The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage

When I saw this film, it had already won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short. It was shown in San Francisco along with a big screen showing of the film, "The Wild Bunch". Remember that this movie was criticized by the late, great John Wayne in one of his now famous Playboy Interviews. But in hindsight, from the era he was in, you can understand why. The movie completely un-romanticized the current way that westerns were; and wrote another way of romantically debunking the whole western myth with the ultimate consequences of choosing a violent life.

Sam Peckenpah's daughter is such a key ingredient to this documentary as she conveys how her father's character and qualities were brought through many time's in the acting of the late William Holden. There is also Ernest Borginine giving some reflections. And the behind-the-scenes story of the late Sam Peckenpah handling these fine actors adds to the appreciation and accomplishment of what I think is an genuine American classic.

This is a very odd little documentary because of how it was assembled--and assembled is exactly the right word for this. Almost thirty years after "The Wild Bunch" debuted, the filmmakers for "An Album in Montage" created this film out of bits and pieces! Using some old black and white video (without sound), old interviews, modern actors reading lines as if they are Peckinpah and others from the film as well as footage from "The Wild Bunch", they created this making of film. Apparently, it was well received--so well that it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Short. And, in seeing the results, I can understand the Oscar nomination, as it must have taken a lot of work to piece all this together. And, in the end, it does a fine job of creating a nice making of film--one that instills a sense of respect and excitement about the feature and seems reasonably complete. In some ways, I enjoyed seeing this more than the original film....really.

Neat and respectable take on a classic with thoughts given by those who were involved in the making of "The Wild Bunch". Smart move in casting Ed Harris to provide the opinion that co-writer/director Sam Peckinpah had on the movie. I also liked how Peckinpah described this movie just as "a simple adventure story" and mentioned that he wondered about what happened to the robbers in the west when he was young. It's probably an instinct that lives in anyone no matter how old they are.

A home video special feature staple, for many films, is the "Behind the Scenes" or "Making of…" mini-documentary. These are routinely included as a "extra" reasons to buy the film in question, for home viewing; later, they tell you the movie you've just seen was brilliant. Unfortunately, most of these are non-illuminating, hasty promotional wastes of time. No so with Paul Seydor and Nick Redman's "The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage".

DO NOT SKIP THIS ONE.

It's a great piece of film-making, on its own; beautifully editing original music cues, film clips, stills, new interviews, and re-produced statements. The centerpiece features revelatory behind-the-scenes footage of director Sam Peckinpah and his crew orchestrating William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, and Ben Johnson through "the battle of bloody porch," and others. This is an essential compendium to "The Wild Bunch".

********* The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage (11/15/96) Paul Seydor ~ Nick Redman, Ed Harris, Sam Peckinpah, L.Q. Jones