Tired of cow-punching for a living, two Montana cowboys rob a bank and flee but their employer's sons chase after them.Tired of cow-punching for a living, two Montana cowboys rob a bank and flee but their employer's sons chase after them.Tired of cow-punching for a living, two Montana cowboys rob a bank and flee but their employer's sons chase after them.
Charles H. Gray
- Savage
- (as Charles Gray)
William Bryant
- Hereford
- (as Bill Bryant)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe scene in which Ross and Frank tamed a mustang was mostly done by the actors rather than stunt men. Blake Edwards wanted the action to be as believable as possible, so he had them train as horse wranglers in Iceland for five weeks before filming. At one point, a dark patch can be seen where William Holden later admitted to having pissed himself 'just a little'.
- GoofsWhen Post shoots Ben's tin cup, the "bullet hole" has metal shards curling out toward Post. But if Post had indeed fired a bullet at the tin cup, a bullet would have pushed the metal shards towards the inside of the cup. But with the metal shards curling outwards it clearly demonstrates that the so-called bullet hole was created by a small charge placed in the inside of the cup creating the outward curling shards.
- Quotes
Ross Bodine: You show me an old cowboy, a young cowboy or an in between cowboy with more than a few dollars in his poke and I'll show a cowboy that stopped being a cowboy and robbed banks.
Frank Post: Well, let's rob us a bank.
Ross Bodine: It'll be safer than getting married.
- Alternate versionsSPOILER: Originally released theatrically at 106 minutes; the extended "Director's Cut" runs 136 minutes. MGM cut 24 minutes of the film, including the scenes in which "Ross Bodine" gives some of the stolen money back to the "Billingses" and a slow-motion sequence in which "Walter Buckman" dies. The studio also added to the end of the film, after "Frank Post's" death, a recurrence of the sequence in which Post dances in the snow while Ross breaks the bronco.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Moviemakers (1971)
Featured review
A reflective gem of an Oater.
Wild Rovers is written and directed by Blake Edwards. It stars William Holden, Ryan O'Neal, Karl Malden, Joe Don Baker, Tom Skeritt and James Olsen. Music is scored by Jerry Goldsmith and the Panavision/Metrocolor cinematography is by Philip Lathrop.
It's a Western that not only was butchered by cretinous execs at MGM, but has also proved to be divisive among the Western faithful - those that have seen the now thankfully available un-butchered version that is. Wild Rovers is one of those Oaters that is very much concerned with the changing of the West, where cowboys start to find themselves out of place with their era. Think Monte Walsh/Will Penny/Ride The High Country, with a bit of Wild Bunch/Butch & Sundance thrown in for good measure, and you get where Wild Rovers is at.
Some critics were quick to accuse Edwards of merely copying Western films of past, but that is unfair. For this is a loving homage to those movies, also managing to be its own beast in the process. The tale is simply of two cowpokes, one aged and world weary, the other a young excitable buck, best friends who want more from life, so decide to rob the local bank and flee to Mexico to start afresh. Of course two men and destiny are quite often not the best of bed fellows...
There's an elegiac beauty to Edwards' screenplay, with some of the scripted dialogue lyrical and poetic. And yet even though the harshness of the West, of the life of a cowboy, and the violence that is abound, is deftly pulsing within the story, there's plenty of dashes of humour as well. This is not a perpetually downbeat movie, slow moving? Absolutely, short on ripper action? Also correct. But as the themes of heroism and honour, of friendship and folly, are born out, and the many tender sequences draw you in, a pratfall is never far away.
Technically it's high grade stuff. Holden is superb and he drags O'Neal along with him to avert what could have been a casting disaster. They make a fine and beguiling partnership and both men are turning in some of their best ever work here. The photography of the Arizona locations is outstanding, with Lathrop (Lonely Are the Brave) managing to add some ethereal beauty to the story. Goldsmith knocks out a triffic score, part blunderbuss Western excitement, part intimate pal to all and sundry.
Skip any version that is under two hours, for that is an MGM crime. The MOD DVD comes complete with overture, intermission, entr'acte and exit music, while TCM shows the uncut version but minus the aforementioned roadshow segments. This is not a Western for those looking for a Magnificent Seven style actioner, for as fun as that great movie is, this is an altogether different and mature beast, and it deserves to be better known. 9/10
It's a Western that not only was butchered by cretinous execs at MGM, but has also proved to be divisive among the Western faithful - those that have seen the now thankfully available un-butchered version that is. Wild Rovers is one of those Oaters that is very much concerned with the changing of the West, where cowboys start to find themselves out of place with their era. Think Monte Walsh/Will Penny/Ride The High Country, with a bit of Wild Bunch/Butch & Sundance thrown in for good measure, and you get where Wild Rovers is at.
Some critics were quick to accuse Edwards of merely copying Western films of past, but that is unfair. For this is a loving homage to those movies, also managing to be its own beast in the process. The tale is simply of two cowpokes, one aged and world weary, the other a young excitable buck, best friends who want more from life, so decide to rob the local bank and flee to Mexico to start afresh. Of course two men and destiny are quite often not the best of bed fellows...
There's an elegiac beauty to Edwards' screenplay, with some of the scripted dialogue lyrical and poetic. And yet even though the harshness of the West, of the life of a cowboy, and the violence that is abound, is deftly pulsing within the story, there's plenty of dashes of humour as well. This is not a perpetually downbeat movie, slow moving? Absolutely, short on ripper action? Also correct. But as the themes of heroism and honour, of friendship and folly, are born out, and the many tender sequences draw you in, a pratfall is never far away.
Technically it's high grade stuff. Holden is superb and he drags O'Neal along with him to avert what could have been a casting disaster. They make a fine and beguiling partnership and both men are turning in some of their best ever work here. The photography of the Arizona locations is outstanding, with Lathrop (Lonely Are the Brave) managing to add some ethereal beauty to the story. Goldsmith knocks out a triffic score, part blunderbuss Western excitement, part intimate pal to all and sundry.
Skip any version that is under two hours, for that is an MGM crime. The MOD DVD comes complete with overture, intermission, entr'acte and exit music, while TCM shows the uncut version but minus the aforementioned roadshow segments. This is not a Western for those looking for a Magnificent Seven style actioner, for as fun as that great movie is, this is an altogether different and mature beast, and it deserves to be better known. 9/10
helpful•114
- hitchcockthelegend
- Jan 24, 2016
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $277,092
- Runtime2 hours 16 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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