The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch is a 1969 western film in which an aging group of outlaws hope to have one more score while the West is turning into a modern society. It stars William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Warren Oates, Jaime Sánchez, Ben Johnson, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Bo Hopkins and Dub Taylor.

The movie was written by Walon Green, Roy N. Sickner and Sam Peckinpah. It was directed by Peckinpah.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced.

Originally quite controversial because of its graphic violence, The Wild Bunch is also noted for making the use of slow motion shots in mainstream motion pictures acceptable. The technique of slow motion had been in existence since the earliest days of film, and was often used in avant-garde and New Wave films, but in the years following The Wild Binch, slow-motion became a common method of emphasising action sequences in movies, especially action-adventure movies.

In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.