Pike and the others arm themselves to rescue their friend by force. Mapache initially agrees to release Angel, only to cut his throat at the last second. The gang instantly opens fire and guns down the general. While the nearby soldiers are frozen in shock, Pike calmly takes aim and kills Mohr. This begins a bloody gunfight that kills Pike, Dutch, the remaining gang members, Mohr's aide, every member of Mapache's staff, and most of the assembled troops. Thornton arrives and finds Pike already dead. Thornton finds a loaded revolver on Pike's belt and takes it as a sign that the days of men like him are over. Feeling outdated and tired, Thornton allows the remaining posse members to greedily strip Pike and his men of their possessions before taking them back to Texas for the bounty, while he stays behind. After some time, Sykes arrives with the elder from Angel's village and a band of rebels, indicating that they caught up with the bounty hunters, avenged the gang's deaths, and buried them properly. Sykes invites Thornton to join the coming revolution against the Mexican government. Thornton smiles and rides off with them. Cast William Holden as Pike Bishop Ernest Borgnine as "Dutch" Engstrom Robert Ryan as Deke Thornton Edmond O'Brien as Freddie Sykes Warren Oates as Lyle Gorch Jaime Sánchez as Angel Ben Johnson as Tector Gorch Emilio Fernández as General Mapache Strother Martin as Coffer L.Q. Jones as T.C. Albert Dekker as Pat Harrigan Bo Hopkins as Clarence "Crazy" Lee Jorge Russek as Major Zamorra Alfonso Arau as Lieutenant Herrera Dub Taylor as Wainscoat Chano Urueta as Don José Elsa Cárdenas as Elsa Fernando Wagner as Commander Mohr Paul Harper as Ross Bill Hart as Jess Rayford Barnes as Buck Stephen Ferry as Sergeant McHale Sonia Amelio as Teresa Aurora Clavel as Aurora Production Development In April 1965, producer Reno Carrell optioned an original story and screenplay by Walon Green and Roy Sickner, called The Wild Bunch. In 1967, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts producers Kenneth Hyman and Phil Feldman were interested in having Sam Peckinpah rewrite and direct an adventure film called The Diamond Story. A professional outcast due to the production difficulties of his previous film, Major Dundee (1965), and his firing from the set of The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Peckinpah's stock had improved following his critically acclaimed work on the television film Noon Wine (1966). At the