Fascinating as a document of where the western could go as viewed by the next generation of filmmakers emerging at the end of the 60s; the editing, the view of Mexico, the lack of an 'other', the deconstruction of the stereotypes that the Western had given American filmmakers. Still, that doesn't save it from having FAR too many scenes in which people laugh long and loud, the impossible-to-follow shootouts, the sheer number of times people are shot in the shoulder and the unusually sloppy pacing.
Unforgiven did this twice as well in half the time.
A mixed bag, but it has its moments. I really like the shootouts and the scene with the train robbery, which is really suspenseful. The rest is kind of boring, though.
Gunfights are destroyed by the cutting rhythm of a madman. The train scene and what followed was cool, but also too unfocused. If it had shown better where people are in the scene, it would be ten times more effective. Holden is solid, movie boring.
It's a shame because if it wasn't for some major flaws it would be a prime contender for the best western ever. The pacing is a bit odd, and the character development is mostly superficial at best. The action is top notch. It tries to be funny at some points but if you as a viewer are sitting there asking "Am I supposed to be laughing at this?" Then the movie is doing it wrong. It does feature some off the wall flashback sequences and slo-mo that would be right at home in an amateur high school movie project. Like I said, clean up the sore points and add some better character development with better pacing and it would be the bee's knees.
I agree with everyone that thinks this is overrated. I love westerns and some are among my personal favourites. This one is not. It is, as some commentators point out, uneven and at times boring. The bank robbery in the beginning, the train heist in the middle and the last shoot-out are good stuff but because the stuff in between are dull, I eventually got bored. One of the key problems in my opinion is the lack of iconic, tough characters in the main roles that could have carried the movie. Peckinpah opted for strong actors (several has Academy Awards to their names) rather than the charisma and spectacle of Western legends such as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Lee van Cleef. The guys in the movie seem to be a bit chubby, uncomfortable and tired. Now, I get that that is part of the point..... Their era being over, age catching up and doom closing in and so forth, but for examples on how to pull that off, check out Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven (or a modern movie such as Gran Torino). William Holden and Ernest Borgnin just seem.... out of place.
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Comments 1 - 15 of 26
Skyscore
http://www.afisha.ru/movie/170883/review/147126/nicolaskrizan
death of the old westhttps://beyond1001movies.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/backtrack-the-wild-bunch-1969/
devilsadvocado
No substance, all flair.gregmnewman
A big disappointmentReVision
I expected alot more from this, i personally think it's overrated.rwj
The train scene was pretty intelligent but the rest was just avarage boring western 6/10dpka
Disappointment!radoslav1948
The ending scene saved the movie for me. Despite that a decent performance of the great Bill Holden.TalkingElvish
Fascinating as a document of where the western could go as viewed by the next generation of filmmakers emerging at the end of the 60s; the editing, the view of Mexico, the lack of an 'other', the deconstruction of the stereotypes that the Western had given American filmmakers. Still, that doesn't save it from having FAR too many scenes in which people laugh long and loud, the impossible-to-follow shootouts, the sheer number of times people are shot in the shoulder and the unusually sloppy pacing.Unforgiven did this twice as well in half the time.
Forrester
A mixed bag, but it has its moments. I really like the shootouts and the scene with the train robbery, which is really suspenseful. The rest is kind of boring, though.george4mon
most of it was boring but it has its moments and the ending was goodStigAnder
Gunfights are destroyed by the cutting rhythm of a madman. The train scene and what followed was cool, but also too unfocused. If it had shown better where people are in the scene, it would be ten times more effective. Holden is solid, movie boring.AfterTheParade
One of my all time favorite movies and: /sign @ abemadDisneyStitch
It's a shame because if it wasn't for some major flaws it would be a prime contender for the best western ever. The pacing is a bit odd, and the character development is mostly superficial at best. The action is top notch. It tries to be funny at some points but if you as a viewer are sitting there asking "Am I supposed to be laughing at this?" Then the movie is doing it wrong. It does feature some off the wall flashback sequences and slo-mo that would be right at home in an amateur high school movie project. Like I said, clean up the sore points and add some better character development with better pacing and it would be the bee's knees.Zeltaebar
I agree with everyone that thinks this is overrated. I love westerns and some are among my personal favourites. This one is not. It is, as some commentators point out, uneven and at times boring. The bank robbery in the beginning, the train heist in the middle and the last shoot-out are good stuff but because the stuff in between are dull, I eventually got bored. One of the key problems in my opinion is the lack of iconic, tough characters in the main roles that could have carried the movie. Peckinpah opted for strong actors (several has Academy Awards to their names) rather than the charisma and spectacle of Western legends such as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Lee van Cleef. The guys in the movie seem to be a bit chubby, uncomfortable and tired. Now, I get that that is part of the point..... Their era being over, age catching up and doom closing in and so forth, but for examples on how to pull that off, check out Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven (or a modern movie such as Gran Torino). William Holden and Ernest Borgnin just seem.... out of place.Showing items 1 – 15 of 26