Major Dundee (1965) (Restored)

[Neville]

Although this version is not that different from the originally released, the small bits here and there add a lot of detail to the story. I found the original terribly frustrating, but now you can certainly take a look at the big picture, you can clearly see what Peckinpah tried to do.

This was Peckinpah's second western after "Ride the High Country", and his visuals are still very classic, but beyond them is familiar mayhem. The film follows the exploits of the titular character, played by Charlton Heston, an Union army officer of southern origin that plans to force his promotion by assembling an irregular army of soldiers, confederate prisoners and black soldiers and crossing the Mexico border, where an Apache renegade is operating.

Don't expect an action movie, nor a war one. Once Dundee exits the Fort the film saboteurs its own plot with abrupt elipsis (well, some of them could be caused by studio interference) and becomes a) a character study on Dundee and b) a chronic of his continuous clashes with his Confederate lieutenant, played by Richard Harris.

And it's a Hell of a movie, if it still feels a bit incomplete at some stages, an all-out attack against the breed of more traditional westerns that was about to end, rewriting their gloryfying of questionable exploits with blood and sarcasm, while some scenes seem to advance the upcoming "The Wild Bunch".

[Scott]

This was a long film which included about every national type element of the time and region. It's kind of an interesting film as you felt like you just walked into something having missed an important part. This could cause you to loose interest. Hard to follow, but the film is some how a passible effort. Reflecting back on it I simply can't remember what Dundee and his assortment of people were trying to do. The film is definately worth a look.

[Neville]

Scott Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> It's kind of an interesting film as you felt like you
> just walked into something having missed an
> important part. This could cause you to loose
> interest.

Yes, that's what I meant when I mentioned the abrupt elipsis before. Sometimes the narration seems to build up for something important, such as when Dundee instructs one of his officers to steal weapons from an army train, and then the voiceover quickly wraps it up clumsily so the film can move on. I can't tell how many of this situations were done on purpose by Peckinpah, in order to "ruin" the epic and concentrate on character development or are the result of studio interference, because it's known the studio and Peckinpah constantly jumped at each other's neck during the shooting and that several projected scenes couldn't be shot.

You know, normally I hate abrupt elipsis, unless they follow some logic, like in modern films, where they have become a standard figure of style to describe someone's is losing their mind. It's something that quickly gets on my nerves and ruins the movie experience for me, but I really enjoyed film despite that, so it must be real good in all the rest of things it does.

[The Burgomaster]

I sort of like this movie, mostly for the "smaller" moments, like when the Union soldiers and the Confederate prisoners start singing patriotic songs and try to sing louder than each other.  The DVD has 2 different soundtracks:

* The original, with the "Fall in behind the major . . . " theme song.

* A new 5.1 soundtrack with different music (and without the theme song).

[Neville]

I watched the film with the new score. It feels weird at the beginning, but it fits well with the more intimistic moments than the old one, which I remember was quite rousing.

[BoyScoutKevin]

It has some of the best action sequences I've ever seen in a film, and I saw it on television. I can only imagine what it looks like on the big screen.

Anyway, watch it for the cast, which includes Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, James Coburn, Senta Berger, Mario Adorf, Brock Peters, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, R. G. Armstrong, L. Q. Jones, Slim Pickens, Karl Swenson, Michael Pate, Dub Taylor, and Michael Anderson, jr. Some of which would go on to become some of Peckinpah's regulars.

And as pointed out on the special on Peckinpah on the Western Channel, if he had not made this film first, there most likely would be no "Wild Bunch."

[Jim H]

Probably the most interesting tidbit of trivia about Major Dundee is that Charleton Heston ended up threatening Peckinpah with his sabre.  Apparently, he was extremely abusive to everyone on set.