Major Dundee (1965)
Major Dundee by Demon. Originally released in 1965, re-viewed in 2009
I recently revisited this 1965 Sam Peckinpah south-of-the-border war epic via the restored 2005 DVD edition, and was completely spellbound. The movie extols the violent, manly glory of the almost forgotten Western genre, and is a signature example of the truly forgotten “cavalry picture”.
Major Dundee tracks the story of the titular Major in the year 1864 as he assembles a ragtag outfit of Union regulars, Confederate prisoners, outlaws, deserters, and freed slaves to participate in the three things that bring Americans of all politics, social classes, and ethnic persuasions together… bedding Mexican women, hunting Apaches, and killing French.
French? Yes… Major Dundee and his outfit of heavily armed horseman not only blast every hostile Indian who crosses their path, but fight their own personal war against Maximilian’s occupying troops in Mexico — stripping French garrisons of their croissants, and liberating villages to the joy of the horny senoritas living there.
Absurd? Perhaps. But it all takes place with such meticulous detail, sumptuous photography, and irresistible acting by a fantastic pool of players (many of them Peckinpah regulars) that it was impossible for me not to be swept up in the fantasy for 136 minutes (incidentally, I watched this movie while my wife was out of town, as the name “Peckinpah” mysteriously makes her skin crawl).
Peckinpah’s first epic after working primarily in television, many of the director’s signature elements are on display here in a slightly raw, unrefined form: a deeply flawed and conflicted central protagonist, men bonded together through the shared experience of violence, the rugged beauty of Mexico and its people, and a code of chivalry that offers a moral center in a word of chaos. The party in the Mexican village seems like a warm up for the extended fiestas of the Wild Bunch, while the character of Major Dundee, grappling with self-destruction while still managing to remain heroic, seems like a prelude to characters like Pike from the Wild Bunch and Billy from Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid — downright villains sitting in the saddle as protagonists.
Despite an abundance of extremely watchable good stuff, Major Dundee still has its bumps along the trail. Apparently the original issue of the film was butchered by the studio, and despite the inclusion of restored material in the 2005 edition, there is still an odd sense of pacing throughout the film, and moments in which information seems unnecessarily repeated – voice over, for instance, which states exactly what is being seen or has just been seen on screen. A extended segment in which the Major convalesces in a Mexican village after getting struck by an arrow feels particularly disjointed from the general narrative; we are never quite sure what Dundee’s renegade army is doing while he rests, drinks himself to oblivion, and inexplicably attracts a hot Mexican babe while looking his worst.
Despite these rocky spots, the film still holds its own and is vastly superior to countless other Westerns both classic and contemporary, sweeping us away to a bygone era of both history and moviemaking. When they say they don’t make ‘em like they used to, they are talking about Major Dundee.
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- Watchmen
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- Altered States (1980)
- Boobs, Brownshirts, and Bunnymen: Moulin Rouge
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