The Wild Bunch Montage

A tribute to Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece. One of the greatest westerns ever made was viewed as a Vietnam War allegory. It blew away all the romanticism of the West and portrayed a band of cut-throat killers as the film's heroes.

Academy Award winner William Holden is Pike Bishop, the leader of The Wild Bunch. Academy Award winner Ernest Borgnine is Dutch Engstrom, his loyal lieutenant that has some kind of moral compass. Warren Oates (should've won an Oscar for Two Lane Blacktop) and Academy Award winner Ben Johnson are Lyle and Tector Gorch. Edmond O'Brien is Sykes, Bishop's long-time partner.

I started out with Bad Company's track and it kind of blew up from there. Then I decided to use Ennio Morricone's "Ecstacy of Gold" for The WIld Bunch's march to destiny. A sacrilage to some, but I felt it worked with showing Pike's internal conflict, realization that he's outlived his time and decision to finally, for once in his life, to do the right thing and stand up for someone other than himself. And Lyle Gorch's reply "Why not." is the stuff of legend.

Robert Ryan is Pike's former partner Deke Thornton, forced to lead a posse to hunt down The Wild Bunch. Strother Martin and LQ Jones are memorable as Coffer and T.C. Emilio Fernandez is the villainous and perpetually drunk General Mapache.

And why use music from Inception to fill in the middle? Well, why not?