Barnes & Noble

Although this “extended” version only restores 13 of the more than 40 minutes originally cut from Sam Peckinpah’s 1965 western (over his objections), the added footage substantially improves a movie whose gaps in continuity puzzled 1960s critics and moviegoers. A steadily growing corps of cineastes maintain that Major Dundee is an unrecognized classic, and the restored scenes -- sprinkled throughout the film -- certainly bolster that case. Charlton Heston (who reportedly got so mad at Peckinpah on the set that he once charged the director with sword in hand) plays a cavalry officer tasked with assembling a troop from a mélange of Confederate veterans, freed slaves, marginally competent soldiers, and assorted riffraff. Their mission: follow a band of marauding Apaches into Mexico and rescue three white children kidnapped during an attack conducted by the Indians. At the time of the film’s production, Columbia executives balked at Peckinpah’s three-hour cut and demanded wholesale slashing that resulted in a film that was still overlong (134 minutes) but substantially less coherent. Various character relationships and motivations were either lost or muddled in re-editing, and to make matters worse, producer Jerry Bresler commissioned a musical score that turned out to be horribly inappropriate, changing the movie’s tone. This new DVD goes a long way toward redressing the wrong done Peckinpah by substituting a new orchestral score and reinserting enough of the deleted footage to smooth over the narrative’s rough edges. A true Hollywood maverick, Peckinpah had a knack for infuriating the people with whom he worked. But he knew how to make engaging movies, and the restored Dundee will be a pleasant surprise to both knowledgeable film buffs and casual home viewers. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

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

Product Details

• UPC: 043396049437
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français, Korean
• Time: 2:16:00
• Sales Rank: 4,323

Features:

DVD MENU