“The Wild Bunch”, Killing It at Fifty, or Bloody Disaster? Why a Technical Masterpiece Failed at the Box Office.
Critics called it one of America’s 100 best films. Viewers…not so much, proving filmmakers control what we see, but not how we see it.
1969 was a wonderful year in film. “Drugstore Cowboy” won the Best Picture Oscar, (John Schlesinger won Best Director, Waldo Salt won Best Adapted Screenplay.) and “Z” won the Best Foreign Picture Oscar.
Bill Goldman’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” won Best Original Screenplay, (Conrad Hall won for cinematography.) Maggie Smith won for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brody”, Goldie Hawn (Yes, that Goldie Hawn.) won an Oscar for “Cactus Flower”, Gig Young won for “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” and John Wayne (finally) took home an Oscar for “True Grit”.
“Hello Dolly”, “Sweet Charity”, “Paint Your Wagon”, “Alice’s Restaurant”, “The Battle of Britain”, “The Italian Job”, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” were the year’s also-rans.
“Easy Rider” won at the box office, doing over $100 million on a $400,000 budget. “Butch Cassidy” did $102 million on a $6 million budget. “True Grit” did $31 million, “Drugstore Cowboy” hit $26 million…
