The Wild Bunch, 1969
The Trip, 2010
Since last week's post was about the transition from youth to adulthood, this week's essay will focus on the other side of the arc: The decline of power as one ages. Both of our movies this week focus on men, and most movies talking about the decline in old age tend to focus on the stories of men. Because mascuilinity is associated with power, the loss of power is equated with the loss of manhood. Our films this week approach the loss of manhood with age from different perspectives and places.
The Wild Bunch takes place in an Old West that's rapidly modernizing. Pike (William Holden) and his band ride through a southwest with cars and wires. In one sequence, the gang discusses the invention of a flying machine, putting the time period within the early 20th century. Pike's gang robs the railroad, a rapidly disappearing way of life, and must evade Deke Thorton (Robert Ryan), a man attempting to dodge a prison sentence by capturing his former compatriots and turn them over to the railroad. The film details the bunch's attempts at "one last score before they retire."
Many critics have pointed out that The Wild Bunch started the modern western. Although the Spaghetti Western began far earlier, having the conventions of the John Ford-western attacked by an American director changed the perception of the western. Film studies professor Tony Williams said The Wild Bunch used John Ford's favorite hymn "Shall We Gather by The River," in the opening scene before the bloody massacre in the first robbery. One might argue the western had changed with the popularity of Italian westerns, but The Wild Bunch cemented the end of the white hat/black hat western in film.
Part of the end of the western ideal is the end of the western man. The film presents Pike as the classic western totem of The Strong Man on a Horse. Later in the film, Pike struggles to get on his horse due to old injuries. The scenes of a limping hero imply the decay of the western hero, something that resonated with late 1960's audiences. Critics, including Gore Vidal, claimed Pike's physical weakening represented America's weakened status in the world. With Vietnam raging and people questioning the basics of the American experience, Pike's cowboy struggling to ride in the saddle symbolized American decline.
The Agua Verde scene post-robbery where Pike argues that one should "stick with a side." Although one might argue this was another jab at the US government's embrace of the South Vietnamese, it's easier to see Pike as an old man arguing for an old way of being. Williams claimed the situation required the bunch to make moral choices against their previous experience. Pike argues for an idealized version of the cowboy philosophy, but his life as a thief and murder limit his ability to correct the ethics of others. However, Pike's "honor among thieves" beat the moral code displayed by other characters. Thorton's gang, in contrast to the stirring masculinity of the bunch, is full of greedy, bloodthirsty bounty hunters. They take the "winner take all" piece literally by stripping clothing from the dead. The ruthless bounty hunters are little different from the railroad men who want Pike's gang stopped to protect their profits. The representatives of industry have no problem instigating a gunfight in a town of civilians.
Even worse than the bounty hunters was General Mapache (Emilio Fernandez), a bandit who wore the colors of government. Mapache revels in death, torture, and killing, but pretends his power is right. Pike's bunch may use violence, but killing is a necessary part of the job instead of the best part. When Pike offers Mapache money in exchange for one of their own, Mapache says he has no use for more gold and decides to torture the man further. This point in the film forces us to side with the problematic but slightly better bunch over the monster Mapache.
The scene with the young prostitute shows Pike another possibility. Previous scenes showed Pike falling in love with another man's husband (an example of the the hyper-masculinity exhibited by the bunch), but the woman's death at the hands of her husband ended his love life. The young prostitute brushed her hair in a corner and washed. A baby cries in the corner. This scene shows Pike a different possibility for life: The quiet family life. Pike, as a western man, could never settle down and dies in a gunfight. His chance for redemption or aging ends in a hail of gunfire.
The Trip deals with the escape from family life on a road trip. British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play Steve and Rob (guess which is which) on a magazine-sponsored foodie road trip across Northern England. Originally, Steve's girlfriend Micha planned to take the trip with Steve, but her work brought her back to America. Steve reluctantly accepts Rob's company and the two actors set off across England. The "plot" doesn't really exist in a traditional sense, but the film functions as a series of jokes and character moments to show Steve's struggle with his flagging career.
Steve and Rob are simple contrasts. The audience meets Rob when Steve picks him up at home. Rob says goodbye to his wife and baby, thus establishing that family-man Rob is off for the week with bachelor Steve. Rob's career blossoms with "Man in a Box," a character voice of a trapped man. Steve considers himself an artist and degrades Rob's impressions at every opportunity. The two compete to make the best Michael Cane, Sean Connery, and others, but the dramatic focus of the film comes from Steve's inability to accept his middle age.
Steve manages to bed someone at nearly every stop, thus showing his masculine prowess. He can bed many of the women, but none want to stay with him in the cruel light of day. All of the women dress quietly in the morning and leave without speaking. Much like the Thomas Hayden Church character in Sideways, Steve wants to hang on to his youth through bedding women without attachment. A photographer comes to shoot the trip and Steve attempts to remember if they once had a tryst and if he'd forgotten (they did and he did). The pair had sex again, but the photographer slipped away quietly. Multiple women was presented as hyper-mascuiline in The Wild Bunch, but The Trip has Steve's success in bedding women contrast with their unwillingness to connect with him emotionally. Since Steve has an ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, his past wasn't simply full of former conquests but former relationships. As he gets older, it becomes easier to seduce a woman than to converse with one.
During a sequence where Steve debates a new role over the phone with his agent, Steve realizes his career as an actor never caught on. He starred in nearly ten movies and numerous shows, but none of those programs gave him the fame or adulation he desires. Steve claims he's 41 and failing fast, and his agent corrects him by saying Steve is 44. When debating the issue, Steve wonders if his break is never coming. Rob manages to break with Man in a Box, which Steve mocks throughout the film but attempts to mimic privately.
Steve's struggle with his age and failure seems to contrast with Rob's security, but Steve questions Rob's stability. Rob's need to do character voices grates on Steve because they seem inadequate or childish. However, there are two scenes where Steve attempts to cut to the heart of Rob's character. While delivering a somber poem on a church step, Rob drops into a voice of Sir Ian McClellan. Steve asks why Rob had to "ruin" the moment with a voice. When Rob says the voice felt appropriate, Steve says he would have preferred Rob do it in his own voice. In a later scene with Steve's parents, Rob falls into a habit of character voices and Steve asks if Rob does the voices to hide from people. While at home in the final scene, Rob will tell a few jokes in his voices but speaks to his wife in his regular voice. Rob finds happiness at home in a small world, but we wonder if Rob is happier because he fails to grasp his aging.
Rob, unlike Steve or the wild bunch, embraces his new responsibilities. He seems happy to let his youth go and take on a simple life. Stories of aging and the loss of power always end one way, but how a character learns to accept that fact alters our perception of aging. Both films approach the end of an era, both personal and historical, and how we should embrace that end. Rob argues for acceptance without regret, Steve pushes for angst, and Pike tells us to go down in a blaze of glory.
Other Films:
After The Wall: A World Divided, 2010
Rashomon, 1950
The Ascent, 1977
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