Sam Peckinpah went to the extreme with violence in his action-Western hybrid THE WILD BUNCH. The late 60's only had a handful of violent action flix not unlike this one (others include BULLITT, COOGAN'S BLUFF, and BONNIE AND CLYDE), and audiences and critics alike weren't quite ready for relentless action. Sounds quite primitive to people of this generation, but THE WILD BUNCH made a big contribution to the new wave of thriller movies that paved the way for even bigger additions later on. THE WILD BUNCH concerns a ragtag gang of aging crooks (led by William Holden and Ernest Borgnine) who find it hard to accept the changing times as the Old West suddenly became the New West, filled with automatic machine guns and cars rather than scatter-types and horses. The gang, looking to acheive another score, have to learn to accept the changes as the take up an offer to steal guns for some Mexican revolutions. At the same time, they try to stay one step ahead of a former member of their faction (Robert Ryan).
Review of The Wild Bunch
