The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch is a 1969 film about an aging group of outlaws who look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.
 * Directed by Sam Peckinpah. Written by Walon Green and Sam Peckinpah, based on a story created by Roy N. Sickner and Walon Green.

The land had changed. They hadn't. The earth had cooled. They couldn't. taglines

Pike Bishop

 * If they move, kill 'em!
 * We're not gonna get rid of anybody. We're gonna stick together, just like it used to be. When you side with a man, you stay with him. And if you can't do that, you're like some animal - you're finished! We're finished! All of us!
 * We started together. We'll end it together.
 * She had a husband. If I'd had any sense, I'd have killed him. He wasn't around. I got careless. One night, he walked in on us. Got her with the first shot. Got me here with the second. Then the damned coward turned and ran. There isn't a day or an hour that passes that I don't think about it.
 * This is our last go-around, Dutch. This time, we do it right!
 * I figure that damn General will try to take this load without payin' for it and shoot us in the bargain. Only thing that'll change his mind is if somethin' would happen to these guns.
 * What I don't know about I sure as hell am gonna learn.
 * If they ever get armed with good leaders, this whole country will go up in smoke.
 * When I get my share of the gold, twenty five hundred dollars worth, I'll tell you where four cases are. The others are waiting for me back at the wagon. If I don't show up pretty quick, they'll blow it...The quicker I get back, the quicker you get the next load...Up the arroyo about two miles, you'll find three cases of rifles and one case of ammunition hidden in the bush.
 * Bitch!

Deke Thornton

 * [about Mapache] He's a killer for Huerta who calls himself a general. He's been fighting Villa - and losing. But with enough guns, he can become a power in northern Mexico. My guess is, Pike will try to get them for him.
 * [to Harrigan] I need 20 trained men, not recruits. And not this gutter trash you've given me.
 * You think Pike and old Sykes haven't been watchin' us. They know what this is all about - and what do I have? Nothin' but you egg-suckin', chicken-stealing gutter trash, with not even sixty rounds between you. We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them. The next time you make a mistake, I'm gonna ride off and let you die.
 * What I like and what I need are two different things.
 * Tell me, Mr. Harrigan...how does it feel, getting paid for it? How does it feel to sit back and hire your killin', with the law's arms around you? How does it feel to be so god damn right?

Crazy Lee

 * Feathers flew like a turkey! Well, they shouldn't have run; they shouldn't have run.
 * Well, how'd you like to kiss my sister's black cat's ass?

Others

 * Rev. Wainscoat: Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee least ye shall die. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red and when it bringeth his color in the cup when it moveth itself aright. At the last, it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Now folks, that's from the Good Book. But in this here town, it's 5 cents a glass. Five cents a glass. Does anyone really think that that is the price of a drink? The price of a drink - let him decide who has lost his courage and his pride who lies a groveling heap of clay not far removed...
 * Pat Harrigan: You go after them in ten minutes. Get them. Get Pike and you'll be rich! If one of you tries to quit on me, I'll pay a bonus of a thousand dollars to the man that kills him.
 * Ross: [after Crazy Lee is killed by Harrigan] Whoo-ee! This is better than a hog-killing!
 * Buck: Pike, is that you? I can ride, Pike. I can ride. I can't see but I can ride. God. No! I can't ride. Finish it, Mr. Bishop.
 * Tector Gorch: Riding with Brother Pike and old man Sykes makes a man wonder if it ain't time to pick up his chips and find another game.

Dialogue

 * Crazy Lee: I kill 'em now?
 * Pike: No. Hold them here until the shooting starts.
 * Crazy Lee: I'll hold 'em here 'til Hell freezes over or you say different.


 * Harrigan: You stupid damn fools. Why did you shoot this employee and let the others get away?
 * Thornton: The next time you better plan your massacre more carefully or I'll start with you!
 * Harrigan: Why didn't you kill Pike when you had the chance?


 * Thornton: Tell me, Mr. Harrigan. How does it feel gettin' paid for it? Gettin' paid to sit back and hire your killin's with the law's arms around you? How does it feel to be so god-damned right?
 * Harrigan: Good.
 * Thornton: You dirty son-of-a-bitch!
 * Harrigan: You've got thirty days to get Pike, or thirty days back to Yuma. You're my Judas goat, Mr. Thornton. I want all of them back here, head down over a saddle.


 * Pike: You boys want to move on or stay here and give him a... decent burial?
 * Tector: He was a good man, and I think we oughta bury him.
 * Pike: He's dead. And he's got a lot of good men back there to keep him company.
 * Lyle: Too damn many.
 * Dutch: I think the boys are right. I'd like to say a few words for the dear, dead departed. And maybe a few hymns'd be in order. Followed by a church supper. With a choir.
 * Lyle: You crazy bastards. Both of ya.


 * Pike: There was a man named Harrigan. Used to have a way of doin' things. I made him change his ways. A hell of a lot of people, Dutch, just can't stand to be wrong.
 * Dutch: Pride.
 * Pike: And they can't forget it... that pride... being wrong. Or learn by it
 * Dutch: How 'bout us, Pike? You reckon we learned - bein' wrong, today?
 * Pike: I sure hope to God we did.


 * Angel: Mexico Lindo.
 * Lyle: I don't see nothin' so 'lindo' about it.
 * Tector: Just looks like more Texas far as I'm concerned.
 * Angel: Aw, you don't have no eyes!


 * Pike: Sharin' up will be the same as always.
 * Lyle: Well, me and Tector don't think that he [points at Angel] oughtta get the same amount. He's just startin' out and this is mine and Tector's openin' for a new territory!
 * Tector: That's right, and I figure a share to that old goat [points at Sykes] for watchin' them horses is damn sure a share too much!
 * Lyle: So we decided. It ain't fair.
 * Pike: If you two boys don't like equal shares, why in the hell don't you just take all of it? Well, why don't you answer me, you damn yellow-livered trash!
 * Lyle: Now Pike, you know damn well--
 * Pike: I don't know a damn thing, except I either lead this Bunch or end it right now.


 * Dutch: Silver rings, your butt! Them's washers! Damn!
 * Pike: Bastards!...
 * Lyle: We shot our way out of that town for a dollar's worth of steel holes.
 * Pike: They set it up.
 * Lyle: They? Who in the hell is 'they'?
 * Sykes: [laughing] 'They'? Why, 'they' is the plain and fancy 'they', that's who 'they' is! Caught you didn't they, eh? Tied a tin can to your tail. Let you in and waltz you out again. Ha, ha, ha. Oh my, what a bunch. Big, tough one, eh? Ha, ha, ha. Here you are, with a handful of holes, a thumb up your ass, and a big grin to pass the time of day with! [angrily] 'They'? Who the hell is 'they'?
 * Pike: Railroad men, bounty hunters, Deke Thornton.


 * Lyle: All your fancy plannin' and talkin' damn near got us shot to pieces over a few lousy bags of washers. Well, this was goin' to be me and Tector's last job before we quit and headed south. We spent all our time and money a-gettin' ready for this!
 * Pike: You spent all your time and money runnin' whores in Hondo while I spent my stake settin' it up. Hell, I should have been runnin' whores instead of stealin' Army horses.
 * Lyle: While you was doin' all that plannin', me and Tector was gettin' our bell rope pulled by two... two, mind you, Hondo whores! [starts laughing]
 * Dutch: [laughing] And Pike was dreamin' of washers... you were matching whores... in tandem!
 * Lyle: What's that?
 * Tector: That's one behind t'other.
 * Lyle: That's right! That's what we was doin'!


 * Coffer: I can nail him.
 * Thornton: I said wait.
 * T.C.: What if they slip out the back?
 * Coffer: It's covered, ya two-bit, redneck peckerwood.


 * Dutch: What's our next move?
 * Pike: Well, I figure Agua Verde's the closest... three days maybe. Then get the news and drift back to the border. Maybe a payroll, maybe a bank.
 * Dutch: Maybe that damn railroad.
 * Tector: That damn railroad you're talkin' about sure as hell ain't a-gettin' no easier.
 * Sykes: And you boys ain't a-gettin' any younger either.
 * Pike: We've got to start thinkin' beyond our guns. Those days are closin' fast.


 * Dutch: At least we won't have to worry about Deke Thornton.
 * Pike: Hell, no; not after ridin' a half a case of dynamite into the river.
 * Sykes: Well don't expect him to stay there. He'll be along and you know it.


 * Coffer: You rode with, uh, Pike. What kind of man are we up against?
 * Thornton: The best. He never got caught.


 * Pike: This was gonna be my last. Ain't gettin' around any better. I'd like to make one good score and back off.
 * Dutch: Back off to what? Have you got anything lined up?
 * Pike: Pershing's got troops, spread out all along the border. Every one of those garrisons are gonna be gettin' a payroll.
 * Dutch: That kind of information is kind of hard to come by.
 * Pike: No one said it was going to be easy but it can be done.
 * Dutch: They'll be waitin' for us.
 * Pike: I wouldn't have it any other way.
 * Dutch: Pike, I wouldn't have it any other way either.


 * Coffer: From here on, it's Mexico, Mr. Thornton.
 * Thornton: What's the closest town of any size?
 * Coffer: Agua Verde.
 * Thornton: What's in Agua Verde?
 * Coffer: Mexicans. What else? The headquarters for regulars, fightin' against Villa. Mapache territory.


 * Pike: Now that I find hard to believe.
 * Don Jose: Not so hard. We all dream of being a child again, even the worst of us. Perhaps the worst most of all.
 * Pike: You know what we are then.


 * Pike: With the way the Generalissimo's cleaned out this part of the country, he ought to have a lot to spare.
 * Dutch: Eh, Generalissimo, hell. He's just another bandit grabbin' all he can for himself.
 * Pike: Like some others I could mention? [laughs]
 * Dutch: Not so's you'd know it, Mr. Bishop. We ain't nothin' like him. We don't HANG nobody. I hope someday these people here kick him and the rest of that scum like him right into their graves.
 * Angel: We will. If it takes forever.

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 * Lyle: Hey, Angel! Why don't you tell your folks to feed them dogs?
 * Angel: Any insult to my family while we are here and I will kill you!
 * Lyle: Hey, Angel; do you have a sister?
 * Angel: [Angrily] Si!
 * Lyle: I'd be pleased to make her acquaintance. And that of your mama too!
 * Tector: [Laughing] And the same goes for your grandma, too Sonny!

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 * Pike: I don't know why the hell I didn't let them kill you.
 * Angel: Listen, I'm not going to steal guns for that devil to rob and kill my people again.
 * Dutch: Noble, noble. Very noble.
 * Sykes: I didn't see no tears roll down your cheeks when you rode in from Starbuck.
 * Angel: Ah, they were not my people. I care about my people, my village. Mexico!
 * Sykes: Listen boy, you ride with us, your village don't count. If it does, you just don't go along.
 * Angel: Then I don't go along.
 * Dutch: Angel, one load of guns ain't gonna stop 'em raidin' villages. Well, you oughta be thinkin' about all the money you're gonna have.
 * Pike: Buy 'em a ranch. Move 'em a thousand miles. Buy 'em two, three ranches.
 * Dutch: One, a very small one.
 * Angel: Don't you see? This is their land. And no one is gonna drive them away.
 * Sykes: I'll drink to that sentiment. And to love. But most of all, I'll drink to gold.
 * Pike: Angel, you're a pain in the ass.
 * Angel: Would you give guns to someone to kill your father or your mother or your brother?
 * Pike: Ten thousand cuts an awful lot of family ties.
 * Angel: My people have no guns. But with guns, my people could fight. If I could take guns, I would come with you.
 * Dutch: Hey, um, how many cases of rifles did Zamorra say was in that shipment?
 * Pike: Sixteen.
 * Dutch: Well, give him one.
 * Pike: All right. One case and one case of ammo. But you give up your share of the gold.
 * Angel: I will.
 * Pike: We know you will.

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 * Pike: Any trouble, no guns for the General.
 * Herrera: Ha, ha, ha. Very smart. That's very smart for you, damn gringos. So nobody can rob the guns.
 * Pike: Nobody.
 * Herrera: I am not afraid. They are not afraid. You blow up the wagon, you die. Or we kill you pretty soon. But we are amigos.
 * Dutch: Show 'em boys.

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 * Dutch: Damn that Deke Thornton to Hell!
 * Pike: What would you do in his place? He gave his word.
 * Dutch: Gave his word to a railroad.
 * Pike: It's his word!
 * Dutch: That ain't what counts. It's who you give it to!

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 * Sykes: Say, back there in Starbuck. How'd my boy do?
 * Pike: Your boy? Crazy Lee?
 * Sykes: Yeah, C.L., Clarence Lee, my daughter's boy. Not too bright, but a good boy.
 * Pike: Why didn't you tell me he was your grandson?
 * Sykes: Well, you had enough things on your mind; besides he had to pull his own weight just like the rest of us. I just wanted to make sure he didn't let you down: run when things got hot. Huh? Huh?
 * Pike: No, he did fine... just fine.

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 * Pike: Let the General take care of those boys [the bounty hunters].
 * Lyle: You're crazy. That General would just soon kill us as break wind.
 * Pike: He's so tickled with those guns, he'll be celebratin' for a week and happy to do us a favor. Thornton's not gonna follow us in there. While they're busy pickin' over Freddy, we'll find a back trail off this mountain and head for town.
 * Dutch: What about our gold?
 * Pike: We'll take one sack to pay our way. Bury the rest - together.

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 * Dutch: In the ravine south of here, you'll find the rest of the rifles in the wagon. You can have the wagon, we'll take the horses.
 * Maj. Zamorra: Por favor; how many cases of rifles did you take from the train?
 * Dutch: Sixteen. We lost one on the trail
 * Mapache: [Chuckling and indicating Angel] He stole it. The mother of the girl he killed told me.
 * [Angel tries to escape but is caught and brought back before Mapache]
 * Dutch: Well, I guess I better get going.
 * Maj. Zamorra: Y Angel?
 * Dutch: [Looking around at the Mexican soldiers] He's a thief; let the General handle him.
 * Mapache: Bueno; adios gringo.

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 * [Pike enters Lyle and Tector's room as they are lingering with a prostitute]
 * Pike: Let's go.
 * [Lyle and Tector look at each other, then finally back at Pike]
 * Lyle: [arriving at his decision] Why not.

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 * Ross: [Coming into Aqua Verde after the massacre] Whoeee! If Jess is waitin' for the buzzards to lead him to old Sykes, he's got a long wait! Looks like we got 'em all!
 * Coffer: T.C.! Look! It's the Gorchs, Engstrom, and look, here's Pike. You don't look like so much now, do you Mr. Pike? It's them, Mr. Thornton. Shall we load 'em up?
 * T.C.: Ain't we goin' to wait on Jess?
 * Coffer: No, no, no! These boys'll start goin' ripe on us before too long!

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 * Sykes: I didn't expect to find you here.
 * Thornton: Why not? I sent 'em back; that's all I said I'd do.
 * Sykes: They didn't get very far.
 * Thornton: I figured.
 * Sykes: What are your plans?
 * Thornton: Drift around down here. Try to stay out of jail.
 * Sykes: Well, me and the boys here, we got some work to do. You wanna come along? It ain't like it used to be, but, uh, it'll do.

Taglines

 * The land had changed. They hadn't. The earth had cooled. They couldn't.
 * They came too late and stayed too long.
 * Suddenly a new West has emerged. Suddenly it was sundown for nine men. Suddenly their day was over. Suddenly the sky was bathed in blood.
 * Nine men who came too late and stayed too long...
 * Unchanged men in a changing land. Out of step, out of place and desperately out of time.
 * Born too late for their own times. Uncommonly significant for ours.

Cast

 * William Holden - Pike Bishop
 * Ernest Borgnine - Dutch Engstrom
 * Robert Ryan - Deke Thornton
 * Edmond O'Brien - Freddie Sykes
 * Warren Oates - Lyle Gorch
 * Jaime Sánchez - Angel
 * Ben Johnson - Tector Gorch
 * Emilio Fernández - Gen. Mapache
 * Strother Martin - Coffer
 * L.Q. Jones - T.C
 * Albert Dekker - Pat Harrigan
 * Bo Hopkins - Clarence 'Crazy' Lee
 * Dub Taylor - Rev. Wainscoat
 * Paul Harper - Ross
 * Jorge Russek - Maj. Zamorra
 * Alfonso Arau - Lt. Herrera
 * Chano Urueta - Don Jose