Major Dundee: The Extended Version

Colour, 35 mm
USA, 1965, 136 min
Section: Tribute to Sam Peckinpah

About the film

Peckinpah came by the script of his first big western production after John Ford, the king of the genre, refused it: he was too busy with postproduction work on Cheyenne Autumn. The story, whose attributes fall in line with so-called cavalry films (a subgenre of western made famous by Ford in e.g. Fort Apache and Rio Grande), is brought to life by the then flower of Hollywood’s tough guys (Charlton Heston, James Coburn, Warren Oates and Ben Johnson). The plot unfolds during the Civil War and depicts a self-appointed punitive campaign led by the commander of a military prison and his motley crew comprising Confederate prisoners, horse thieves and black soldiers. But Major Dundee’s efforts to punish a gang of Apaches, who have killed some white settlers and kidnapped their children, turns into a personal war as he wades through blood and alcohol towards to his mission’s ever more distant goal. Forty years after the notorious premiere of the producers’ mangled version, from which Peckinpah verbally distanced himself, the film has been returned (almost) to its original form. It also features a brand new musical score, replacing the too-descriptive pathos of the original soundtrack that was composed at the studio’s request and without the director’s knowledge. No film fan will want to miss this onetime opportunity to see the restored version of this grandiose spectacle forty years after its premiere. Major Dundee leads a rather motley crew on a self-appointed punitive campaign against a band of marauding Apaches. The legendary Charlton Heston stars.