Major Dundee (1974)

97% of critics liked it
(30 reviews)
60% of users liked it
(3,191 ratings)

Sam Peckinpah's 1965 feature Major Dundee was recut and rescored for re-release theatrically in 2005, 40 years after its original release. The "Extended Version," as it is known officially, tells essentially the same story as the original but with clearer motivations for the characters (which often… More Sam Peckinpah's 1965 feature Major Dundee was recut and rescored for re-release theatrically in 2005, 40 years after its original release. The "Extended Version," as it is known officially, tells essentially the same story as the original but with clearer motivations for the characters (which often seemed vague or obscure in the 1965 edition) and much greater effectiveness. Major Amos Charles Dundee (Charlton Heston) is a West Point graduate who somehow -- it's not clear -- exceeded his orders while serving in the Battle of Gettysburg and, as punishment, has been taken out of combat and put in charge of a Union prison in New Mexico. He then gets word that marauding Apaches under Sierra Charriba (Michael Pate) have raided an American settlement, slaughtering the troops who were pursuing them and kidnapping three young boys, whom they've taken to their lair south of the Rio Grande (and if this sounds a lot like the plot of John Ford's Rio Grande, it's because they used the same story as inspiration). Dundee assumes responsibility for capturing or destroying the raiders and rescuing the captives, but because he has far too few men, he's forced to recruit prisoners, including his one-time friend, Confederate Captain Benjamin Tyreen (Richard Harris), and other "gentlemen of the South," to fill out his ranks. Tyreen and his men despise Dundee, but agree to serve on this mission in exchange for the chance for possible pardon of commutation of sentence (Tyreen and some of his men are facing the rope, for killing a guard in an escape attempt). The mission takes them deep into Mexico, where they free the children but now find themselves being stalked by the very Apaches that they were hunting, as well as having to fight off the French troops stationed there. And as they quickly see, the French troops, though white and supposedly "civilized" like themselves, treat the native Mexicans in ways that make the Apaches look almost saintly. In the end, this ragtag group of soldiers, malcontents, deserters, traitors, and criminals finds a larger cause in their quest -- bigger even than their own survival -- as they discover something uniquely fine and honorable in being an American, and in American ideals. It takes the sacrifice and deaths of many to get to that point, but the movie -- in this version -- gets us there convincingly, if in decidedly grim and bittersweet fashion. Though based on fiction and shot under incredibly (indeed, legendarily) chaotic conditions, the movie ultimately proves to be a rousingly disturbing examination of what it means to be an American, and the meaning of American ideals. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 2 hr. 2 min.
Directed By: Sam Peckinpah
Written By: Harry Julian Fink, Oscar Saul, Sam Peckinpah
Genres: Western, Drama, Action & Adventure, Classics

In Theaters: Apr 7, 1965 Wide
On DVD: Aug 30, 2005
Studio: Columbia Pictures

Critic Reviews

Glenn Abel, Hollywood Reporter
Sam Peckinpah's crippled film plays best as a dry run for The Wild Bunch.
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News
Giddy-up, Western lovers. This one is worth the return engagement.
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It's one of those flawed, fascinating films that are somehow more intriguing than many a smooth-cheeked blockbuster.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
No true Peckinpah-lover should pass it by.
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
Major Dundee, not a great movie but a great star-driven, big budget 1965 studio western, is back in all its fractured glory and confidence.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Still a mess of great scenes sprinkled among some fairly monotonous action. But it's never completely dull.
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com
Very disappointing Peckinpah western "classic" is not even near such.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
An offbeat and sometimes jumbled western adventure film sees Heston as a Union officer in charge of a jail in the Southwest.
Michael Szymanski, International Press Academy
A must have DVD for Peckinpah fans...
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
Major Dundee never reached the heights of Peckinpah's imagination, but it's still a very solid western in the revisionist, realistic mode.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It's an ode to the unstable, explosive force that was Sam Peckinpah, as well as to the powerful studio system that crushed him and kept him down.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Peckinpah's Western, starring Charlton Heston, is compromised due to studio interverence, but it still has merits
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
This restored version demonstrates is that while it remains an uneven work, it has flashes of brilliance as well as a general air of competence, even elegance in storytelling.
James Verniere, Boston Herald
They don't make movies or movie directors like this anymore.
John Hartl, Seattle Times
It's richer and more interesting, partly because some motivations have been cleared up, partly because the music isn't a burden and partly because we now can see that this was all leading to the creation of a truly great film four years later.

Read all 15 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Randy T

I don't know what Sam Peckinpah intended but I'm pretty sure this 'studio edited' discombobulation isn't it. This is a good film that could have been a great one. High on the Richter scale of missed opportunity and unfulfilled potential. *If you have a… More
I don't know what Sam Peckinpah intended but I'm pretty sure this 'studio edited' discombobulation isn't it. This is a good film that could have been a great one. High on the Richter scale of missed opportunity and unfulfilled potential. *If you have a choice, watch the 'extended version'. It's still not the film Peckinpah intended us to see but it's a damn sight closer than anything previously available.
MJS M

Sam Peckinpah?s early, flawed, epic about a Union Major running a prison camp in the New Mexican front late in the civil war, who enlists Confederate prisoners in order to go after a renegade Apache. The film fell victim to immense studio tampering, it had its budget cut in half from… More
Sam Peckinpah?s early, flawed, epic about a Union Major running a prison camp in the New Mexican front late in the civil war, who enlists Confederate prisoners in order to go after a renegade Apache. The film fell victim to immense studio tampering, it had its budget cut in half from the beginning, they gave Peckinpah pressure throughout the production, and they took the whole film away from him during the editing. As such we?re left with a Magnificent Ambersons situation of a movie with extensive lost footage; the full vision of what it could have been is unknown. The cut on DVD right now has been restored as much as possible, but it?s still not complete. What remains is a film that feels fractured and held together by a tacked on voice over. The film is still watchable, and the underlying concept of Union and confederate soldiers working together is quite interesting, one can see a story about a fractured America forced to unify somewhere below the surface. That said, not all of the movie?s problems can be pinned on the studio. The film?s visual style, while perfectly competent, is not anywhere near the heights achieved by Peckinpah?s other works, and the occasional night scenes are poorly lit making it hard to make out what?s going on.
cody f

Great cast, Heston and Harris are good together. Good story and fun to watch,but formulaic and bad uneventful ending.