98
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe Wild Bunch is one of the great defining moments of modern movies.
- 100The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelIt’s no accident that you feel a sense of loss for each killer of the Bunch: Peckinpah has made them seem heroically, mythically alive on the screen.
- 100NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenThe Wild Bunch still retains its sorrowful, fatal power because of the complexity of Peckinpah's attitudes about violence. He forces us to confront our own voyeuristic ambivalence; we're alternately horrified by the butchery and exhilarated by the orgiastic energy his balletic spectacles stir up.
- 100Orlando SentinelJay BoyarOrlando SentinelJay BoyarIt is certainly one of the best westerns ever made, and the best film of any kind to come out in 1969.
- 100Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversThe hard action, bracing wit and mournful grace of Peckinpah’s cowboy classic shames every new movie around. It’s a towering achievement that grows more riveting and resonant with the years.
- 100ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliNot only does The Wild Bunch illustrate Peckinpah's mastery of his medium, but it presents a story that is effective on nearly every level: the emotional, the visual, and the visceral.
- 100San Francisco ChroniclePeter StackSan Francisco ChroniclePeter StackMaybe the best shoot-'em-up ever made, the one that turned meanness into a haunting pictorial poetry and summed up the corruption of guilt, old age and death in the American fantasy of the Old West.
- 50Film at 145 minutes is far over-length, and should be tightened extensively, particularly in first half. After a bang-up and exciting opening, it appears that scripters lost sight of their narrative to drag in Mexican songs, dancing and way of life, plus an overage of dialog, to the detriment of action.