The Wild bunch

[david christensen]

Date: Sat, 04 Nov 2006 00:40:55 +0200
From: "Ya Sam" <takoitov at hotmail.com>
Subject: The Wild Bunch

Another great movie I've seen recently. Great? Damn, it's a masterpiece!
It's influence is traceable everywhere, most notably in Tarantino and John
Wu films and, most probably in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. This film
is free of all the pesky cliches (sheriff/villain confrontation, saloon
fight, whore with a heart of cold etc.). The violence is quite stunning even
now, although the film was made in 1969. In terms of Pynchon relevance: the
film is set during the Mexican revolution  and there is an episode with the
Mexican rebels, and, as we know from the blurb, AtD touches upon the Mexican
revolution as well. I highly recommend it to everybody who haven't seen it
yet.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l-digest at waste.org
[mailto:owner-pynchon-l-digest at waste.org]

The Wild Bunch

Quite a brilliant film. "If they move, kill em" uttered by William Holden's
character (early on in the piece) with utter conviction is still one of my
favourite lines from any film. I only recently read Blood Meridian and its
perhaps the most violent and grisly book I have ever read. I was starting to
be numbed out by the intensity of the descriptions, the landscape of the
apocalypse and the preacher. In the wild bunch the violence has that edge.
Sudden and jolting. Remorse is impossible, there is no choice.