The Undefeated (1969)

After the Civil War, ex-Confederate soldiers heading for a new life in Mexico run into ex-Union cavalrymen selling horses to the Mexican government but they must join forces to fight off Mexican bandits and revolutionaries.

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writers:

James Lee Barrett (screenplay), Stanley Hough (story) (as Stanley L. Hough)

Stars:

John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Antonio Aguilar

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Wayne	...	Col. John Henry Thomas
Rock Hudson	...	Col. James Langdon
Antonio Aguilar	...	Gen. Rojas (as Tony Aguilar)
Roman Gabriel	...	Blue Boy
Marian McCargo	...	Ann
Lee Meriwether	...	Margaret
Merlin Olsen	...	Little George
Melissa Newman	...	Charlotte
Bruce Cabot	...	Jeff Newby
Jan-Michael Vincent	...	Bubba Wilkes (as Michael Vincent)
Ben Johnson	...	Short Grub
Edward Faulkner	...	Anderson
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Webster
Paul Fix	...	Gen. Joe Masters
Royal Dano	...	Maj. Sanders

Storyline

After the Civil War, ex-Union Colonel John Henry Thomas and ex-Confederate Colonel James Langdon are leading two disparate groups of people through strife-torn Mexico. John Henry and company are bringing horses to the unpopular Mexican government for $35 a head while Langdon is leading a contingent of displaced southerners, who are looking for a new life in Mexico after losing their property to carpetbaggers. The two men are eventually forced to mend their differences in order to fight off both bandits and revolutionaries, as they try to lead their friends and kin to safety.

---

Plot Keywords:

ex soldier | french | army | band | cat | 

---

Taglines:

Across 2000 miles of savage wasteland ... they lived a thundering adventure that rocked two nations !

---

Genres:

Western

---

Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish French

Release Date:

27 November 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Undefeated

Filming Locations:

Bavispe River, Sonora, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$7,115,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$8,000,000, 31 December 1969

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Color by Deluxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rock Hudson recalled that John Wayne wore lipstick in the movie, which he applied himself. Wayne told him his lips did not show on film without lipstick.

---

Goofs

Near the end when JW and RH deliver the horses to General Rojas, there's a young Melissa Sue Anderson look a like standing behind the General on the steps. At the beginning of the scene she is standing in front of Lee Meriwether. In the next shot she is standing in front of Marian McCargo, then it's back to Lee Meriwether, then over to McCargo again. As Lee steps out to talk to James, she's in front of her again, then back to McCargo. Finally she's alone in front of the group.

---

Quotes

Cpl. Little George: Oh, no. Not again.

---

Connections

Featured in Rock Hudson's Home Movies (1992)

User Reviews

Duke Yank and Rock Reb

The Civil War is over and it's been pretty costly to both sides. John Wayne has lost nearly every man who volunteered to serve with him and is broke. Rock Hudson who was also a Colonel on the other side went broke financing a regiment of his own and the Yankee carpetbaggers are ready to take over his plantation.

Wayne leads the remainder of his men to capture and tame wild horses to sell. Hudson gets an offer from Emperor Maximilian of Mexico to bring his people and resettle there. He needs all the help he can get to prop up his unpopular government. Hudson is certainly bringing a better quality of Anglo than Burt Lancaster did in Vera Cruz.

When Wayne feels a rip off coming from some middlemen horsetraders, he settles it in the usual Duke fashion and heads to Mexico himself. There the parties of Wayne and Hudson meet and their stories are entwined from then on.

With Wayne and Hudson co-starring, The Undefeated was led by two men who between them were number one at the box office for about a dozen years combined. Wayne was coming off his Oscar winning performance in True Grit. This film was definitely guaranteed an audience.

The story is both men are decent fellows and born leaders. Each is trying to pick up the pieces of civilian life and each is the leader of a party looking to them for leadership. A healthy and mutual respect develops between them despite previous political differences.

Wayne gets a whole load of players who worked with him before for this part. As he grew older he liked to have familiar faces around him. He had the star clout to insure it as well. Ben Johnson, Bruce Cabot, Edward Faulkner, Harry Carey, Jr., are some of the Wayne film veterans here.

Dub Taylor in his only film with the Duke does a very entertaining job as McCartney the cook. Dub did so many westerns when he wasn't doing hillbillies it's amazing that his and Wayne's path crossed only once.

This was also an early film for Jan Michael Vincent who went on to a star career of his own. Two members of the Los Angeles Rams, Roman Gabriel and Merlin Olsen were in this as well. Gabriel played a surrogate son to Wayne and rival for the hand of Melissa Newman to Vincent. Merlin Olsen is also here as a Confederate aide to Hudson. Gabriel decided movies wasn't his thing, but Olsen certainly had a substantial career after football.

The Undefeated has a nice, easy and charming flow to it, just like The Comancheros. Wayne and Hudson work well together in their only joint outing. Less action than you normally have in a Wayne film, but it's mixed in well with some good comic moments.

As Duke said parodying one of his one lines from a previous hit film of his, "Let's Take 'Em to Mexico." You'll like the ride.