One of the greatest Westerns ever made and a true masterpiece of American cinema, The Wild Bunch is a violent and stylish classic that follows a group of aging outlaws struggling to adapt to an ever-changing world. Sam Peckinpah is at the top of his game staging epic and bloody shootouts, utilizing camera and editing techniques that are now commonplace but were groundbreaking at the time. Given its reputation and legacy as one of the greatest movies ever made, remaking The Wild Bunch seems like a fruitless endeavor, but that certainly won't stop Hollywood from trying. Before his death in 2012, Tony Scott was attached to a remake with Brian Helgeland writing the script, although it was unclear if this version would be a modern spin on the story or a period piece. Last year, reports surfaced that Will Smith was in talks to both star and produce in the update that would take place in the modern day, with the story reportedly following a DEA agent and his team facing off against a Mexican cartel, which sounds absolutely nothing like The Wild Bunch whatsoever. The movie set a benchmark that no remake could ever come close to matching, so why use the title for a project that bears so little resemblance to the original at all? Surely they could just use the basic narrative structure as inspiration and create an original action movie, without having to call it The Wild Bunch.
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