Borderlands in Movies: Manliness, Violence, and Anglo Crossings of the U.S.-Mexican Border

“Let’s go” is the somewhat laconic, yet iconic, expression repeatedly used by the weary Pike Bishop (played by William Holden) when addressing his outlaw gang in the movie The Wild Bunch. The last time we hear Bishop utter these words is when he and his three associates wake to a new dawn in the bedrooms of deprived Agua Verde prostitutes. The men decide to walk to confront General Mapache (Emilo Fernandez) and the federales who have the Mexican village under a tight yet intensely anarchist grip. Facing the general in an open courtyard, the “bunch” demands nothing less than the release of one of their own made captive and tortured by Mapache and his troops. As guns start blazing it is obvious that the odds certainly do not lie in favor of the “bunch.” But neither do these men entertain any such illusions. That Bishop and his outfit have ended up at such a dire place and in such a calamitous situation represents a culmination of a downward spiral where the veteran gunfighters have gradually been made to realize that they are desperately out of luck, out of options, and out of time. Now these flawed and increasingly disillusioned and alienated men risk a violent stand. Disgusted with the changing world around them, they covet power and dignity, even if the only way they can find it is by dying.

The recent bank robbery attempt in South Texas tipped the scales from bad to worse for the “bunch.” It proved a monumental disaster as railroad-hired bounty hunters led by the turncoat Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan), a once loyal member of the “bunch,” ambushed Bishop’s men. The frantic shootout between the gang and the bounty hunters got out of hand generating an utterly shameful massacre in the busy town streets. Scores of bystanders and most of Bishop’s following died that day.

By crossing the Mexican border the surviving members of the “bunch” sought an escape, literally because the bounty hunters were still out to get them, preferably dead, and symbolically to again thrive as men when civilization, and its corporation- and state-controlled killing, had eliminated their space north of the international line. In Mexico the “bunch” formed a nervous alliance with Mapache. From their very first meeting with the general these seasoned outlaws loathed the variety of manliness the ruthless and usually drunken Mapache represents. His troops had reduced Agua Verde to a state of macabre anarchy; its members oppressed and exploited the poor and defenseless and forced maidens into prostitution. On another front the inglorious federales often found themselves outplayed in the fight for northern Mexico by Pancho Villa and his bandits.

Still, taking advantage of the Mexican crisis, the “bunch” seemingly prospered. Encountering a violent world on both sides of the international line, the gang again engaged and excelled in violence. Bishop and his associates earned plenty of gold in exchange for violently robbing an ammunition train and delivering U.S. weapons to Mapache. But the men also repeatedly talked of retiring, of “thinking beyond our guns.” Still, even with all the gold in their pockets they feel generally disappointed with their lot as well as honor bound to their comrade captured by Mapache. In truth, the “bunch” seems terribly short on any actual exit plan. Seeing themselves as real men representing an honorable era, they prove stubbornly disinclined to adopt new identities. “Normal” quiet life holds very little appeal for these men. But neither do they wish for a future as willing executioners and hired guns for Mapache and other warlords who might follow in his wake. Bishop and his men are also tired of running.

On that final morning in Agua Verde they opt to prove their manliness in the face of a brutal Mexican commander and a changing world. They make their choice knowing that it carries with it a high probability of dying in a hail of bullets. Bishop and his crew are Anglo border crossers, who, as observed by Richard Slotkin, no longer can find any open space—any...