Clint Eastwood 'Never Liked' An All-Time Classic '60s Western Movie

Whether starring in Sergio Leone's genre-reinventing "Dollars" trilogy or directing his own efforts, you can't undersell the enormous impact Clint Eastwood has had on the Western. Starting with his breakthrough role on the 1959 TV series "Rawhide," Eastwood has had such a firm grasp of the genre's tropes that his work throughout the decades has been that of an actor and filmmaker constantly wrestling with the more violent aspects of his screen past. 

1992's "Unforgiven" found him playing a former gunslinger grappling with how a lifetime of killing has corrupted his soul. It was an elegy to the mythical nature of the Wild West. When asked about the film's thematic comparisons to "The Wild Bunch," Eastwood revealed to the Los Angeles Times that he never cared for director Sam Peckinpah's bloody masterpiece: "It was a good movie, but I've never been one for the slow-motion technique, the ballet of violence. It was very effective, and the predecessor to a lot of people trying to do the same thing, but I never liked it."

Hollywood filmmaking toward the tail end of the '60s opened the floodgates for more graphic depictions of screen violence, with 1969's "The Wild Bunch" being one of the most explosive examples. Eastwood is correct in his assessment of the film's influence and was able to recognize Peckinpah's craft even if it didn't adhere to his own sensibilities, adding, "I've always thought that drama is really the anticipation before the action happens, the buildup to it, and the action itself is like shuffling a deck of cards, so fast it's kind of unreal."

Clint Eastwood wasn't alone in his dislike for the balletic violence of "The Wild Bunch," with screen cowboy John Wayne outright hating it. Then again, the Duke always seemed to have beef with transgressive westerns that challenged the norms, including Eastwood's own "High Plains Drifter." But "The Wild Bunch" became one of the most rewatchable Westerns of all time due in part to its presentation of how the film's chaotic gunfights play out: Sam Peckinpah makes a point to showcase how his brand of violence affects the world outside of the gunslingers themselves.

In the opening sequence, for example, the shootout between Pike's (William Holden) gang and Deke's (Robert Ryan) bounty hunters results in countless civilians killed for the crime of being present. The Wild Bunch themselves are bad people, and they're well aware of that. Even the "good guys" on their tail are gleefully seen looting bodies after the fact. The looks that Pike's crew give one another prior to their explosive blaze of glory at the Battle of Bloody Porch (one of the most epic gunfights in movie history) aren't ones of remorse for their many years of instigating violence, but that they couldn't keep up with the evolving state of the world that's always pursued them.

It's the opposite of Will Munny's journey in "Unforgiven," so it makes sense why Eastwood wouldn't latch onto Peckinpah's violent vision of a bygone era. "The Wild Bunch" glamorizes violence in the sense that it gives you a front row seat to what it would look, sound, and (most importantly) feel like, and it's not a pretty sight.