*The Wild Bunch Color Photo Inscribed By and similar items

Contemporary 8x10 in. US single-weight glossy color photograph from the classic 1960's western action/adventure drama, THE WILD BUNCH, released in 1969 by Warner Bros. and directed by Sam Peckinpah. The image features a close exterior shot of Dutch (Ernest Borgnine) as he holds his hat. This photograph was inscribed in blue Sharpie by Ernest Borgnine to Eric Caidin, the former collector/dealer owner of the now-defunct Hollywood Book and Poster Company in Hollywood. It is in very fine- condition with a few small creases from handling over time. Silent Cinema Inc. (the seller here) guarantees the authenticity of Ernest Borgnine's inscription and signature. Provenance: The Estate of Eric Caidin. Personalities such as Ernest Borgnine would have a large quantity of various publicity photos of themselves professionally printed which they would sign for collectors (for a fee) at memorabilia shows such as the former Hollywood Collectors Shows that were held in Burbank, California. The Wild Bunch has been credited with playing a significant role in the use of violence in modern cinema, establishing the limits of post-Production Code Hollywood, shaping the Motion Picture Association of America's rating system, and redefining the Western genre. Most effectively, it demystified the western and the genre's heroic and cavalier characters. Director Sam Peckinpah and Walon Green, who co-authored the script with Peckinpah, felt that this project required a realistic look at the characters of the Old West, whose actions on screen had rarely matched the violent and dastardly reality of the men on which they were based. Green summarized the authors' feelings when he said "I always liked Westerns, but I always felt they were too heroic and too glamorous. I'd read enough to know that Billy the Kid shot people in the back of the head while they were drinking coffee." Both Green and Peckinpah felt it was important to not only show that the film's protagonists were violent men, but that they achieved their violence in unheroic and horrific ways, such as using people as human shields and killing unarmed bystanders during robberies. Ernest Borgnine’s big break came in 1949, when he made his acting debut on Broadway playing a male nurse in Harvey. In 1951, Borgnine moved to Los Angeles to pursue a movie career, and made his film debut as Bill Street in The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951). His career took off in 1953 when he was cast in the role of Sergeant "Fatso" Judson in From Here to Eternity (1953). This memorable performance led to numerous supporting roles as "heavies" in a steady string of dramas and westerns. He played against type in 1955 by securing the lead role of Marty Piletti, a shy and sensitive butcher, in Marty (1955). He won an Academy Award for "Best Actor" for his performance, despite strong competition from Spencer Tracy, Frank Sinatra, James Dean, and James Cagney. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Borgnine performed memorably in such films as The Catered Affair (1956), Ice Station Zebra (1968) and Emperor of the North (1973). Between 1962 and 1966, he played Lt. Commander Quinton McHale in the popular television series McHale's Navy (1962). In early 1984, he returned to television as Dominic Santini in the action series Airwolf (1984) co-starring Jan-Michael Vincent, and in 1995, he was cast in the comedy series, The Single Guy (1995) as doorman Manny Cordoba. He also appeared in several made-for-TV movies.