Editing The Wild Bunch (section)

===Editing===
The editing of the film is notable in that shots from multiple angles were spliced together in rapid succession, often at different speeds, placing greater emphasis on the chaotic nature of the action and the gunfights.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dancyger|first=Ken|title=The Technique of Film and Video Editing|year=2010|publisher=Focal Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-240-81397-4|page=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m20GrX-ZmmoC&q=peckinpah+the+wild+bunch+editing&pg=PA144}}</ref>

Lou Lombardo, having previously worked with Peckinpah on ''Noon Wine'', was personally hired by the director to edit ''The Wild Bunch''. Peckinpah had wanted an editor who would be loyal to him. Lombardo's youth was also a plus, as he was not bound by traditional conventions.

One of Lombardo's first contributions was to show Peckinpah an episode of the TV series ''[[Felony Squad]]'' he had edited in 1967. The episode, entitled "My Mommy Got Lost", included a slow motion sequence where [[Joe Don Baker]] is shot by the police. The scene mixed slow motion with normal speed, having been filmed at 24 frames per second, but triple printed optically at 72 frames per second.<ref name="david a. cook">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=David A. |chapter=Ballistic Balletics: Styles of Violent Representation in The Wild Bunch and After |title=Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch |url=https://archive.org/details/sampeckinpahswil00prin |url-access=limited |editor1-first=Stephen |editor1-last=Prince |year=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=0521586062|page=[https://archive.org/details/sampeckinpahswil00prin/page/n157 145]}}</ref> Peckinpah was reportedly thrilled and told Lombardo: "Let's try some of that when we get down to Mexico!" The director would film the major shootouts with six cameras, operating at various film rates, including 24 frames per second, 30 frames per second, 60 frames per second, 90 frames per second, and 120 frames per second. When the scenes were eventually cut together, the action would shift from slow to fast to slower still, giving time an elastic quality never before seen in motion pictures up to that time.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Weddle|author-link= David Weddle| title=If They Move...Kill 'Em!| publisher=Grove Press |year = 1994|pages=333–334 | isbn= 0-8021-3776-8 }}</ref>

Further editing was done to secure a favorable rating from the [[MPAA]], which was in the process of establishing a [[Motion Picture Association of America film rating system#Replacement of Hays Code|new set of codes]]. Peckinpah and his editors cut the film to satisfy the new, expansive R-rating parameters which, for the first time, designated a film as being unsuitable for children. Without this new system in place, the film could not have been released with its explicit images of bloodshed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Prince |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Prince |title=Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch |url=https://archive.org/details/sampeckinpahswil00prin |url-access=limited |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=0-521-58433-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sampeckinpahswil00prin/page/n27 15]–16 |editor1-first=Stephen |editor1-last=Prince |chapter=Savage Poet of American Cinema}}</ref>