Got this comment from Anthony Powers on The Wild Bunch remake
being Written and Directed by Mel Gibson after I had expressed
skepticism on the project:
“You have to have an open mind. Mel Gibson is the perfect director to compliment Sam Peckinpah . All of gibson’s movies have been done well and I believe he will make this classic western even more classic.
Go Mel !!!!!!”
Thanks for your comment Anthony.
Well maybe so? What do I know?
I still express skepticism.
The original The Wild Bunch is regarded by many to be one of the greatest Western Classics.
Directed by (Bloody) Sam Pekinpah, the Cast alone is Epic: William Holden, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, L Q Jones, Strother Martin and more.
The Big Problem:
No matter how good Mel’s remake might be, it’s ALWAYS going to be compared to the original. No?
I won’t say he might not come out with something good? But just like the recent remake of The Magnificent Seven (2016)
it’s going to be hard to measure up.
I hope for the best and I’m always happy to see anybody making a Western . Especially somebody with the stature and probable production values
of Mel Gibson. BUT … it’s going to be a challenge.
Mel himself is quoted as saying:
“I thought it was a bad idea at first,” Gibson recently admitted. “Why make The Wild Bunch again? Who would do that? I thought about it and I thought about it some more, and then I thought of a way [into the story]. A way to tell the story. So, I’ve been sitting in a room with a writer and it’s been a blast. So, it started as a bad idea, but it’s heading toward something that could be special.”
http://gothicwestern.com/site/mel-gibsons-the-wild-bunch-remake-for-2022/
It’s going to be interesting.
Some suns never set.
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I’ll pass. Mel Gibson, nah.
Despite his well covered off screen adventures, I’ve liked some of his work: ‘The Patriot’, ‘We Were Soldiers’, ‘Edge of Darkness’, ‘Braveheart’, ‘Maverick’, ‘The Bounty’, ‘Gallipoli’, ‘The Man without a Face’, ‘Apocalypto’ … and a few others. Yeah, he’s done some crap too, but not a bad resume’ really. He just might be smart enough to pull this off Don???
I doubt it could surpass the original. Just look art West Side Story. It just wasn’t necessary. However, I suppose if the story draws a new generation…
West Side Story. I didn’t see it. I’m not a Spielberg fan. To some people that would be a sacrilegious statement. But there’s a good portion of his stuff that I truly dislike and disrespect. Much is not really very deep and plainly manipulative. I admire that he appreciates West Side Story, yet I would surely not be surprised if he didn’t get it right.
The Wild Bunch? Yeah. Mixed feelings there too. Sam said he was dismayed that many people enjoyed gore, blood shed and violence. Said this is not what he intended. He said he wanted people to be revolted by violence – not enjoy it. He knew that killing somebody is not a small thing – and shouldn’t be – yet it was treated in a very superficial way in many movies. (He probably wouldn’t give John Wick a big endorsement). You know what I’m saying. We just love violence it seems. I just previewed a bunch of upcoming movies. Ultra Violent. I do watch some of that myself, but most are very shallow, and despite the brilliance of the Filmmaking I often have a hollow feeling afterwards and 2 days later I can’t recall even one scene from the movie?
YET – in all, there is still some great Art out there. Even a few things that I feel Added something to me.
Hope for you also.
It will be fun to revisit an important film on the screen. I do believe it should be watched on the big screen.