Director: Sam Peckinpah
The Wild Bunch should be required viewing for all of these Tony Scott wannabes filming action sequences with shaky cameras and a trillion cuts all over the place. Peckinpah and editor Louis Lombardo's cutting of this film is amazing - we ARE confused during shootouts in this film, in large part because shootouts are very confusing. Yet we as viewers are rarely unclear about where we are or what, exactly, is going on.
The Wild Bunch lost points from me for an extended action-less stretch of the film that felt self-indulgent. We get some character development, but not enough to justify the lengthy break in plot. Upon second watch, these scenes may make more sense within the framework of the film, perhaps enough to bump this up to a 4 and a half. Still, this film gets an A+ for sheer badassery.
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