Blu-Ray Review: The Wild Bunch

1969
Directed By Sam Peckinpah

Warner Brothers delivers another superior catalog title and the notoriously violent western has never looked better at home.

The disc features the 1994 director's cut of the film.
Despite the blu-ray's budget price, it doesn't skimp on extras.
It features commentary by 4 Peckinpah biographers and documentarians that shed light on the making of the film and the filmmaker.
In addition the disc includes 3 documentaries. Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade looks at the director and focuses mainly on the westerns he made during his too-brief career and his self-destructive behavior.
The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage provides insight into the film's production with behind the scenes film and photos.
Plus, there's a 20 minute excerpt of A Simple Adventure Story:Sam Peckinpah, Mexico and the Wild Bunch that revisits many of the film's iconic locations like the opening robbery and climactic battle and we see what they look like today.
Though the 3 documentaries cover much of the same ground they never seem to repeat each other, so you could sit and watch all three back to back without getting bored.
Trailers for The Wild Bunch and several other Peckinpah films are also along for the ride.
As for the film, the colors are dynamic during the day scenes even with the grainy film stock used to convey the gritty atmosphere. At night the film is excessively grainy, but that's the way it was shot. The film was remastered with 5.1 audio.

If you've never seen this epic western, this disc is the best way to view Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece.