Dutch...

Probably so, yeah.

Ernest Borgnine in this role seemed to uncannily match up his villain roles(like Fatso Judson in From Here to Eternity and the bad guy in Bad Day at Black Rock) ...with the lovable and humane guy he won a Best Actor for as "Marty"(1955.)

I mean, Dutch shoots women and uses them as human shields in a gunbattle, and he's certainly prepared to slaughter other men...but he has a code of honor(like Pike and he FOLLOWS Pike) and he has a heart. It is Dutch who is most moved by Angel's plight, having to give him up to torture...though eventually it is Pike's guilt and sadness that will stir the men to action.

Still, Dutch is there to greet Pike with chuckles when the other three men are moving to the big showdown(its like Dutch is saying "I was wondering when you would decide to do this...let's go!")...it is Dutch who chuckles and stares and GOADS Pike into opening the gunbattle on everyone by killing the German...it is Dutch who cheers Pike on in the final machine-gun-dynamite climactic moments("Give 'em hell, Pike!") and it is Dutch who dies alongside his best pal -- his brother, really -- calling out the man's name as his final words on earth.

I agree. He's like a faithful old dog. Borgnine's the best.

I agree.

Whereas Pike Bishop is the brains, I found the charecter of Dutch Engstrom to be the heart of the group.

His unwavering devotion to Pike, coupled with a deep rooted sense of frontier justice and equality personifies the subtext of the film. He is by far the most complex of them all, and he wears his emotions on his sleeve. It is his sense of injustice that comples Dutch to suggest they give Angels pueblo a case of rifles and a crate of ammunition, the act that brings their ultimate downfall. On one hand Dutch is very respectful of women, asking them politley for a dance, and paying for a tortilla. It is Dutch who decides not to participate at the whorehouse, preferring to whittle outside alone lost in thought. Yet in battle he has no hesitation to shoot a child, a woman, or use one as a shield.

Dutch and Pike have their differences about the meaning of honor. To Pike a mans word is his bond, and to Dutch what matters most is to whom you give your word to. But these differences do not divide the men, but rather stremgthen them. Dutch is a key element in the mechanism of The Wild Bunch. He is fluent in Spanish, and understands the Mexican culture. His ability to diffuse the explosive situation when Angel shoots Teresa shows this. Yet that same cool headed temperment can become explosive or sarcastic as when says "Oh,..I'm SURE!", after General Fredrich Mohr suggests "They all need a bath".

Lastly Dutch knows that without each other they cannot survive. When Lyle and Tector Gorch are arguing how they want to divide the "silver rings", Dutch sides with Pike and Sykes. To him money comes second to the unity of the group.

Great film!

Well said!

If one were to examine the body of his work they could easily say that he always seemed to play to the part and serve it well. I will always admire him for what he brought to the pantheon of cinema. That being an absence of ego in his work.