The Wild Bunch
didn’t quite seem like a game changer when it was released in 1969. The film was met with mixed reviews and
mediocre box office. Despite stumbling
out of the proverbial gate, Sam Peckinpah’s western became one of the most
influential films of all time. Surely
among its earliest admirers were filmmakers Walter Hill and John Milius. Hill collaborated with Peckinpah three years
later on the Steve McQueen vehicle The
Getaway, which became Peckinpah’s biggest hit. Indeed, Hill’s own approach to filmmaking owed
much to that of Peckinpah. Nearly 20
years after the release of The Wild Bunch,
Hill decided to pay proper tribute to his deceased colleague John Milius’s help. Their efforts yielded the aptly titled Extreme Prejudice.
