As I slipped the DVD into the machine, my expectations for Major Dundee were sky high. From my point of view, this movie has almost everything going for it:
This sounded like one of my favorite movies, "Vera Cruz" on steroids. Yet, I have never been so disappointed in a movie as I was in "Major Dundee".
It starts off OK, but as it progressed I started to get worried. By the middle of the movie, I decided that I was bored and didn't care about any of the characters. Then suddenly, the plot devolved into a series of almost entirely unrelated vignettes that had very little to do with the first half of the film. I would have laughed out loud at some of the scenes if I hadn't been so thoroughly bored and deflated. The proceedings dragged on for over two hours, although it felt like four hours.
It's hardly worth detailing the carnage, but here are some low lights:
3 out of 10 IMDb rating for me. It fared better in my ranking system due to its great landscapes and colorful background themes, with 13 points, slightly above average.
- Directed by Sam Peckinpah, one of my favorite directors,
- A dream cast of Charlton Heston, Richard Harris and James Coburn with a utopia of rich character actors supporting them. Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, Dub Taylor, I could go on..
- Colorful setting during the Civil War in the Apache country of Maximilian Mexico.
- Stunning location filming in Mexico.
- A "frenemy" relationship between Union officer Heston and Confederate officer Harris, who warily join forces to retrieve kidnapped children from the Apaches, fighting their way through brigades of French lancers all the way.
This sounded like one of my favorite movies, "Vera Cruz" on steroids. Yet, I have never been so disappointed in a movie as I was in "Major Dundee".
It starts off OK, but as it progressed I started to get worried. By the middle of the movie, I decided that I was bored and didn't care about any of the characters. Then suddenly, the plot devolved into a series of almost entirely unrelated vignettes that had very little to do with the first half of the film. I would have laughed out loud at some of the scenes if I hadn't been so thoroughly bored and deflated. The proceedings dragged on for over two hours, although it felt like four hours.
It's hardly worth detailing the carnage, but here are some low lights:
- There is absolutely no chemistry between Heston and Harris. Made me appreciate Burt Lancaster's performance in "Vera Cruz" all the more.
- Heston is wooden, Harris is miscast. Both looked liked they knew the movie was going to bomb.
- Coburn has to play the most uncharismatic "super scout" in the history of Westerns. And he commits the cardinal sin of wearing a ridiculous looking cowboy hat.
- It's hard to even describe the absurd plot directions the movie takes in the second half. There's like two or three different movies going on inside the same movie. I'm used to plot holes in movies, but these were plot black holes.
- Completely useless narration by bugler.
- Senta Berger's presence is one of the most gratuitous and implausible romantic subplots in the history of film.
- Peckinpah-philes like to blame this mess on studio interference. B.S. Nothing could have saved this turkey.
3 out of 10 IMDb rating for me. It fared better in my ranking system due to its great landscapes and colorful background themes, with 13 points, slightly above average.