The Wild Bunch
Just finished Sam Peckinpah's epic The Wild Bunch. I have to say, though this movie is famous for the amount of violence it contains, I don't think it's really the amount of violence that one notices. I mean, any of the Terminator movies has much more violence than this one. Rather, it's the way the violence is filmed. It's at once stylized and realistic; during the opening massacre in a small town, the camera slows down to show women, children, horses being slaughtered, capturing the bullets moving through their bodies. That's the stuff that really gets ya'. The movie is also graced by a number of quite disturbing images, such as the children torturing scorpions during the first few moments of the film.
I'm not quite sure what to think of the main characters--they're clearly supposed to be "sympathetic" in some sense, i.e., they are supposed to display the last vestiges of Old West-style honor, or something like that. But the film nicely shows that they're not unambiguous characters. They treat women horribly. They have no qualms about murdering people that get in their way. In the way that the movie depicts the "end of the old west era", I think the movie itself could be read as a kind of "end of the old west movie"; reinforcing the idea that the men we are looking at, though they are "sympathetic", are also monstrous.
There's a nice bit of dialog I like. It parallels the famous dispute between Immanuel Kant and Benjamin Constant on the bindingness of truth-telling. (I'm paraphrasing here.)
Dutch: I can't believe he would kill Freddy.
Pike: What would you have done in his place? He gave his word.
Dutch: HE GAVE IT TO A RAILROAD MAN!
Pike: IT'S STILL HIS WORD!
Dutch: It don't matter that it's his word; it's WHO HE GAVE IT TO!
I like that. I think I'm on Dutch's side on this one, just as I usually side against Kant.
I'm not quite sure what to think of the main characters--they're clearly supposed to be "sympathetic" in some sense, i.e., they are supposed to display the last vestiges of Old West-style honor, or something like that. But the film nicely shows that they're not unambiguous characters. They treat women horribly. They have no qualms about murdering people that get in their way. In the way that the movie depicts the "end of the old west era", I think the movie itself could be read as a kind of "end of the old west movie"; reinforcing the idea that the men we are looking at, though they are "sympathetic", are also monstrous.
There's a nice bit of dialog I like. It parallels the famous dispute between Immanuel Kant and Benjamin Constant on the bindingness of truth-telling. (I'm paraphrasing here.)
Dutch: I can't believe he would kill Freddy.
Pike: What would you have done in his place? He gave his word.
Dutch: HE GAVE IT TO A RAILROAD MAN!
Pike: IT'S STILL HIS WORD!
Dutch: It don't matter that it's his word; it's WHO HE GAVE IT TO!
I like that. I think I'm on Dutch's side on this one, just as I usually side against Kant.
posted by dd0031 at 11:27 PM
4 Comments:
right-o. havent seen that one, but i've started my own blog thanks to you, bastard. www.wherethetarantulalives.blogspot.com
these stupids made me start my own page just to be able to comment on yours. whatever. i'll show them. by making a horrrible blog that never gets updated and no one reads. ha.
Speaking of, I KANT take it anymore!
Yeah.
Actually, I like "The Wild Bunch" a lot. Rober Ebert wrote about it in his great movies series, too. All that and Ernest Borgnine, too!
I can’t believe you’re just NOW seeing The Wild Bunch. But whatever, it’s a good movie, if a bit long. I like the very end where you see the old dudes who won’t accept that the days of the old west are over, and go out on another adventure.
I saw “Badlands” on Saturday…it’s a 1973 Terrence Malick movie (one of his three movies—Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line). It has Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek in it, and is very interesting tonally. My favorite movies are ones that seem realistic in their pacing and dialogue and, well, just realistic overall. I guess it makes it easier to “believe”, or rather, suspend your disbelief. Anyway, it’s pretty dark, but there’s so much to like about this movie. Very mature and intelligent. You won’t soon forget it. In short, add it to your list Dale.
I actually have seen "Badlands". I really really dig that movie. There's something I like about the "charming killer" motif.
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