Major Dundee (1965)

Charlton Heston is Maj. Dundee, a hard-nosed officer serving time as commander of a prisoner-of-war camp out West during the Civil War.

He’s eager to make a name for himself and figures he can do that by ending an Apache uprising, rescuing three white boys kidnapped during a massacre at a nearby ranch and bringing in a chief named Sierra Charriba.

In order to accomplish the mission, he pulls together a ragtag outfit that includes civilian volunteers, a handful of Negro soldiers tired of serving guard duty, a few regulars and volunteers from among the Confederate cavalrymen being held as prisoners.

Confederate Capt. Benjamin Tyreen (Richard Harris) begrudgingly signs on. Having been caught after escaping, his only option is a hangman’s noose. He and Dundee have a history: They despise one another.

With scout Samuel Potts (James Coburn) leading the way, by-the-book Lt. Graham (Jim Hutton) as his second-in-command and the bugler from the massacred troop (Michael Anderson Jr. at Tim Ryan) to relay his orders, Dundee heads across the Rio Grande and into Mexico in search of the Apaches.

When they’re not springing an ambush, they’ll prove difficult to find.

But Dundee and his force do find a starving village in need of assistance, a pretty doctor’s widow (Senta Berger) serving as spokeswoman for that village and a French army none too pleased to see the U.S. cavalry south of the border.

Review:

Often referred to as a near classic ruined by studio interference, this is still an entertaining film, featuring strong performances by Heston and Harris and some of the better battle scenes you’ll see in a 1960s Hollywood Western.

But it certainly could have been better. The film was reportedly started before the script was finished and it shows. In particular, the movie seems to go wildly off course when a wounded Dundee heads to Durango to recover and goes on a drunken binge.

Director Sam Peckinpah was reportedly binging himself when he wasn’t feuding with studio executives. Heston and Harris reportedly didn’t get along on the set. Heston reportedly threatened Peckinpah with a saber at one point.

And the romantic subplot featuring Heston and Berger wasn’t part of the original plot and doesn’t fit very well. But Senta lights up the screen when she’s on it.

Peckinpah was more interested in pretty Mexican actress Begona Palacios. Sixteen years his junior, she plays a villager who falls for young bugler Tim Ryan.

In real life, Peckinpah made her his second wife, divorced her twice and married her three times. They also had a daughter together.

Originally released with a runtime of 123 minutes, about 12 minutes of previously cut footage was added back for the DVD release. That release also includes a new score, minus the rousing “Major Dundee March.”

Directed by:
Sam Peckinpah

Cast:
Charlton Heston … Maj. Dundee
Richard Harris … Capt. Benjamin Tyreen
Jim Hutton … Lt. Graham
James Coburn … Samuel Potts
Michael Anderson Jr. … Trooper Tim Ryan
Michael Pate … Sierra Charriba
Senta Berger … Teresa Santiago
Mario Adorf … Sgt. Gomez
Brock Peters … Aesop
Warren Oates … O.W. Hadley
Ben Johnson … Sgt. Chillum
R.G. Armstrong … Rev. Dahlstrom
L.Q. Jones … Arthur Hadley
Slim Pickens … Wiley
Karl Swenson … Capt. Waller
John David Chandler … Jimmy Lee Benteen
Dub Taylor … Priam
Albert Carrier … Capt. Jacques Tremaine
Joe Carlos Ruiz … Riago
Aurora Clavel … Melinche
Begona Palacios .. Linda
Enrique Lucero … Dr. Aguilar
Francisco Reiguera … Old Apache

Runtime: 123 min. / 135 min.

Title tune: “Major Dundee March”
by Mitch Miller’s Sing-Along Gang

Memorable lines:

Maj. Dundee: “If I signal you to come, you come. If I signal you to charge, you charge. If I signal you to run, you follow me and run like hell.”

Maj Dundee, coming upon a tortured officer: “I hope he was dead when they did that to him.”
Sgt. Gomez: “If he was dead, they wouldn’t have bothered.”

Maj. Dundee, as his scout rides off: “Sam, don’t get yourself killed. That would inconvenience me.”

Maj. Dundee: “Capt. Tyreen, does the prospect of serving under your country’s flag once again seem more attractive than dragging its chains in this prison.”
Capt. Tyreen: “It is not my country, Major Dundee. I damn its flag and I damn you. And I would rather hang than serve.”

Rev. Dahlstrom, volunteering to serve under Maj. Dundee: “Any man with a just cause should travel with the word of God.”
Maj. Dundee: “With all respect, God has nothing to do with it. I intend to smite the wicked, not save the heathen.”

Maj. Dundee to Capt. Tyreen: “You’re a would-be cavalier. An Irish potato farmer with a plumed hat fighting for a white column plantation house you never had and never will.”
Tyreen: “How exactly — how exactly — do you see yourself, Major Dundee? Have you ever stopped to think why they made you a jailer instead of a soldier?”

Teresa Santiago: “There seems to be no end to it.”
Maj. Dundee: “What did you say?”
Teresa: “We’ve been attacked by Apaches. By local bandits. By free booters from Texas. Liberated by the French. And now United States cavalry. Unfortunately, you came too late. We have nothing to give you. No food. No guns. No women. That’s what you want, isn’t it? That’s why you come without flying your country’s brave flag.”

Maj. Dundee: “By midnight tonight, I want every man in this command drunker than a fiddler’s bitch.”

Capt. Tyreen, as the French soldiers close in: “Don’t they look pretty.”

Samuel Potts, talking about the French attitude toward a Mexican village: “Those boys in their pretty hats make the Apache look like missionaries.”
Capt. Tyreen: “Never underestimate the value of a European education.”

Maj. Dundee to Capt. Tyreen: “You’re wearing out, Ben. You used to be a rock. Now you’re crumbling like old chalk.”

Maj. Dundee to Teresa Santiago: “The war won’t last forever.”
Teresa Santiago: “It will for you, major.”

Capt. Tyreen, as the troop prepares to attack the French: “I’ll see you in Texas.”
Maj. Dundee: “You’re damn right you will.”

Maj. Dundee: “Trooper Ryan, play us a tune, son.”