Sam Peckinpah saved the legacy of the American Western in the ’60s as film critics were wanting to declare the genre cinematically dead in the wake of all the amazing titles arriving from Europe as part of the Spaghetti Western wave. At this point, Hollywood studios were more than satisfied making dozens of cowboy shows for television since it was economically more viable. Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Rawhide and others were keeping people at home when they wanted action on the wild frontier. Peckinpah had found a home making westerns for TV as a writer and director. He even created The Westerner series starring Brian Keith (Family Affair). While the show only lasted 13 seasons, he came along with Keith to direct The Deadly Companions. While the film wasn’t a hit, he ended up directing Ride the High Country with Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea. This low budget film was seen by Charlton Heston (Planet of the Apes). He had become such a massive star playing Moses in The Ten Commandments that he decided to finally let Peckinpah step up to big time movie making after reading the script for Major Dundee.
After screwing up at Gettysburg, Dundee (Heston) finds himself sent out West to run a prisoner of war camp in New Mexico near the border with normal Mexico. It doesn’t seem like the Major will ever become a Lt. Colonel anytime soon with the dead end position. However when Apache attack nearby villages, slaughter most of the population, attack Calvary and take off with hostages, Dundee takes action. He puts together a force to head into Mexico, track down the Apache and rescue the hostages. But he doesn’t have enough of his own men. He opens up the volunteer effort to Confederate prisoners including Captain Ben Tyreen (Orca‘s Richard Harris). Turns out Tyreen and Dundee were classmates at West Point before the war. But there’s a bit of history since Dundee was part of a panel that dishonorably discharged Tyreen from the military which led to him joining the Confederacy. So there’s a lot of history between the two. Even though Tyreen and a few of his men agree to go South of the Border on the rescue mission, there’s a sense that they’ll be more of a problem than the Apache, The Mexicans and French troops that await them on the other side of the river might have to separate them first.
Major Dundee is a huge scale Western. There’s one scene at the prison where Dundee addresses what looks like a thousand troops and prisoners. The big finale battle is huge as cannons are fired, swords are thrust and soldiers fight in the middle of the river. There’s no easy showdowns on the screen. The film is a massive undertaking with a stellar cast including Slim Pickens (Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles), L.Q. Jones (A Prairie Home Companion), Jim Hutton (Green Berets), R.G. Armstrong (Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid), James Coburn (Our Man Flint), Ben Johnson (The Last Picture Show) and Warren Oates (Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia). Even with a huge cast, the camera finds ways to give the close ups to Heston since he’s the star and the reason the movie is being made.
Heston is also the reason why the film has always had a tainted reputation. During post production, Peckinpah was working on his edit when he found himself kicked off the production. He had frustrated a lot of people at the stuido with his drinking and other issues. It made them fearful this production was going to be a disaster. The producer and Heston took over the splicer. You can argue about the sanctity of the director’s edit, but in 1965, Peckinpah was a TV guy who had done two films weren’t massive hits. Nobody in America was going to buy a movie ticket based on Peckinpah being the director. Heston was the driving force for the film and thus he wanted to flex his control over the project. There are various accounts of how long the film ran when Peckinpah did his last pass of the film. What premiered was 136 minutes long. The film received a critical drubbing and so the studio went back and snipped out an addition 14 minutes even though the producer protested after his own drastic edit with Heston. The film probably would have been completely forgotten if it was just a Charlton Heston movie. But it found a cult audience after Peckinpah made The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs and his other hits. People imagined how much better Major Dundee would have been if Heston and the studio hadn’t screwed up the editing.
In 2005, Columbia went back and restored the film to at least its premier length. They even dumped the bombastic score by Daniele Amfitheatrof and Mitch Miller’s repulsive theme song that Peckinpah hated. Christopher Caliendo composed and conducted a new score that felt more natural to the tone of the imagery. While it wasn’t Peckinpah’s director’s cut, the movie plays so much better than what had been available for 40 year prior. The good news is that the Major Dundee boxset contains both cuts so you can decide which version is better. You’re pretty much only going to share the longer cut with pals.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The upgraded resolution lets you appreciate the Mexican locations. The audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround for the Producer’s Cut. You get to hear the new score all around the room. There’s an option to hear the original mono with the old score on the longer cut. The theatrical release is only DTS-HD MA mono. It squeeze all the action down to one speaker including the old score. Both versions of the movie are subtitled.
60-page perfect bound booklet featuring new writing by Farran Nehme, Roderick Heath and Jeremy Carr plus select archive material
Audio Commentaries include one with Nick Redman, David Weddle, Garner Simmons, Paul Seydor. A second has historian and critics Glenn Erickson & Alan K. Rode. The final has Glenn Erickson by himself. All give deep perspective on the production and how Peckinpah would have put it together.
Moby Dick on Horseback (29:06) is a visual essay by David Cairns that shows how the producer of Dundee, Jerry Bresler, had previously made Gidget film. He goes deep into how Sam Peckinpah approached the project. He also explores how Dundee got snipped so drastically even when compared to the extended cut. He also goes in on how the new score is necessary and Mitch Miller’s theme song deserves to be set on fire.
Passion & Poetry: The Dundee Odyssey (75:25) is a 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. Coburn is not happy that the release version was cut by producer Bresler and Charlton Heston. It’s interesting seeing pictures of Peckinpah during his TV days looking so clean cut with a cigarette on a holder.
Passion & Poetry: Peckinpah Anecdotes (25:43) allows 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. It’s great to see Borgnine talking about Peckinpah. L.Q. Jones warns us that the breakfast on a Peckinpah set might not be edible.
Mike Siegel: About the Passion & Poetry Project (43:35) has filmmaker Mike Siegel talks about how he has extensively working on pieces about Sam Peckinpah. Siegel has written a book and made the previous two Peckinpah bonus features.
Extensive Stills Galleries, featuring rare photos including, Behind the Scenes (8:27), Colour Stills (4:25) Portrait Stills (2:56) and Marketing Materials (11:21) as put together by Mike Siegel.
2005 Re-release Trailer (2:26) reassures us that this movie would give us more of what Peckinpah intended to show.
Riding for a Fall (7:23) is a vintage behind the scenes featurette and how to make a horse tumble over. This is mostly from the rider’s perspective. We get to see action behind the main camera for Major Dundee. This was the largest assembly of horse riding stuntmen. The piece looks like it was transferred from 8mm which makes sense since there’s a notice that it was sold for home viewing only.
Extended/deleted scenes (6:40) are hosted by Glenn Erickson as he explains what we see. He points that most of the massacre footage from the opening was never shot. The swimming scene with Dundee and Teresa is a bit more racy than what ended up in the filming. You can also see the scenes without Erickson’s commentary.
Theatrical Trailers include Original US (3:26), UK (3:17), UK Uncropped (3:18) and German (3:26) teasers. The promise the screen stretches to unimagined horizons. They also give us that crummy Mitch Miller song.
Arrow Video presents Major Dundee: Limited Edition. Directed by Sam Peckinpah. Screenplay by: Harry Julian Fink, Oscar Saul & Sam Peckinpah. Starring: Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, James Coburn, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, L.Q. Jones & Senta Berger. The Producer’s Cut is 136 minutes. The theatrical version is 122 minutes. The boxset contains 2 movies on 2 Blu-ray discs. Release Date: June 28, 2021.
