Major Dundee

I grew up watching westerns, and saw this one every now and then on TV. Heston played one of my great heroes; a Federal Army Officer commanding a regiment squarely situated with Lincoln's United States, and under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant. He is out in the west, has men of honor under his command, save for the occasional horse thief and rebel.

It's a tale of obsession. With Melville as the inspiration and Peckinpah helming the project, how could it go wrong?

Well, as the historians on the commentary track reminded me, market forces were at work back at the studio. And so it was that what could have been a historic film about tracking down an Apache war-band, was turned into an overlong film involving a love interest and Imperial French guards.

Oh boy.

For the most part it's exceptionally staged. The only foible is the story itself. The main plot gets resolved in act two, and so the story falters there. The story also meanders with the love interest, and what started out as a plot driven story regarding justice and revenge in the never-ending struggle between the natives and the white-man, turns into an elongated adventure regarding the life and times of Major Amos Charles Dundee.

Instead of a Melville like tale, we get a brief chronology of an army officer as went to resolve one issue, but stirred up others in the process. Huh.

So, can we castigate it as a bad film? It's a tough call. I think it's better to say that the film started out on an almost misleading note, but promised on the title; a film about Major Dundee. We get the sense that the film is going to stay on one topic, one plot, one story, but winds up embracing a ton of others.

For all that there is a lot of symbolism and deep stuff operating here. We examine Dundee's command decisions and his command detachment to pursue a single minded goal. Note Harris's change in shirts as Heston's character flirts with debauchery. Note the change in landscape as Heston and his forces pursue their goal. Note the uniforms and comment on contemporary social upheavals of the time (as was noted on the commentary track, but yes, I spotted it before it was pointed out).

That's not all, there's also a coming of age tale here, as well as a romance (however retrofitted, and I'll go ahead and say it, I don't care how beautiful the Austrian actress is, and she is stunning, her role and tale do not belong).

All in all it is an entertaining tale, and the ever sly mind might see the climatic finale as Peckinpah's comment on what power got us embroiled in conflicts involving US forces fighting native contingents. Ring any bells? That could be reading too much into it, but based on what I know about the director, I don't find it too far off the mark.

It's almost an ingenious film. It's almost a classic. One could even call it a flawed classic. View it for what it's worth. If it seems somewhat odd, then keep what I told you in mind.

A textbook example of how a penny-pinching producer can ruin a potentially great movie by basically sandbagging its (admittedly truculent) director, MAJOR DUNDEE nevertheless works as an answer of thoughts to the glorious Cavalry westerns of John Ford. Sam Peckinpah, on his third film overall and first one with a large-scale budget, was somehow able to pull a good film out of his controversial hat, thanks in no small part to his cast.

Heston plays an ambitious, ego-driven warden of a prison outpost in New Mexico in the closing months of the Civil War. When a rampaging band of Apache slaughter a family at a nearby ranch and then take apart a regiment he sends out to destroy them, Heston sees his way to get out of his routine job and get promoted. But to do this, he must form a garrison of troopers comprised of civilians, blacks, and Confederate prisoners. One of the latter is Ben Tyreen (Richard Harris), who had once been his friend but is now his worst enemy. Furthermore, his pursuit of the Apache, once it starts, will take the troopers across the Rio Grande into French-occupied northern Mexico. Now, they'll not only have to worry about hunting down the Apache and keeping the peace amongst themselves, they also have to worry about French lancers.

Despite the film being butchered so maliciously to the point where many critics rightly complained about its incoherence, plus a marital music score that Peckinpah detested royally (he could have used Jerry Goldsmith here), MAJOR DUNDEE succeeds by pulling out as many stops as it can. It benefits from being shot almost exclusively on location in Mexico (under truly ghastly conditions, which would have happened even without studio interference). The photography by Sam Leavitt is also quite good (though, in another case where the producer overrode the director, Peckinpah couldn't use his favorite cameraman Lucien Ballard on the shoot). And there are those moments of violence and bloodshed that predate, though in a more 'PG-13' fashion, Peckinpah's next film, the far more violent 1969 epic THE WILD BUNCH.

Heston is as good as ever in the title role. But surprisingly, he is nearly matched on screen by Harris, who plays his role as an Irish supporter of the Confederacy with great dash and insight. James Coburn also does good journeyman work as the one-armed scout Sam Potts. Peckinpah rounds out the cast with his Usual Suspects: Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, R.G. Armstrong, L.Q. Jones, John Davis Chandler, Slim Pickens, and Dub Taylor.

In spite of all its flaws, MAJOR DUNDEE is still quite viewable, which is why I rank it an 8 out of 10.

NOTE: In 2005, for its 40th anniversary re-release, Sony Pictures released an extended version of MAJOR DUNDEE on DVD, with twelve minutes of footage once thought irretrievably lost placed back in; and they've replaced the original marital music score in favor of one by Christopher Caliendo. It is closer to what Peckinpah had in mind, but with thirty minutes of additional footage irretrievably lost, there's no telling whatsoever how much better this film might have been had Peckinpah not been sandbagged. Nevertheless, it still stands as a slightly flawed but never dull Civil War western.

Major Dundee (1965) was a test of wills between Sam Peckinpah and the studio heads, it was also a proto-type for his true master piece The Wild Bunch. The movie seems to be edited by foreign hands and out of place music has been added to the soundtrack. The most annoying thing about this film (besides the bad editing and music) is the narration, it seems so out of place.

Major Dundee is about a drunken battle harden officer who must lead a rag tag bunch of p.o.w.s, prisoners and calvary men across the southwestern desert and into Mexico searching for some "wild Indians". As they travel further and further across the arid plains, the people within the troop discover death, disease and horror along the way. They also learn something about themselves.

What could have been an epic western drenched in booze and blood was sloppily edited so it theaters could fit in more viewings and the content shocked the movie board. This led to Sam Peckinpah to become disillusioned with Hollywood and drift in and out of television before he got another chance at making another film within the studio system.

Recommended for Sam Peckinpah fans, others need not apply.

In 1864, the Apache warriors led by Sierra Charriba slaughter a Union troop of soldiers and a family of settlers. They abduct their three sons and flee to Mexico. Major Amos Charles Dundee (Charlton Heston), who was disgraced at the Battle of Gettysburg and sent to a POW outpost in New Mexico, decides to hunt down Sierra Charriba and his Apache seeking for glory. He recruits an army of Confederate prisoners-of-war, black soldiers, a reverend that knows the boys and outcast people (thieves, drunken etc.) and chases the Apache group seeking also revenge, crossing illegally the border with Mexico.

The restored version of "Major Dundee" is a good film directed by Sam Peckinpah. The story of revenge and seeking glory by a stubborn officer has great moments, mainly the constant friction between Union and Confederate soldiers that are forced to team-up. The lack of chemistry between Charlton Heston and Senta Berger in an unnecessary romance could have been edited. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Juramento de Vingança" ("Vengeance Oath")

Exciting and enjoyable Western with a very fine cast , luxurious cinematography and gorgeous outdoors from Mexico . This cultured actioner Western contains impressive feats , dashingly violent scenes , rider pursuits , breathtaking Indians attacks and loads of crossfire .Interesting and mythical film follows a misfit group across Mexican territory to chase a renegade Apache called Sierra Charriba who is loosely based on the real-life Apache warrior chief Vittorio . It is set during the last winter of the Civil War, cavalry officer Major Amos Charles Dundee (Charlton Heston) leads a contentious troop of Army regulars along with a band of Confederate prisoners led by Captain Benjamin Tyreen (Richard Harris) who volunteer to go into Mexico and track down a band of rampaging Apache Indians .

This is a flawed but watchable Peckinpah including thrills , emotion , shootouts , go riding and a love story between Heston and Senta Berger. An overlong film , approx. 124 minutes , being severely cut from its premiere , and directed with typical verve by the great Sam Peckinpah . Rich in texture and including intelligent screenplay full of incredibly lyrics scenes . Taut excitement throughout , beautifully photographed and spectacular bloodletting . Vibrant as well as brilliant all-star-cast displays exceptional performances . Very good acting by main actors , as Heston as tough officer leading assorted misfits against Apaches and Richard Harris as two-fisted rebel Confederate . Although Charlton Heston famously did not get along with Richard Harris, who frequently stayed up drinking into the early hours and was often late on set. During filming, Sam Peckinpah was so obnoxious and abusive towards his actors that Charlton Heston actually threatened the director with a saber ; Heston later remarked that this was the only time he had ever threatened anybody on a movie set . Lavish production by Columbia Pictures that wanted to dismiss Sam Peckinpah but Charlton Heston convinced it not to, when he threatened to return his $300,000 fee and leave the project. Support cast is frankly well , plenty of familiar faces . Many of the actors who came to be known as the "Sam Peckinpah Stock Company" appeared in this film and four years later in Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch (1969): Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, L. Q. Jones, Dub Taylor, Aurora Clavel, Enrique Lucero. Furthermore , other actors regular in Western movies and Peckinpah films as James Coburn , R. G. Armstrong , Karl Swenson , Michael Pate and John Davis Chandler. Atmospheric and evocative musical score by Daniel Amfitheatroph . Glimmer and evocative cinematography in Panavision by excellent director of photography Sam Leavitt , though Peckinpah, replacing his ordinary cameraman Lucien Ballard, with whom he had had a good working relationship since "Ride the high sierra" (1962) .

The motion picture was spectacularly directed by Peckinpah , though he downed it , being strongly cut by producers . After the success of Sam Peckinpah's later Wild Bunch (1969), Columbia Pictures told him they would allow him to re-shoot parts of this film that had been cut from the released version , Peckinpah, eventually, declined the offer .