Vitals

Robert Ryan as Deke Thornton, conflicted bounty hunter and ex-bandit

Texas to Mexico, Spring 1913

Film: The Wild Bunch
Release Date: June 18, 1969
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Costume Designer: James R. Silke

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Released today in 1969, The Wild Bunch reimagined the American frontier on screen. The New Hollywood movement ushered in a new level of brutality with films like Bonnie and Clyde (1967), which—along with his frustration over the Vietnam War and the lack of realism in earlier depictions of the Old West—inspired director Sam Peckinpah to return behind the lens.

Based on a screenplay co-written by Peckinpah, Walon Green, and Roy N. Sickner, The Wild Bunch follows an aging gang led by the grizzled Pike Bishop (William Holden), pursued into Mexico by a posse of ragtag bounty hunters led by Pike’s former partner, Deke Thornton (Robert Ryan), against the backdrop of the nation’s decade-long revolution.

Much like another 1969 western, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Wild Bunch wrestles with fading codes of honor against the inevitability of time and technology, not just for old-timers like Pike and Deke but also audiences who had come to expect sanitized escapism from the long-established western genre. Peckinpah hoped the unflinching bloodshed in The Wild Bunch would contrast enough against the romanticized shootouts of earlier cowboy films to unsettle American audiences numbed by nightly broadcasts from Vietnam.

---

What’d He Wear?

Deke wears a weathered light taupe-brown felt cowboy hat, styled with a narrow brown leather band, self-edged brim, and a tall, pinched crown. While still undeniably a cowboy hat—John Wayne often wore this shape, after all!—the pinched crown foreshadows the more businesslike fedoras that would emerge as predominant gentlemen’s headgear as the century progressed, addressing The Wild Bunch‘s commentary about 20th century America being no country for old gunslingers.

Deke’s two-toned brown herringbone-woven jacket features slubs flecked into the wool fabric. Worn like modern sports coats, the single-breasted design follows the contemporary design for lounge suits, which were quickly replacing more formal frock coats as favored daywear during the 1910s. However, the two vestigial buttons positioned over the back waist-line are a holdover from frock and riding coats, when they were intended for riders to fasten up their long tails while on horseback.

Black felt piping trims the edges of the jacket, including along the peak lapels and the flaps covering the straight hip pockets, with a matching black-piped band around the end of each sleeve in lieu of the traditional cuff-buttons. The lapels roll over the top of the three-button front, creating a natty 3/2-roll effect associated with American sack suits and fashion-forward Italian tailoring.

Aside from flashbacks to his time in Pike’s gang, Deke’s costume hardly varies throughout The Wild Bunch, with the exception of his waistcoats. He initially wears a copper felt single-breasted waistcoat (vest), styled with short notch lapels and two low-positioned welted pockets.

As Deke leads his posse deeper into Mexico in pursuit of Pike’s bunch, his waistcoat changes into a cooler brown-toned corduroy waistcoat with lower-positioned lapels. Deke keeps both vests fully unbuttoned.

Another addition to Deke’s wardrobe with the trek through Mexico is an olive-drab cotton neckerchief to catch his sweat in the increasingly warm climate. He wears the kerchief knotted in the front, pulling the tails out over the front of his open-neck off-white cotton shirt. This long-sleeved shirt has a point collar, button cuffs, and a plain front with dark-brown contrasting buttons.

Deke maintains consistent tonality with his light-tan cotton trousers, perhaps made from a chino cloth like those issued at the time by the U.S. Army for their tropical khaki uniforms. These flat-front trousers have a long rise to Robert Ryan’s natural waist, where they’re styled with belt loops; typically anachronistic in westerns due to the setting, belt loops were a relatively new addition to men’s trousers in this post-Edwardian era, especially on military-informed apparel. The brown leather belt has a simple gold-toned single-prong buckle.

Over his waist and trouser belt, Deke naturally wears a darker brown leather gun-belt with a ranger-style front strap that closes through a dulled silver-toned single-prong buckle. He carries his Single Action Army in an open-top holster rigged to the right side of this belt.

Deke’s trousers have slanted front pockets and are cut straight through the legs to plain-hemmed bottoms, which he keeps over the shafts of his well-worn brown leather cowboy boots.

Deke also wears black leather gloves to protect his hands while shooting.

---

The Guns

Deke Thornton uses a Winchester Model 1892 Saddle Ring Carbine as his primary weapon while leading the hunt for his old gang—many of whom also wield Model 1892 carbines. Designed by John M. Browning, this sturdy lever-action series was introduced in 1892 to compete with newer Marlin rifles by updating Browning’s earlier Winchester Model 1873 design by replacing its toggle-locked action with a stronger dual-block locking system.

The Saddle Ring Carbine emerged as a functionally similar but dimensionally shorter version of the full-length Model 1892 rifle, intended for easier handling and mounted use—hence the titular saddle ring on the left side of the receiver, to be tied to a sling or scabbard. In addition to shorter barrels that ranged between 16 and 20 inches—compared to the full-length rifle’s 24-inch barrel—the carbine is visually distinguished by its shorter fore-end, banded barrel, and simplified sights.

Winchester manufactured more than a million Model 1892 rifles and carbines until production ceased during World War II. The Model 1892 was offered for a handful of centerfire cartridges, originally .32-20 Winchester, .38-40 Winchester, and .44-40 Winchester, with the new .25-20 Winchester added to the lineup in 1895 and even a brief run of .218 Bee rifles produced in the 1930s. Of these, the .44-40 WCF round was the most prevalent.

Deke also follows the example of Pike’s gang—and generations of western heroes and villains to follow—with a Single Action Army holstered in his gun-belt. Immortalized as the “Peacemaker”, this iconic design was introduced by Colt in 1873 and continues to be offered in a variety of barrel lengths and calibers, though the classic SAA configuration is considered to be either .45 Long Colt or .44-40 WCF, which many westerners carried to have matching ammunition in their revolvers and rifles.

---

How to Get the Look

Even when not on the hunt for your old comrade-in-arms, you can channel a dash of Peckinpah-esque danger at the office in a brown herringbone sports coat, off-white open-neck shirt, and tonally harmonious trousers. Even if you leave the hat (and, hopefully, the gun-belt) at home, a set of boots can add that western edge.

• Brown herringbone wool single-breasted 3/2-roll jacket with black felt-piped peak lapels, straight flapped hip pockets, black felt-banded cuffs, and decorative 2-button back
• Off-white cotton shirt with point collar, plain front (with brown buttons), and button cuffs
• Olive-drab cotton neckerchief
• Light-tan cotton chino flat-front trousers with belt loops, slanted front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Brown leather belt with gold-toned single-prong buckle
• Dark-brown leather gun-belt with ranger-style front strap (and dulled silver-toned single-prong buckle) and open-top right-side holster
• Brown leather cowboy boots
• Light taupe-brown felt cowboy hat with pinched crown and narrow brown leather band
• Black leather gloves

---

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

---

The Quote

We’re after men. And I wish to God I was with them.