Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Today in Movie History (1969): The Wild Bunch released

The Wild Bunch


Released: June 18, 1969


Studio: Warner Bros.


Genre: western/action


Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 11.0 Worldwide: ?


Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: ? Worldwide: 35.26

Directing: Sam Peckinpah


Screenwriting: Walon Green, Sam Peckinpah, Roy N. Sickner


Starring: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien



Review:

“For the first half-century of cinema’s existence, the Western was the medium’s defining genre, in America at least. But hundreds of movies — plus primetime television series like Bonanza and Gunsmoke – wore it out, until Sam Peckinpah gave things a New Hollywood kick.” VY

“Peckinpah completely rewrites John Ford’s Western mythology – by looking at the passing of the Old West from the point of view of the marginalized outlaws rather than the law-abiding settlers.” T95 “Acting, dialogue, direction, score, photography, and especially editing are world class; an authentic American classic.” LM

“All-stars Ernest Borgnine, William Holden, and Robert Ryan deliver stunning performances as outlaws past their prime” ST who still cling “to codes of honor, loyalty, and courage.” FS They “want to pull one final heist before retiring” A98 but meet their demise when they are attacked by “relentless bounty hunters…at the US-Mexico border in 1913.” A07

“The film about men trying to contend with the ever-evolving world around them caused a stir for its raw depictions of survival and what was then considered gratuitous violence.” ST It “is a savagely beautiful spectacle, Lucien Ballard’s superb cinematography complementing Peckinpah’s darkly elegiac vision.” T95 It has been hailed as “one of the best films ever made and instrumental in its introduction of slow-motion violence.” VD It “became Peckinpah’s calling card after the success of this Western masterpiece.” A07 That and “Lou Lombardo’s editing are considered milestones in the Western genre.” A98


Sources:

Awards/Honors/Lists:


Oscars:

Wins: 0

Nominations: 2 (Best Story and Screenplay, Best Original Score)


Dave’s Movie Database Lists:


Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists:


Awards:


Other Lists/Honors:


Experts’ Picks:


First posted 2/25/2025.

Monday, June 10, 2019

Time Out: 100 Best Films

Time Out:

100 Best Films

Time Out is a London-based magazine which offers reviews of various forms of entertainment, including film. Over the years, they have published various all-time best lists of movies and a book of the 1000 top movies. This list is an aggregate of six of those lists (see resources at the bottom of the page). Astonishingly, only 10 titles appear on all six lists.


1. The Godfather (1972)
2. Citizen Kane (1941)
3. Taxi Driver (1976)
4. Chinatown (1974)
5. Apocalypse Now (1979)
6. Some Like It Hot (1959)
7. Raging Bull (1980)
8. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
9. Tokyo Story (Tôkyô Monogatari) (1953)
10. Blade Runner (1982)

11. The General (1927)
12. Goodfellas (1990)
13. Pulp Fiction (1994)
14. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
15. The Red Shoes (1948)
16. A Matter of Life and Death (aka “Stairway to Heaven”) (1946)
17. Annie Hall (1977)
18. The Shining (1980)
19. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
20. Gone with the Wind (1939)

21. Casablanca (1942)
22. Mean Streets (1973)
23. Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
24. The Third Man (1949)
25. The Piano (1993)
26. Persona (aka “Masks”) (1966)
27. Schindler’s List (1993)
28. The Seven Samurai (Schichinin no Samurai) (1954)
29. Vertigo (1958)
30. North by Northwest (1959)

31. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
32. The Searchers (1956)
33. Jaws (1975)
34. The Rules of the Game (La Règle du Jeu) (1939)
35. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
36. Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era Una Volta Il West) (1968)
37. Fargo (1996)
38. The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita) (1960)
39. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
40. Double Indemnity (1944)

41. Battleship Potemkin (Bronenosets Potyomkin) (1925)
42. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
43. Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) (1959)
44. Notorious (1946)
45. The Deer Hunter (1978)
46. Brazil (1985)
47. The Battle of Algiers (La Battaglia di Algeria) (1966)
48. Paris, Texas (1984)
49. Don’t Look Now (1973)
50. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)

51. Withnail and I (1987)
52. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
53. Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso) (1988)
54. There Will Be Blood (2007)
55. A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
56. All About Eve (1950)
57. The Apartment (1960)
58. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
59. The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet) (1957)
60. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

61. Boogie Nights (1997)
62. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
63. Kes (1969)
64. On the Waterfront (1954)
65. Breaking the Waves (1996)
66. La Haine (1995)
67. Rear Window (1954)
68. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
69. The Wild Bunch (1969)
70. L’Atalante (aka “Le Chaland Qui Passe”) (1934)

71. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
72. Touch of Evil (1958)
73. Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion) (1937)
74. Psycho (1960)
75. Performance (1970)
76. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
77. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
78. American Beauty (1999)
79. His Girl Friday (1940)
80. Léon: The Professional (1994)

81. Rashômon (1950)
82. The Conformist (Il Conformista) (1971)
83. City Lights (1931)
84. An American in Paris (1951)
85. Blue Velvet (1986)
86. The Passion of Joan of Arc (La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc) (1928)
87. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
88. Harold and Maude (1971)
89. Sansho the Bailiff (Sansho Dayu) (1954)
90. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

91. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
92. Monster (2003)
93. Andrei Rublev (1996)
94. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
95. M – Eine Stadt Sucht Einen Mörder (1931)
96. Naked (1993)
97. Se7en (Seven) (1995)
98. Black Narcissus (1947)
99. Hidden (Caché) (2004)
100. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)


Resources:


Originally posted 7/25/2019; last updated 5/29/2023.