I’ve long been a fan of Sam Peckinpah. Even when I wasn’t aware of his name I loved his movies. Oddly enough those first films of his I loved were not the ones he was most noted for like THE WILD BUNCH. No, I came to Peckinpah first by way of this film, MAJOR DUNDEE. I saw it on TV years ago and thought it was amazing. It made me a fan of Charlton Heston and Richard Harris who both star in the film. And now the movie is available from Arrow Video and has never looked better.
Heston stars in the lead role as Major Dundee, a Union soldier stationed out west during the Civil War. He is currently dealing with an Indian uprising led by Apache Chief Sierra Charriba. Charriba has been attacking settlements and bases throughout New Mexico and is now heading south to cross into Mexico where he can’t be touched. His most recent attack has killed a column of the cavalry and left Dundee shorthanded.
Short on men but determined to end this butchery taking place and raise his profile, Dundee defies orders and recruits any and all he can to aid him in his quest. This includes a number of Confederate soldiers he is currently holding as prisoners of war. This group is led by Capt. Ben Tyreen (Harris).
Tyreen and Dundee have a past. Both attended West Point together. During their time serving in the Union Army Tyreen was brought up on charges and court martialed for fighting a duel. Dundee was the deciding vote in the court martial and ended the career of Tyreen and led to his joining the Confederate Army.
Dundee forms his group of rag tag soldiers and scouts. Among them are Tim Ryan (Michael Anderson Jr.), the only survivor of the massacre, Trooper Samuel Potts (James Coburn) a one armed mountain man and scout, Lieutenant Graham (Jim Hutton) an inexperience armament expert, Rev. Dahlstrom (R.G. Armstrong), Aesop (Brock Peters) the leader of a group of black soldiers and horse thief Benjamin Priam (Dub Taylor) along with other troops. Tyreen eventually agrees to join the expedition swearing that his men will abide by the terms of capture up until the capture or end of Charriba.
The group sets out and follows the trail of Charriba into Mexico. They are attacked but able to rescue the children captured by Charriba, unfortunately losing some munitions in the battle. Dundee sends the children back with a few men and the group decides to attack a French garrison in a small nearby town to replenish their supplies.
Nothing seems to go right for the group when they succeed in taking over the town but find the people there near starvation. Dundee and his men share their meager amount of food with the people of the town who welcome them with open arms. Dundee allows the French prisoners escape so they will come back with reinforcements. They do and are all capture, resupplying Dundee with the items he needed to begin with.
The ups and downs for the group continue through the film with Dundee and Tyreen facing off again and again as comrades in arms one moment, both seeking love from the same woman the next and eventually coming to grips with the fact that to survive this adventure they will have to work together to make it out of this alive.
Peckinpah was known for his love of the west and many of the movie he made reflected that. He was also a believer in men being men of the old sort, tough guys who rode hard, drank hard and fought long. This film sums up that better than most and also allows him to work with some major names as well as with a number of actors who became staples in his films. Not only were a number of the aforementioned actors in this one but so were Warren Oates, L.Q. Jones, Strother Martin and Ben Johnson.
The story is compelling here with a man on a mission, but what exactly is that mission? Is it to protect the people where he is stationed? Is it to take down the Apache Chief who is warring on our country? Or is it a quest for glory while stationed far from the war taking place? Or could it be all of these things.
The movie is a classic long neglected but treated with love and care by Arrow Films. This release on blu-ray includes the 136-minute Extended Version of the film from a 4K scan, as well as the original 122-minute Theatrical Version. And the extras here are extensive. They include a 60-page booklet featuring new writing by Farran Nehme, Roderick Heath and Jeremy Carr plus select archive material, limited edition packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella, a fold out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella, an audio commentary with Nick Redman, David Weddle, Garner Simmons, Paul Seydor, an audio commentary by critics Glenn Erickson & Alan K. Rode, an audio commentary by Glenn Erickson, “Moby Dick on Horseback” a brand new visual essay by David Cairns, “Passion & Poetry: The Dundee Odyssey” a feature length documentary about the making of Major Dundee by Mike Siegel, featuring James Coburn, Senta Berger, Mario Adorf, L.Q. Jones, R.G. Armstrong, Gordon Dawson, “Passion & Poetry: Peckinpah Anecdotes” where nine actors talk about working with legendary director Sam Peckinpah, featuring Kris Kristofferson, Ernest Borgnine, James Coburn, David Warner, Ali MacGraw, L.Q. Jones, Bo Hopkins, R.G. Armstrong, Isela Vega, “Mike Siegel: About the Passion & Poetry Project” in which filmmaker Mike Siegel talks about his beginnings and his ongoing historical project about director Sam Peckinpah, extensive stills galleries, featuring rare on set, behind the scenes, and marketing materials, the 2005 re-release trailer, “Riding for a Fall” a vintage behind the scenes featurette, extended/deleted scenes, silent Outtakes, select extended/deleted scenes and outtakes with commentary by historian and critic Glenn Erickson giving context on how they were intended to appear in Peckinpah’s vision of the film, original US, UK and German theatrical trailers and a stills gallery. The amount of things included in this release is astounding.
This is a piece of movie making history that deserves to be rediscovered and now is your chance. If you are a fan of the genre, of Peckinpah, of the stars then by all means you must include this on your shelf. You will never find a better offering of this title ever. Kudos to Arrow Video for another amazing release.
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