Which actor played Pike Bishop in 'The Wild Bunch'?

William Holden played Pike Bishop in The Wild Bunch.

Released in 1969, Sam Peckinpah's revisionist Western follows Pike and his aging gang during 1913, as the frontier outlaw era gives way to modern technology, organized law enforcement, and political violence. Pike plans one last railroad robbery before escaping across the Mexican border.

Holden's performance was a major late-career success. Peckinpah considered several prominent actors for Pike, including Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, and James Stewart, before casting Holden. The role required a leader who was both ruthless and bound by a personal code of loyalty.

A common mix-up is confusing Holden with Robert Ryan, who plays Deke Thornton, Pike's former partner and the reluctant leader of the posse pursuing him. Ernest Borgnine plays Dutch Engstrom, while Ben Johnson plays Tector Gorch. The film's graphic violence and morally conflicted characters helped define the revisionist Western.