FILMS: Western poetry
By RICHARD GEARY
Assistant Arts & Reviews Editor
The western genre has become so abused and distorted in recent years that its ability to give us an evening of exciting entertainment, let alone art, has greatly diminished. But now along comes "The Wild Bunch," as grim and glorious a western as anyone could want. It also happens to be a work of art.
The director and co-writer, Sam Peckinpah, is obviously a man who loves and respects the traditions of the American West. He made his name eight years ago with a modest, poetic movie called "Ride the High Country," which introduced the theme brought to full intensity in "The Wild Bunch": the death of the frontier and the fate of men trapped between two eras.
Peckinpah sets his story in Texas and Mexico in 1913, where automobiles and paved sidewalks strike subtly jarring notes against the primitive grime of the land and the people. The Wild Bunch is a gang of bandits, led by William Holden, who perform their last job—stealing guns from a U.S. government train for a corrupt Mexican general—while being pursued by a band of bounty hunters, led by Robert Ryan, a former member of the gang.
Though they are thieves, they are honorable thieves; they are brutal and coarse, but they believe in the old virtues of companionship and sticking together and keeping one's word—virtues that bring about their deaths. They are knights-errant living by a code that is obsolete; desperate men, caught between bounty hunters on one side, treacherous Mexicans on another, and the law on still another.
The most noticeable, if not the most important element of this film is its violence. Some have complained that there is too much of it, that it is too bloody, and even that it can do harm to those watching it. But less violence would make "The Wild Bunch" a different picture; the blood is not there for its own sake, but linked inseparably to the theme. And it is not real, in the sense the term is used in the movies; the twoorges of killing we are given (one at the beginning and one at the end) are surreal—their brutality is caricatured, carried beyond realism to abstraction. Peckinpah is surely a man opposed to violence, but to argue the point is irrelevant. He is interested in the poetry of violence, as Kurosawa was in "The Seven Samauri," and to assign it any sort of social significance is ridiculous.
"The Wild Bunch" is a tragic, though not totally despairing vision (In the end, the launger of the survivors as they ride into the new era mingles with the flashback laughter of the dead bandits), which brings Peckinpah into the front ranks of American directors and injects new excitement and depth into a stagnant genre.
"Tell Them Willie Boy is Here"
—An exciting western chase story, excellently directed and edited, though occasionally bogged down by a simple-minded socially-conscious script.
The Weekend Scene
"The Wild Bunch"—See review this page.
"The Magic Christian"—A silly comedy starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, based upon Terry Southern's clever novel.
"The Dunwish Horror"—A modern terror tale about the occult, taken from H. P. Lovercraft's classic story.
"Easy Rider"—A simple, eloquent story of despair and violence in America.
"The Great Escape" (SUA Popular Film, Fri. and Sat.) A suspenseful tale of escape from a Nazi POW camp, starring Steve McQueen and James Garner. Directed by John Sturges; 1964.
"Strangers on a Train" (International Series, Fri.)—One of Alfred Hitchcock's best films tells of a bizarre relationship between a tennis star and a demented young man. Made in 1951, starring Robert Walker and Farley Granger.
"La Ronde" (KU Film Society, Sun.)—A French film, made in 1950 by the master stylist, Max Ophuls.
SPRING 70 CONCERT — The University Symphony Orchestra presents their Spring happening under the direction of George Lawner, professor of orchestra. The program includes: "Symphony No. 7 in C Major" by Schubert, "Fantasy on Japanese Wood Prints" by Hovhaness and Suite from "The Firebird" by Stravinsky.
Switzerland's six million people —roughly the population of greater Chicago-support 400 newspapers, including more than 100 dailies.
Mar. 13
1970 KANSAN 5
MARY TUVEN HOAG—Performing on the violin, she will give her graduate recital.
FRUMOXO—Singing at the Middle Earth Coffee House, these two gentlemen will give their first concert at KU.
"THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE" (theatre production)— One of the major productions of the year, this play centers around a teacher at a girls' school whose methods are rather unconventional.
The wild bunch is loose again!
A PHIL FELDMAN PRODUCTION