How The West Was Lost

You'll probably have noticed the recent slew of westerns that are making their way into production and heralding the way for an attempt to revive the frontier as the latest Hollywood vogue. But, as actors prepare to dust off their tobacco-spitting and bow-legged swaggers, some bright spark has decided that one of the great western movies would benefit from a contemporary workover. Sam Peckinpah's seminal work, The Wild Bunch, has been condemned to this most ignoble of fates, with Training Day writer, David Ayer charged with putting it under the knife for a modern 're-imagining'. For those of you unfamiliar with the 1969 film (yes, that's right, the two of you at the back), The Wild Bunch is set just before the outbreak of WWI as a band of outlaws undertake their last big robbery, targeting an army train on the Mexican border. But times have changed and, between the Mexican army and a gang of bounty hunters, the band may find their lawless past catching up with them. The remake on the other hand will update events to present day Mexico and focus on a robbery amid the cartels and corruption of the drug trade. Not a winning idea, we have to say but then not every remake falls flat on its face. One thing is for sure, with maximum audience appeal foremost on their minds, the studio will almost certainly refuse to sanction even half the gore and flying claret that so memorably punctuates the original.