breaks down the movie's yearslong genesis, its gritty filming in Mexico and the sharply mixed critical reaction, with plenty of background and anecdotes on all the major players, including combative director Peckinpah and alcoholic star William Holden, a pair of troubled men who came together to create a masterpiece. Informative, entertaining and a must for fans of one of the best westerns ever made.

[carl theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The entertaining opening chapters set the scene with an overview of the history of the Western Movie, after all one of the first films was - 'the Great Train robbery', and the actors that became stars, such as John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and the directors such as Sam Peckinpah. That is the setup till 1969, holy cowboy a long time ago now.

It’s always fun to feel like you are getting the ‘inside scoop’ on the comings and goings of movie making. You may not want to know how laws and sausage are made, and although similar, there is something compelling about the movie set.

Every few years just my Dad and I would go to a movie. The other 4 young ones at home, and probably because it was a flic my Mom wasnt that interested in. In August of 1969 we went to see the Wild Bunch. I was a teenager, and I’m sure the ‘artistic vision’ wasn’t one of my first appreciations but I sure was impressed with the innovative, slow motion, carnage on the screen. The use of ’squibs’, bloody pellets that made the impact of bullets gruesomely enthralling. I couldn’t wait to tell my buddies. Hollywood had introduced a whole new level of violence to the public.

Since this is a book about -The Pictures - it is frustrating that the small, fuzzy, dark, black and white photos are of such poor quality. I wouldn’t recognize Peckinpah if he walked into the bar ! I blame the state of cheap publishing these days, so not too big a deal.

There were 3000 films released in 1969 ! many great ones, ‘Midnight Cowboy and ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’, ‘True Grit’, to name a few, the competition meant you had to be on the edge to be noticed.

Author Stratton adores the manly, man Director Peckinpah, along with the other studly movie people; such as Lee Marvin, Ben Johnson, and the brawling Stuntmen who go with every action picture, all laying waste to the people around them, and the message is they are much more real and artistic than the stereotypical Hollywood Fop. The unintended message, well perhaps unintended, is that the rest of us out here in viewer land are simple dolts hoping their films will bring us art and understanding.

Either way, this dolt is watching ‘The Wild Bunch’ this weekend, and I’ll think of Dad.

[Piker7977 · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Stratton's book about The Wild Bunch, the reader understands that the film was mostly a labor of love for Sam Peckinpah; so was writing this book for Stratton. And if you love the film, reading this will be a joy.

This book isn't an in-depth study about the themes of the film or a superficial inquiry into the artistic motivations of Peckinpah. Instead, it's a well-done how-this-got-made history told from a loving perspective. Rather than focusing on a right place at the right time approach, Stratton's perspective relies on the right people having the right knowledge sourced from the right backgrounds that created the right vision. This works well and there is plenty to unpack that will lead to a fresh viewing after finishing the book. Plus, there is something to be said about how something so rich in content gets made. It's well beyond the will of one person as the artistic process starts as tiny germ then blossoms into a full-fledged operation.

I'm not sure if the casual film viewer or western fan will enjoy this as much as the folks who have watched The Wild Bunch multiple times regardless of version, with or without commercials, and who can recite scenes from memory. Those who love the movie will surely love the book. From one fan to another: Thank you Mr. Stratton!

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH hit movie screens 50 years ago, it revolutionized the western genre. In contrast to family-friendly films like TRUE GRIT and BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID, THE WILD BUNCH shocked and divided critics and moviegoers with its outrageous slow-motion scenes of violence. W.K. Stratton ("Dreaming of Sam Peckinpah") details how Peckinpah's seminal and visceral film originated and how the amped-up violence reflected the country's mood during the Vietnam War and college protests. Moreover, it explores ways the film challenged and overcame limitations enforced on 1960s filmmakers.

Stratton offers concise and perceptive background information on the explosive director's earlier career. When Lee Marvin dropped out of the movie shortly before filming began, the filmmakers convinced William Holden to join Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, Edmund O'Brien and Warren Oates as the aging group of outlaws and bounty hunters hoping to make one final score by robbing a U.S. army train. Peckinpah and Holden were known as blackout drinkers, but both swore off alcohol during the shooting. Stratton does an outstanding job highlighting the essential contributions of composer Jerry Fielding, cinematographer Lucien Ballard and editor Lou Lombardo.

Stratton loves THE WILD BUNCH (he succinctly writes, "I've never seen a better movie"), but this is not a gushing fan letter. Stratton's meticulous research, exhaustive interviews and scholarship all combine to create a fascinating portrait of a maverick filmmaker working at the top of his game and pushing the boundaries of moviemaking.

W.K. Stratton's perceptive research into Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH arrives in time for the film's golden anniversary.

[Bob Box · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and informative chronicle of the making of The Wild Bunch. It explores Peckinpah's dealings with Warner Bros studio, details about the cast and crew and even some history of the Mexican Revolution. As a fan of the film it explained many things about the movie I didn't know.

[Scott Gilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting details about the film being made. But too much breathless fanboyism, clumsy language, and repetitive information.

[Skip · Rating 5 out of 5]

What was so incredible about this book, aside from the inside look at Peckinpah, and the view of the making of this movie, the seed of it and how it came about, was all the movie history included. And, by the way, a well written book, as well.

[Bookreporter.com Biography & Memoir · Rating 5 out of 5]

The genre of Western films has a life as long as the industry itself. As movies blossomed in the early 20th century, the California location offered producers and directors fertile ground for creating stories of the American West. For whatever reason, silent films often chronicled cowboys as both criminals and heroes. By the 1930s, director John Ford offered the nation its first Western saga, Stagecoach, and its first cowboy star, John Wayne. Forget that Wayne was born in Iowa and was a college football player rather than a ranch hand; it was all part of the cowboy myth. Western-themed movies would be a staple for decades, and several of the all-time great Westerns can be found on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest films.

The Wild Bunch, directed by Sam Peckinpah and released in 1969, occupies position #79 on that list, several spots below Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which also appeared in theaters that year. W.K. Stratton’s THE WILD BUNCH notes that the two movies had both similar and competing production tracks as studios, producers and directors labored to get their movie into theaters first to gain whatever advantage possible in the battle for box-office dollars. Stratton’s chronicle of The Wild Bunch is a fascinating and detailed history of the making of an iconic movie that portrayed the West in a fashion far different from previous Westerns while still maintaining their natural artistic progression. Along the way, Stratton paints a portrait of movie production in an era when the industry was undergoing major transitions. Like any good history, he provides background for the making of the movie, placing it and the industry in its appropriate historical context.

The saga of The Wild Bunch is an oft-told tale of the Hollywood industry. An iconic movie is a combination of many factors, some within the creators’ control, some beyond it. The final factors that no one can control are often timing and luck. As Peckinpah toiled on his movie, he feared for his career as a director. He had been fired from at least two films in the spring of 1967 and in despair told friends, “They’re never going to let me direct again.” But while working on the script for The Wild Bunch, Peckinpah benefited from a development in an unrelated movie that also would be a major contribution to the industry.

Arthur Penn directed Bonnie and Clyde, which glamorized two criminals who in reality were ignorant and violent. Aside from the fantasy aspect, Penn made pioneering use of slow-motion and squibs, tiny devices that filmmakers employed to simulate a bullet striking a person. Prior to this, film edits showed a gunshot and then a bloodied actor. Squibs produced a bullet-like tear in an actor’s clothing and an immediate flow of fake blood, allowing for a far more realistic depiction of gun violence. Bonnie and Clyde was a financial hit and pushed the limits of film violence in Hollywood. It also afforded Penn and other directors the opportunity to explore topics that had only been hinted upon in the movie industry.

Peckinpah had seen bits and pieces of The Wild Bunch story before commencing his work. A gang of outlaws seeking one final score before they retire decide to rob a bank. The scheme is bungled, and they flee to Mexico where all hell breaks loose. The shootout scenes are violent and unlike any previously seen in Westerns. Peckinpah assembled a team for his production that included actors William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Edmund O’Brien and Robert Ryan. The violence of their roles in the film, unlike any they had played before, makes The Wild Bunch cinematic magic.

Stratton’s account is mesmerizing. Countless details of the movie industry and The Wild Bunch are included in the fascinating history he presents. It was an era when the film industry was changing from a studio-controlled vehicle to one governed by individual actors and other artistic talent. THE WILD BUNCH is essential reading for film buffs everywhere. It has been reported that Mel Gibson will direct a remake of The Wild Bunch. Read this book first, as some sequels never do the original justice.

Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

[John Sibley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wild Bunch: a Machiavellian book and movie

"The Wild Bunch" is a Machiavellian movie and so is W.K.Statton's book. The word comes from the Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli who wrote: "The Prince" in the 1500s that encourages "the end justifies the means" or as Malcolm X states "by any means necessary". I was outraged after seeing the movie about how critics said my sci-fi thriller "Bodyslick" was full of gratuitous violence. The violence in my book was mild in comparison. That said---I was riveted in my seat as I watched a cinematic masterpiece of a gory, violent, masochistic, blood bath as a rite-of-passage for bounty hunters led by Pike. A morality tale that is not concerned with ex nihilo or the beauty of the sunset of the old west or Mexico. The movie and Stratton's book is a reflection of the existential violence Peckinpah saw while serving in the Marine Corps in China, where he witnessed bloody combat between Maoists and Kuomintang forces after WWII. The rapid-fire- hand cranked-Gatling gun scene where it spewed out a smoking barrel 6--10 long --200 rounds per minute in .58 caliber bullets. As I sat in the theater I grinded my teeth as the Mephistophelian odor of the bullet-ridden carnage seems to float off the screen was nauseating horror: it was like looking at a photo of the charred burnt body of a lynched Blackman in the 1900s. The howl of dogs as Chinese boils them alive at a wet market in Wuhan. The butchering and squirming of pigs at an Iowa meatpacking plant. The murder of an innocent black man jogging captured on video.
Peckinpah's 1969 western is not for the faint of heart. The movie is centered around an aging outlaw gang in society that has one last adventure bordered on two states of Texas and Mexico. A reactionary group of outlaws who are terrified of modernity. A modern world that is slowly re-shaping their identity and being. Although the movie is set many years ago, you can see the same visceral, violent, gory scenes in the recent Tarantino classic "Once upon a time in Hollywood", especially the scene with 'Brandy" the Pit Bull as she ravenously cannibalized the genitals of the Manson male follower. You can also see the Peckinpah influence in Mel Gibson's brilliant and grisly movie" Hacksaw Ridge" which equals Peckinpah cinematic scenes of dread, gloom, heroism, and the atmosphere of death. The movies of Peckinpah, Tarantino, and Gibson all orbit the themes of love, extreme violence, class, and culture.
The violence in the "The Wild Bunch" is a reflection of the horrors of the American Vietnam War. Charred Napalm bodies, headless soldiers corpses from bombs, mines and grenades, legless torsos, raped Vietnamese women. The My Lai Massacre was the mass murder of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians by U.S. troops In Son Tinh District, South Vietnam, in March 1968. Between 347 and 504 unarmed people were killed by U.S. Army soldiers from Company C: victims included men, women, children, and infants. "The Wild Bunch" was released on June 18, 1969. The irony is that the Vietnam war was the first telecast "Live" on T.V.---you could look at the carnage while eating dinner and gulping down a beer. The war kind of prepared moviegoers for the existential violence of Peckinpah's genius.
His movies like Tarantino and Gibson are predominantly male movies saturated by the obsessions of the good old days when men were men. When there was no 'fluid' or 'metro males' where there was no neutral washrooms or Dennis Rodman athletes wearing a wedding dress to promote a book. When there was no me-too-movement. Peckinpah's movies are an unflinching indictment of PC culture. Of men laying on the grass smooching with their dogs. A culture where you would never see a father let his daughter put makeup on him and dress him like a trannie. And don't forget the cowboys in "Brokeback Mountain". "The Wild Bunch" is about revenge, conquest as well as frontier justice. Pike and his posse became heroic anti-heroes because they rejected the empirical philosophy for how things work but chose the path of redemption through an honorable warrior's death.
Finis

[Zella Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed how this well-written, engaging book went into the creative process behind one of my favorite movies.

I've read some other accounts of the filming, but they tend to really emphasize just a handful of major personalities (typically Peckinpah and the bigger-name actors attached to the movie). I found it refreshing to see so much time spent on the broader historical context of both the 1960s, when it was made, and the Mexican Revolution, when it was set, and that a lot of space was also devoted to talking about lesser-known performers and crew and their experiences on the set, including the largely Mexican supporting cast and local crew.

As another example of overlooked history that gets to shine here, the infamous bridge dynamiting scene is still widely considered one of the best stunts ever performed in movie history, but most other accounts of the making of the movie don't interview the stunt guys. (Maybe because they were so wild the rest of the cast and crew was afraid of them? That's something else I learned from this book. They apparently demolished the house they were put in during filming while drinking and fighting each other and had to be separated.) Hell, even the Peckinpah experts who talk during the film's commentary--which is otherwise quite insightful--don't even bother to know the names of the stuntmen or talk about them as individuals when they gush about the scene. This book is the only thing I've found with any significant interviews with any of them.

I did knock off a star for a few sloppy errors, which surprised me in an otherwise well-researched book. The most egregious is a discussion of one of Peckinpah's lesser-known TV films that repeats the incorrect cast list from IMDB. Just going to YouTube to watch it would dispel the identification of L.Q. Jones as the deputy, but the author repeats the error, which indicates to me he just pulled the cast list from there without questioning it or familiarity with the movie.

Speaking of L.Q. Jones, his anecdotes in this book just confirmed my impression of him from other interviews as being the person with the best hilariously awful gossip about 1960s Hollywood. He needs to write his own memoir and spill all the tea.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some books you just fly right through. Whereas I’m struggling to knock out pages of Dan Simmons’s DROOD, W. K. Stratton’s THE WILD BUNCH: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film zips right along. There may not be a lot of meat here (I’ve not read the Sam Peckinpah biography IF THEY MOVE... KILL ‘EM), but Stratton does a good job of capturing the mood on set of the various players involved in the making of this classic western, and relaying some interesting stories.

At times the book has some of the same problems I encountered in Geoff Dyer’s ZONA: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room, in that the author may be too attached to the subject to be completely objective. But like Dyer and his passion for Tarkovsky’s STALKER, Stratton’s enthusiasm makes one want to pop in the Blu-ray of The Wild Bunch as soon as possible.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stratton writes about the making of the film The Wild Bunch, the time period surrounding and influencing the making of the film and of course the director Sam Peckinpah and his new darker version of the western genre. This is definitely for film buffs and people who have seen the film. I enjoyed it.

[David Greer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine if someone casually mentioned that they accidentally used live ammunition during a scene in John Wick.

[Christian Hamaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A highly readable assemblage of various stories about the making of one of the greatest Westerns - one of the greatest films - ever made, this book owes a deep debt to earlier books about Peckinpah. (The author, at the beginning of his acknowledgements, makes clear his dependence on Peckinpah scholars like Paul Seydor, who, along with others, happily provided assistance to Stratton.) As valuable as the material is here, and as easily as it all goes down (lots of short sections allowed me, a slow reader, to chip away at the book without feeling oppressed by its length or fearful I simply wouldn't complete it), there's a too-much-ness that settles in during the back half of the book. It never stalls, but it does begin to drag a bit before several strong concluding chapters covering the film's well-known bridge explosion and final shootout.

[F.C. Schaefer]

Right up front, I have to say that I am a massive fan of THE WILD BUNCH, a movie I consider to be in the same league as CITIZEN KANE, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, and THE GODFATHER as among the finest American films ever made. W.K. Stratton, the author of THE WILD BUNCH: SAM PECKINPAH, A REVOLUTION IN HOLLYWOOD, & THE MAKING OF A LEGENDARY FILM is a huge fan as well. And Stratton’s book is certainly written for other fans like me, but I think those unfamiliar with the details of how this classic western came to be, and why it has endured, will learn a lot. Upon its release in the summer of 1969, THE WILD BUNCH caused an uproar with its depiction of violence, both in its opening scene, where a group of aging outlaws attempt to rob a railroad office in 1913 Texas, to its finale, where the surviving members of the gang try to redeem themselves by saving a fellow outlaw from a sadistic Mexican general, taking on a small army in the process. The use of squibs to replicate bullet wounds, a new technological advance, took movie carnage to new level, and not everyone was pleased. The film was savaged by many critics, embraced by others (including a young Roger Ebert) and hotly debated in a way very few movies are anymore. THE WILD BUNCH was controversial, it made an impact, and its legacy has been enormous.

Stratton’s book does cover some familiar ground for anyone who has read the works of Paul Seydor, along with David Weddle’s in-depth biography of Sam Peckinpah. What Stratton does is give us a deep dive into how THE WILD BUNCH went from a movie stuntman’s idea in the early ‘60s, to a written screenplay shopped around to studios, to how it landed in the hands of Sam Peckinpah, a director who had endured several years of being on a Hollywood blacklist because he couldn’t get along with producers, to a full-fledged production on location in northern Mexico with the enthusiastic backing of the head of Warner Brothers. The star of the book, of course, is Peckinpah, a director with demons, not to mention a drinking problem. Already middle-aged, Peckinpah knew this film was his last chance to be someone of consequence in Hollywood. Like many great directors, Peckinpah led his crew and actors like a general leading an army into battle. He could be tough to get along with, but he knew how to get the best out of everyone, and possessed a clear vision of what he wanted up on the screen; if he didn’t know how to achieve it, he would figure out a way. But Stratton makes it more than just the story of the colorful director. The contributions of Roy Sickner and Walon Green to the original script are documented, especially how Green worked the Mexican Revolution of 1910 into the story. Cliff Coleman, Chalo Gonzales, Gordon Dawson, Phil Feldman, and Kenneth Heyman, not well known names, but they each played pivotal roles in the making of the film, and this book gives them their due. Stratton offers up thumbnail sketches of actors William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, and Edmond O’Brien, who, like the characters they played, were considered past their prime, but would give, under Peckinpah’s direction, the best performances of their careers. We get insights into Warren Oates and Ben Johnson, both of whom are revered today by western fans, not to mention Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones. They would become known as the “Peckinpah stock company.” Stratton also gives space to the members of the Mexican film-making industry who played a vital part in the production, not the least of them being legendary director Emilio Fernandez, the fearsome “El Indio” himself. And I do commend Stratton for spotlighting the various Mexican actresses who played small (this really wasn’t a woman’s picture), but still necessary roles in the story. More than anything, I enjoyed reading about the creative process, and how it worked during the production, which seems to have included the improvising of key lines of dialogue on the set. The “Battle of the Bloody Porch,” along with the heist of the guns from the train, and blowing of the bridge across the Rio Grande, are among the most memorable scenes in movie history, and how they came about is the story of creative people and seasoned professionals meshing their talents in a way that is almost pure magic. So too are the ways Peckinpah worked various themes into the film, not the least of which is man’s seemingly bottomless capacity for violence and cruelty, along with the dehumanization brought on by modern technology, and the clinging to of a sense of honor, even among ruthless killers.

At just over 300 pages, Stratton’s book is concise; he packs a lot into each page. The chapters are short, most of them vignettes centering on some particular aspect of, or player in, the production. I especially liked the story of how a Mexican-American family from the Mid-West, who were stranded in Mexico after running out of money while visiting relatives, were given jobs by Peckinpah on the movie set to earn enough to get back home. One criticism I can make is that this book could have used a stronger narrative, and woven its story in a more seamless style. The book is both history and commentary, which might confuse some readers when it switches from one to the other. Some of the facts asserted are clearly nothing more than gossip, and at times Stratton does leave himself open to being accusations of being a fan boy. And in the end, I think he does justice to a movie that, in the years since its release, has become beloved by cinephiles born long after 1969. Its impact on other film-makers has been considerable. In many ways Peckinpah’s THE WILD BUNCH is to American film what Kurosawa’s THE SEVEN SAMURAI is to Japan. And after reading this book, I’ve come to the conclusion that the story of the making of THE WILD BUNCH would make a great script, and a film, in its own right, working perfectly as a companion to Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suspect that as long as there have been movies, there have been books about movies - books about the art of the cinema, the history of film, the works of specific actors and directors, studies of particular genres. I think that books devoted to a single film are a more recent development. And I would guess that the movies that receive this treatment are rarely the most routine Abbott and Costello Meet Solomon Grundy type of film. They are, rather, films like Citizen Kane, The Wizard of Oz, or The Rules of the Game, films that are in some way distinguished. And that takes us to the very fine 1969 film The Wild Bunch.

The Wild Bunch is a Western, set in Texas and Mexico in 1913. The "Bunch" are vicious outlaws, making a living as criminals. After a botched robbery at the beginning of the film in which some of the gang are killed, there are only six men left. They flee the United States and become involved in the Mexican revolution. At the end of the film, only one of them is still alive; a former member of the gang, who has been helping to track down his former comrades, also survives.

I have seen the entire film only once, fifty years ago when it first opened. I was extremely impressed...well, let me be honest - I loved it. I can not claim that I remember the film in detail though.

W. K. Stratton, author of this book, also loves the film; "I've never seen a better movie," he writes. In this book he tells of the making of the film from its inception on and discusses at length many of the people involved in the long process. He makes it clear that a film is not made just by a director, a photographer, and some actors. In this particular film, hundreds of people took part. At the helm was the director, Sam Peckinpah, a belligerent alcoholic who made some beautiful films, including The Wild Bunch.

The full title of the book is The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film. The "revolution in Hollywood" was principally about making violence seem as terrible and bloody as it is in real life. Films had always shown violence, but not this graphically. Not long before this film was made, Arthur Penn's film Bonnie and Clyde showed detailed, bloody scenes of violence, but the amount of that was more limited. The Wild Bunch was soaked in blood, but it was a Western drama, never a horror movie with gratuitous gore.

The details of the production and of the lives of the folks involved are fascinating. There is also a substantial amount of information about the historical back-story of the place and time in which the film is set.

But I feel that this good book could have been a better one. In my opinion, there are flaws that might have been fixed. First, the book would profit greatly by having a summary of the plot. There is a brief, twelve-paragraph one on Wikipedia; something like that would be very helpful for readers not completely familiar with the plot.

Secondly, although the information can be found on the internet, I believe it would help to have brief summaries of the lives of the people who worked on the film after the film was completed. Stratton does this for a few people, such as the main actresses from the film (who all had relatively minor parts) and Albert Dekker, presumably because he died while the film was still being shot (and because Dekker had a truly lurid demise). This could easily have been done for others as well.

Next is an issue that might really be unsuitable for a discussion of this particular film, with its high level of violence. Stratton seems very impressed by people involved in the making of the film who consume large quantities of alcoholic beverages and by those who are personally violent. Recounting the sad details of the death of William Holden might be a corrective for this. (If this actually is in the book and I just missed it, I apologize.)

And last, The Wild Bunch really is an excellent film, but despite the comment from the composer Jerry Fielding that this is an "almost perfect picture," it is not quite as good as Stratton wants it to be. For example, Stratton states that "William Holden, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, and Edmond O'Brien all did their best work in the picture." If this said, "some of their best work," I would have no problem with it. All of these actors have given a lot of performances that I have not seen, but even so, I think this is an exaggeration. See, for example, Robert Ryan's performance as Larry Slade in The Iceman Cometh. (Admittedly though, this might be my favorite performance that I have seen by William Holden.)

However, it would be hard to argue with Mr. Stratton's passionate and touching conclusion:

As a work of art, The Wild Bunch deals with major themes: honor, betrayal, love, death and dying, the end of the American West, revolution, repression, people who have outlived their times, the dread of living in the age of technology. It ranks with the great movies of all time: The Rules of the Game, Battleship Potemkin, La Strada, The 400 Blows, The Searchers and The Grapes of Wrath, The Bicycle Thief, Rashomon, L'Avventura,and of course Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil. The Wild Bunch is totally engaging. On a cold autumn night outside Denver a couple of years ago, I streamed it on my iPad. Even in that small format, The Wild Bunch played beautifully. All too soon, it was over. Edmond O'Brien appears and utters, "It ain't like it used to be. But it'll do," followed by laughter and the strains of "Los Golondrinas," the song that I've requested be played at my own memorial service.

I've never seen a better movie.

[Michelle Hanchett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great subject, spoiled by author's bias and limitations



This book provides some interesting information about Peckinpah and the movie, but the author's shallow progressivism and historical ignorance make this book an incoherent mess.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author W. K. Stratton sets out to lay down the behind the scenes around Sam Peckinpah’s greatest film “The Wild Bunch,” and teach us a few things along the way, most notably a Cliff’s Notes version of Mexican history leading up to the events around the film. For the most part, Stratton is successful getting the point across, but after reading such an exhaustively detailed “making of” book about “2001: A Space Odyssey” last year, “The Wild Bunch” pales in comparison. And no fault to Stratton’s research. Where the book stumbles is its leaning heavily on anecdotes and less on a point-to-point narrative profiling the making of the film.

For no reason that I can tell, the book is broken into four or five parts, each containing several very short chapters that read like longer versions of just interesting trivia. You might think there’s room to grow, but Stratton manages to pull this off for 307 pages. Several chapters focus on the backgrounds of several of the main cast—okay, fine, but tell me more about the “passion and poetry” everyone goes on about regarding Peckinpah. Oh, well, maybe I should just read THAT book instead.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad read at all, I just had different expectations that simply weren’t met. I learned a great deal, especially how life on “The Wild Bunch” was for the two months of principle photography. But what I hoped to find was more detail into the drama behind one of the greatest, paradigm-shifting movies ever made. And maybe like a lot of other paradigm-shifters, perhaps everything has already been said.

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

All books about how a movie gets made should be this good. THE WILD BUNCH has been a favorite of mine since I saw it at the Cinereama Dome in 1995, and I was always curious as to how it got made. I found a piece of information here, and a piece there... some greater than others.
WK Stratton had the same curiosity I did, and he found a lot more pieces than I did, and thankfully, he put all those pieces, and more, in a single place, and we, the readers, are all the better for it.
We get the grass roots of the project, how the movie emerged from ideas stuntmen would have, and how Walon Green was told stories of Revolution era Mexico from some of the generals that fought it... to studio mechanics of sale and ownership transitions, to the very involved making of portion to description LS of editing to... it's all here.
Stratton did his research and all a reader can do is marvel at the detail, and Stratton's ability to make it understandable to a reader that may or may not have an insight into storytelling or filmmaking as a whole.
I wish some the the film's afterlife had been covered- the 1995 re-release has a story or two worth telling, but it doesn't hurt the book at all.
The book also benefits from short intense chapters so it can be picked up and enjoyed in moments.
In short, this is a great book about a great movie and I'm going to watch THE WILD BUNCH again.

[Al Cibiades · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read for fans of Peckinpah movies and 'The Wild Bunch' in particularStratton is an enthusiastic admirer of the movie "I've never seen a better movie") which he argues "ranks with greatest movies of all time" along with "Batttleship Potemkin" "Citizen Kane" "Rashomon" etc.
Stratton provides an insightful account of the making of the movie from its very origins as a stuntman's sketchy storyline, Peckinpah's acquisition of the storyline to his ongoing battles with studios to get the film made. But most of the book is an account of the actual filming on location and the tensions associated with that.
Stratton spends a lot of time detailing the contribution of Mexicans to the movie - from acting to music - and argues that the film rejected standard Hollywood stereotypes about Mexicans. Here I have to disagree: to my mind the movie largely reinforces Hollywood stereotypes about Mexicans: deceitful, murderous, brutal. I also disagree with Stratton's argument that the movie rejects Hollywood sentimentality. To my mind the film's abiding weakness is in fact its sentimentality, exemplified by its overuse of the lugubrious song "Los Golondrinas".
However I throughly recommend this fascinating book and appreciated its many insights and revelations into Peckinpah's personality and the making of a great western.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific! If you like behind-the-scenes books and/or are a fan of The Wild Bunch this book is for you.
I won't bore you with another review as there are plenty of very fine ones already written here.
The rest of this has nothing really to do with this book it's just a self-indulgent missive.
But...I want to say that this is the second film that I'm a fan of that was first developed with Lee Marvin in mind as the lead (the writing actually funded partially because of his interest). I'm a HUGE fan of Lee Marvin and his selection as Pike Bishop was a great idea and I have no doubt he would have been great. Unfortunately he had just filmed The Professionals and thought the two characters are too similar. As it turned out William Holden did an outstanding job and the film was/is a masterpiece.
The other film that was written for Lee Marvin but went to another actor was The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. That was written specifically for LM but Paul Newman got whiff of it and used his considerable clout to take it over. I always thought JRB was an OK movie and just barely missed being very good but I never knew why. Then I read Point Blank by Dwayne Epstein and knew why - it would have been a much better movie with Marvin as JRB! IMHO.
Thanking you for your indulgence.

[Douglas Fugate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is the story of the making of the movie – The Wild Bunch by Sam Peckinpah. Included are stories of the actors, producers, and the multitude of additional personnel required to make, not a just a motion picture, but a CLASSIC motion picture. The actors and the director felt it as they were filming.

Read how Sam learned his trade, made and lost a respectable position in the industry. See how this picture saved William Holden’s career and how it propelled other actors in their careers. Discover how this one movie helped change movie making and caused a shake-up (revolution?) in Hollywood.

For those who have seen the picture, this work vividly recreate scenes, dialogue and possibly previous feelings from past viewing. For students of film or those interested in filmmaking, this work will be a wonderful study in the art of filmmaking.

W.K. Stratton has compiled reviews from both the 1969 release and those 20 and 30 years later. He interviewed actors and various personnel who worked on the film. He recorded their feelings both when they were making the film and years later as they look back at how that experience influenced their lives and careers.

The book, as the movie, will be with you long after the last page.

A Great Read!