Cinema Shame: The Wild Bunch (1969)

Four years ago I created a watch list for 2014. These were the films that I hadn't seen yet that I wanted to make a point to watch that year. The Wild Bunch (1969) was one of those films. Unfortunately I never got to it that year or since. So when Jay of Cinema Shame prompted bloggers to submit their Cinema Shame statements for 2018 I added this one to mine!

Directed by Sam Peckinpah, The Wild Bunch (1969) follows a band of outlaws as they seek out one big heist. The year is 1913. Pike Bishop (William Holden) leads his "wild bunch", consisted Dutch Engstrom (Ernest Borgnine), Lyle Gorch (Warren Oates), Angel (Jaime Sanchez), Tector Gorch (Ben Johnson) and others to a dessert town to rob the railroad office's bank. What Pike and his men don't know is that this was a lure created by the railroad, Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan) and his own band of bounty hunters to trap the wild bunch. The robbery goes south and ends in a deadly shoot-out with the wild bunch getting away. When they discover their loot was nothing but bags of steel washers, they seek out another opportunity for a big pay day to make up for this failure. They head for the border and pick up old Freddie Sykes (Edmond O'Brien) along the way. Pike's past begins to haunt him. He's tired of this life and wants one last big heist so he can settle down. But his former partner Deke has made it his mission to capture Pike no matter what it takes. As the two bands cross the border into Mexico, a long chase filled with more heists, lots of booze, women, guns and violence.

"Being sure is my business." - William Holden as Pike Bishop

The Wild Bunch is a movie that revels in violence. Right from the very beginning when we see children feeding scorpions to fire ants, we realize that this movie is going to be tough as nails. In a post Hays Code world, this movie tested the waters and set the standards for increased violence and blood shed on film. Ernest Borgnine once said, "I made The Wild Bunch, which was the beginning of the splattering of blood and everything else. But there was a moral behind it. The moral was that, by golly, bad guys got it. That was it." The film was highly controversial at it's time. It won praise and disdain from those who were in awe of the filmmaking techniques and the performances and others who were appalled by its graphic and relentless representation of violence.

Maybe that's why The Wild Bunch is a mixed bag for me. I can appreciate the artistry of this film but am also repulsed by its violence. The cast is superb and includes some of my favorites like Borgnine, Ryan and O'Brien. I marveled at the excellent filmmaking and on location shooting. The film felt real to me. Like I was in Mexico right alongside the wild bunch on this outrageous adventure. It's not a film I feel the need to watch again but one I'm glad I saw. The Wild Bunch does make me want to watch more of Peckinpah's work. He received his one and only Academy Award nomination, in the Original Screenplay category, for this film.

Have you seen The Wild Bunch (1969)? What did you think of it? Tell me your thoughts below.
Stay tuned for more reviews or quick takes on my Cinema Shame movies for 2018!

The Way West (1967)

Traveling from the Missouri River to the valleys of Oregon, being a pioneer on the Oregon Trail was a hard life. The journey was so treacherous there is no guarantee you'd make it. The motivation of an ultimate reward, a new home and a chance at prosperity, drove many to take that chance. Led by Senator Tadlock (Kirk Douglas), a group of pioneers head forth through what will be a difficult quest. Tadlock, a widower with a young son, has big plans for Oregon. He's drawn out a map of what his new city will look like and works tirelessly to make that vision a reality. Tadlock must find a way to lead his group of pioneers through uncharted territory. He hires a scout, Dick Summers (Robert Mitchum), a man of nature who knows the many dangers of the terrain ahead and can speak the language of the local Native American tribes. In Tadlock's group is a motley cast of characters including Lije Evans (Richard Widmark), the emotional leader when Tadlock gets too caught up in his own devices, his wife Becky Evans (Lola Albright) and son Brownie (Michael McGrevey). Then there is the rough-n-tough McBee clan, Mr. McBee (Harry Carey Jr.), Mrs. McBee (Connie Sawyer) and their daughter Mercy McBee (Sally Field), a young girl on the verge of womanhood. Then there are the newlyweds Johnnie (Michael Whitney) and Amanda Mack (Katherine Justice) who have had a rough start on their marriage. These pioneers must stick together on this journey even when the goings get tough which they will time and time again.

The Way West (1967) is an epic Western drama based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by A.B. Guthrie, Jr. This is the second story in Guthrie's trilogy. The first book, The Big Sky was adapted in 1952 and the third book These Thousand Hills was adapted in 1959. The Way West was independently financed through producer Harold Hecht's production company and distributed through United Artists. Hecht produced several acclaimed films including Marty (1955), Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and Birdman of Alcatraz (1962). He ran Norma Productions with Burt Lancaster before striking it out on his own. In the 1960s, Hecht was one of the top independent producers of his day and The Way West was his swan song. It's his last credited role as a producer. He went on to work on one more picture, Ulzana's Raid (1972), before leaving the business for good.

I didn't know much, if anything about The Way West before I watched it recently. It's become an obscurity in the long history of classic Westerns. Director Andrew V. McLaglen, who had studied under the tutelage of William Wellman and John Ford among others, was considered one of the last great director of Westerns. He had extensive experience directing this genre for both film and television. Unfortunately, The Way West was a commercial failure. It couldn't deliver based on expectations. For an epic Western with a trio of big name headliners, it should have been a guaranteed hit. I believe the film suffers from too many cooks in the kitchen. When the film was in the editing process, United Artists demanded that McLaglen cut the first 22 minutes of the film to make it shorter. McLaglen felt this hurt the picture because audiences were not properly introduced to the three main characters. I felt that the beginning was rather abrupt and there wasn't much time to learn about Tadlock, Summers and Lije. Within a couple minutes we're introduced to all three and then the story kicks into gear. There's little to no character building and this is a crucial misstep as we need to feel connected to these characters to want to follow them on their long journey.

The Way West has garnered mixed reviews and I've read quite a few scathing ones online. I don't feel like this is a bad picture. Even with the abrupt beginning, I found it to be quite an enjoyable film. And this is coming from someone who doesn't like Westerns (I make exceptions for all Mitchum Westerns.) I wish Widmark had more to do in the story but Mitchum and Douglas play to their strengths. Mitchum and Douglas worked together in Out of the Past (1947) and The Way West was their only other film working together (they appear in The List of Adrian Messenger (1962) but not in the same scenes.) Director McLaglen said about Mitchum and Douglas:

 "They were poles apart in personality. Bob was an easygoing guy, and Kirk was more volatile. But there was never a feud. I felt within myself that Kirk probably wasn't one of Bob's favorite guys, but you'd never know it. Bob wasn't the kind of guy that goes spouting off with that kind of stuff."

According to Mitchum biographer Lee Server, Mitchum was offered the choice of the scout or the part of Lije. When Mitchum couldn't make a decision, the filmmakers made it for him. The scout suited him best. Server said, "Mitchum's role was a custom fit, one more lonely, stoic outsider turning his back on civilization by the fade-out." Kirk Douglas supposedly was a pain in the neck during the making of the film. He wanted to control and other cast members remember him being rude to them. But it's hard to imagine the film without him. His off-screen personality suited the on-screen character of Tadlock.

The Way West was Sally Field's film debut. It also features character actor Jack Elam as the stowaway preacher Weatherby. Mitchum's brother John Mitchum plays Little Henry and Patric Knowles plays Captain Grant. Connie Sawyer, who plays Mrs. McBee, passed away last month at the age of 105.

The film was shot on location in Eugene and Bend, Oregon with absolutely no studio work whatsoever. It feels real and the cast and crew went through their own hardships to film in the wilderness. Jack Elam said "the whole picture was one tough son of a gun."

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The Way West (1967) is available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Kino Lorber.  The screencaps above are from the previous DVD edition. Kino Lorber's Blu-Ray is stunning and the quality has improved significantly.

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Thank you to Kino Lorber for sending me a copy of the Blu-Ray for review.

The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)

"Don't you love your country?"

"Yes, but is it the same country?"

Prisoner #34, Shack Twala (Sidney Poitier) stands trial. It's Capetown, South Africa in the midst of apartheid. Thanks to the remarkable defense work by his lawyer Rina Van Niekirk (Prunella Gee), Twala is now free. Rina's boyfriend Jim Keogh (Michael Caine) wants to celebrate her victory and Rina invites Twala to join them. On their way to her apartment they encounter the Capetown police who are a little too eager to arrest another black person. Twala, Keogh and Rina get into an ugly fight with the police officers and escape. Rina helps Twala and Keogh flee to Johannesburg. Things begin to escale when two members of the secret police, Major Horn (Nichol Williamson) and Van Heerden (Rijk de Gooyer), are sent out to hunt down the fugitive duo. Twala knows of an Indian dentist Mukerjee (Saeed Jaffrey) who will help them, if his assistant Persis (Persis Khambatta) doesn't get in the way. But Twala is hiding something. Keogh soon learns about the Wilby conspiracy. Mukerjee, Twala and Wilby have a treasure trove of diamonds hidden in a sinkhole. This loot will help finance the Black Congress' revolution, something the secret police are hell bent on stopping. All Twala and Keogh need to do is get the diamonds, find Wilby and escape South Africa before it's too late. But that's easier said than done.

The Blu-Ray is a million times better quality than this image!

Directed by Ralph Nelson, The Wilby Conspiracy (1975) is a political thriller set in the oppressive era of apartheid. Based on the novel by Peter Driscoll, it explores the racial dynamics of the era while also serving as a thrilling chase movie. Some of the politics from Driscoll's original novel were stripped away from the movie but the final product still demonstrates the dangerous political climate of South Africa in the 1970s. The movie was filmed in Keny and at the MGM Pinewood Studios in England. It was far too risky to actually film on location in South Africa.

Actor Sidney Poitier hadn't been in Kenya since filming Something of Value (1957) and found a much different country on his return. He was warmly embraced by the locals and the government as a major movie star. Much had changed politically in Kenya over the past decades. The film has some amazing aerial footage and there is extensive use of small aircraft and helicopters. Chase scenes in the air and on the ground are thrilling to watch.

Independently produced in conjunction with United Artists, producer Martin Baum used to be Poitier's agent and he cast both Poitier and Caine for the film. Director Ralph Nelson had worked with Poitier on Lilies of the Field (1963) and Duel at Diablo (1966). For Caine this was his first "message film." In his memoir he wrote, "my experiences on the set of Zulu had made me an implacable opponent of the apartheid system and I was pleased to be able to make a contribution to highlighting its cruelty." Caine and Poitier were good friends and bonded even further during the making of the film. They both had a near death experience when a 50 pound camera broke loose, almost killing them both. If anything it drew them closer together and they've been friends ever since.

Even without some of the politics of Driscoll's original novel, The Wilby Conspiracy holds a powerful punch as it delivers the painful message of oppression. The film suffers at one point when the story begins lose its purpose and relies too much on the extended chase. Perhaps what was taken away from Driscoll's story should have been left in. The movie is part political thriller and part action drama and I found it wholly engrossing. Caine and Poitier's characters have a contentious relationship and it was intriguing to see what they both had to bring to two very different roles.

On a side note, in one of the scenes actor Nichol Williamson utters the Dutch curse word "godverdomme". My father, who lived in the Netherlands for a brief time, used this curse word, which translates into g-d dammit, whenever he was angry. I have never heard anyone else use it until I watched this film. My father passed away a couple of years ago (you can read my tribute to him here) and it briefly reminded me of him. It made me smile because even though he said it when it was mad, it was one of those quirks that was unique to my dad.

While watching The Wilby Conspiracy I couldn't help but make the connection to The Defiant Ones (1958). Caine and Poitier as two fugitives on the run reminded me of Poitier and Tony Curtis as two chain-gang fugitives who escaped prison. I would recommend pairing those two films together. You could also pair The Wilby Conspiracy with another Poitier film set in South Africa: Cry, the Beloved Country (1951).

Amazon — Barnes and Noble — Best Buy — Kino Lorber

The Wilby Conspiracy (1975) is available from Kino Lorber on DVD and Blu-Ray tomorrow! When you purchase through my buy links you help support this site. Thanks!

Thank you to Kino Lorber for sending me a copy of the Blu-Ray for review.