The old and the new West clash as a outlaws led by an aging gunfighter ride into a Texas border town to rob a local railroad office--only to find that they came too late and stayed too long in this groundbreaking Western.
Classic Peckinpah outing, with William Holden and Ernest Borgnine leading a outlaw crew south of the border in the immediate post-West period. Not really a "Western" per se, so much as a paean to masculinity, here seen in it's dying grandeur. An awesome movie, probably Peckinpah's masterpiece, manages to both endorse his world view and tell an exciting story, as his protagonists find their rationales running out and decide to end it in a blaze of glory. Avoids both the didacticism and sentimentality that mar other Peckinpah efforts. Holden is superb, as is Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. A must see that only improves with repeated viewings.
If they move...kill 'em!
Posted: 06 December 2008