“What I like and what I need are two different things.”
Before William Holden was cast, the role of Pike Bishop was turned down by Lee Marvin, James Stewart, Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Sterling Hayden, Richard Boone and Robert Mitchum. Marvin accepted but pulled out after he was offered more money to do Paint Your Wagon (1969). The train robbery was not in the script and many scenes were improvised, including the big ending when the four of them walk into town to rescue their friend Angel. L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin’s idea for their characters (T.C. and Coffer) was to add a hint of a homosexual relationship. Peckinpah liked the idea and kept it in the final cut. The shootout at the end took 12 days using 90,000 blank rounds and 10,000 squibs (simulated bullet hits). More blanks were discharged during the production than live rounds were fired during the entire Mexican Revolution of 1914 on which the story is loosely based. The budget went from $3.5 to $6 million and from 70 to 81 shooting days. Walon Green wrote the script and Sam Peckinpah then rewrote it. Green argued that the changes did not warrant Peckinpah getting a screenplay credit. After this dispute the Writer’s Guild changed their rules, and now a finished script must be at least 60% written by a director to claim a writer credit. Green, Sickner and Peckinpah all shared Academy award nominations for best screenplay – the only nomination Peckinpah received in his entire career. They didn’t win. John Wayne complained that the Wild Bunch destroyed the myth of the Old West.
