Luke
stu-kicks
CibbuanoMajor Dundee
March 14th 2007 06:30
Major Dundee (1965)
We open on a massacre of civil war soldiers and farmers, an Indian chief sits on his horse over the bloody body of a wounded soldier, he looks down in triumph and gloats, "Morning soldier, I am Charriba, who will stand against me now?"
And the bold emblazoned words "MAJOR DUNDEE" come blazing out of the screen, as if in answer to Charriba himself. Thus starts what many regard as Sam Peckinpah's first major motion picture (albeit one that studio execs attempted to wrestle away from him and re-edited at their whim) and a deadset underrated classic western. The film contains many themes that can later be seen in many of Peckinpah's films, and I've read in more than a few places that Peckinpah fans see 'Major Dundee' as the logical precursor to 'The Wild Bunch'.
Major Dundee (Charlton Heston) is a disgraced Union civil war officer put in charge of a prison. Upon investigation of Charriba's latest massacre he sees a chance for some glory that will possibly redeem his name, so he takes it upon himself to recruit some soldiers from amongst the prisoners themselves - offering the possibility of a pardon to those who do well by him. Key to his personal army's success is his relationship with Captain Tyreen (Richard Harris), an old friend and rival from the opposite side of the civil war who is currently in residence at the gaol. It is via Tyreen alone that Dundee has any hopes of keeping control of the Confederate portions of his army. The journey to capture and kill Charriba takes them into Mexico and beyond the law and Dundee's motley rag-tag mix of Confederate and Union troops begin to doubt their quest when they encounter hardship. Soon Dundee's personal obsession is all that drives them.
This is an interesting and thoughtful western that takes the cowboys and indians formula and breaks it apart. Dundee's journey becomes so elaborate that Charriba begins to feel like an irrelevant facet of the film, and Peckinpah uses the journey and set up to investigate the dynamics of male comradeship... the rough and ready rapport of tough men and the ways in which battle makes all men equal (in this respect the film is ahead of it's time in it's depiction of racial bigotry). This is highlighted in two scenes (that stand out in my mind, at least)... the scene where a Confederate soldier asks a black Union soldier (Brock Peters) to take his boots off and the tense situation that arises from this clash, and a later, lighter scene that sees the same black soldier laughing alongside an old Confederate soldier whilst they watch a young man shave for the first time.
Peckinpah has the film narrated by a young grunt named Ryan (Michael Anderson Jr.) to give us a common view of the journey and a detachment from the film's titular character. Fleshing out the supporting cast are James Coburn as a grizzled, one-armed Apache expert, Jim Hutton as the comic relief (and his resemblence to his son, Tim Hutton, is uncanny), and Western stalwarts Warren Oates, Slim Pickens and Ben Johnson. The real meat of the story (as is to be expected) lays well and truly with Major Dundee though, and Charlton Heston gives a great performance as the fearless, obsessive and ruthless son-of-a-bitch that drags his men all over the wilderness in the name of revenge and glory. Richard Harris is well-utilised as the man's caddish rival too, with real-life tension betwee Harris and Heston used to good effect.
I enjoyed this movie. It has to be noted though that I watched the recently released director's cut... a restored version said to be more in keeping with Peckinpah's original vision. The action was good, the story was good, the dialogue was great and I look forward to watching more of Peckinpah's films over the coming months.
Said Dundee to the priest... "With all due respect, this has nothing to do with God. I intend to smite the wicked, not save the heathen".
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
The DVd release is beautiful, isnt it? this was a lost peckinpah gemn for me, only saw it for the first time last year when it was finally released.
The struggle he went through making the film and then having the studio butcher scarred the man and fuelled much of his later anger at the producers.
On set the Director pissed of Charlton Heston so much that while on horse back and brandishingh a sabre he tried to skewer him.
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
I watched a doco on the disc and it said that Heston took a pay cut and threatened to leave in order to keep Peckinpah on the film.
Next Peckinpah stop for me: The Getaway
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Heston did end up respecting Peckinpah, but they had a conflict of personality early on...
Have you read the David Weddle bio "If They Move Kill em?" it is one of my fave film books.
Bring on the McQueen/McGraw onnection...
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
He is also one of the major forces behind the new Battlestar Galactica series.