The Wild Horde: why the duration of the film was reduced after its theatrical release?

Released in cinemas in 1969, the movie called The Wild Hordeworn by William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O’Brien, Warren Oates, Jaime Sánchez and Ben Johnsonwill be rebroadcast on Sunday March 13, 2022, from 8:55 p.m. on the Franco-German channel art.Directed by Sam Peckinpah, this feature film takes place on the border between Texas and Mexico. The film relates the last days of a group of bandits trying to exist in a modern world that no longer corresponds to them. Controversial because of its violencehe is famous for his very dynamic and complex staging, using multi-angle effects, very short shots, and then revolutionary slow motions in 1969.

Before hitting theaters, The Wild Horde encountered various production problems, especially during the assembly phase. According to the film’s editor, Lou Lombardo, the original version of this western contained no less than 3643 cuts, which was a record at the time. This first version of Sam Peckinpah’s film then lasted 2h31. After overly passionate reactions, the editing is reduced to a 2h25 version. The film thus finds itself distributed in 300 theaters in the United States, but admissions are disappointing. Warner’s producers are therefore re-editing, which brings the film down to a running time of 134 minutes.

The Wild Horde: several different copies released in American theaters

This new montage was set up without Sam Peckinpah, because the latter was on vacation at the time. Thereby, the copies in distribution often ended up different from each other. The scenes of violence, however, remained identical in the various versions screened in theaters. In Europe, it is the complete version of the film which was distributed in cinemas. For his part, Sam Peckinpah came into constant conflict with the producers for the final editing of his films. In the past, his feature film titled Major Dundee had already had to suffer a 36-minute cut, thus going from 2h40 to 2h04. Finally, The Wild Horde will be restored to its original version, desired by Sam Peckinpah, in 1995.

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