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Major Dundee (1965)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
3/25
3/25:
Take away the 'n' and the double 'e', and we'll have the correct title: Major Dud.
I'm convinced now that Sam Peckinpah was an incompetent filmmaker. He doesn't know how to tell a
coherent story. Don't fall for the trick that the studio took away his film and butchered it; I'm sure the execs
also thought the same as I did. I won't be surprised to learn Peckinpah was so drunk that he didn't know
what movie he was making.
Upon receiving the original script, the director said, "There's a lot of good work in it, but I'm more than
a little disappointed. The characters are there, and the bones of the story, but there's a lot of excess
mishmash." Then, he rewrote it himself. Afterwards, Charlton Heston commented, "There are holes in it; serious
holes, I think. That means either he knows a lot less about scripts than I do...or a lot more.
I'm perfectly willing to accept the latter premise, but it's a bit spooky just now. The main thing wrong is
the girl's part, which is very sloppily written."
Therefore, Major Dud is two hours and thirty-six minutes of nothing. If I were you, I would just fast
forward to the end with fifteen minutes left. Don't worry if it looks random, and forget that Sam Peckinpah
pulled off the impossible by creating a Western masterpiece called
The Wild Bunch. You'll find nothing of that kind in this film.
The point of Senta Berger is uh...? Amos cheating on her character with a Mexican says what? Ben crossing
the Rio Grande River for the final glorious fight of his life is senseless when remaining behind will suffice;
otherwise, it's a declaration of war between two countries. The voice-over narration is worthless, and I keep
forgetting who's that from because he barely appears.
What a cast...and what a waste. I keep seeing guys who'll be in a Sam Peckinpah film down the road. Charlton
Heston is usually a strong actor, but he's unbelievably wooden here as Amos. But to his credit, he knew the
whole film was a gigantic mistake by saying "never, never, never start shooting without a complete script...it
was a major stumbling block on Dundee." Richard Harris is no better, either. Speaking of rivalry bteween
their characters, it was so much better done in Vera Cruz. The amount of
fighting is surprisingly sparse and uninteresting, occurring almost on the hour.
All in all, instead of Major Dud, I recommend Ulzana's Raid.