June 18, 1969 –
Sam Peckinpah’s violent western elegy, The Wild Bunch, premiered on this date.
Robert Ryan’s incessant complaints about not receiving top billing so annoyed director Sam Peckinpah that he decided to “punish” Ryan. In the opening credits, after freezing the screen on closeups of William Holden’s and Ernest Borgnine’s faces while listing them, Peckinpah froze the scene on several horses’ rear ends as Ryan was listed.
The Haus of Dcaligari 