Search - Major Dundee [The Extended Version]

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, All Movie Guide

Charlton Heston - Maj. Amos Charles Dundee
Richard Harris - Capt. Benjamin Tyreen
Jim Hutton - Lieutenant Graham
James Coburn - Samuel Potts
Michael Anderson, Jr. - Tim Ryan

It's difficult to imagine a more dignified treatment for Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee than what it's received here -- a fact that is doubly amazing considering how the movie was treated by its studio, Columbia Pictures, on its original release, and abused and neglected in the decades that followed, until 2005. This DVD features the long-awaited "extended version" of Peckinpah's damaged masterpiece, prepared in 2005 using footage unseen since the previews of the movie in 1965, and given a whole new score composed by Christopher Caliendo. Not only is the transfer -- in the full, proper 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio -- one of the finest this reviewer has ever scene, but the detail and the richness are a wonder to behold; this is the kind of disc that one uses to demonstrate big-screen monitors and, no doubt, high-definition monitors as well (though it is not in high-def). And both soundtracks to the movie, Daniele Amfitheatrof's original release score from 1965 and Caliendo's new score for the 2005 expanded edition, are here to be heard; in fact, one can easily switch between them with just two touches of a button. The original soundtrack version is brighter and louder, but the revised soundtrack is better balanced and, in keeping with the rescoring itself, much more subtle. The movie has been given a very generous but appropriate 28 chapters as well.

All of this would be enough to make this a first-rate DVD, but Columbia TriStar has done a lot more than that with this release. For starters, there's the commentary track, a lively four-way discussion between Peckinpah biographers Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, and David Weddle. They've appeared on other Peckinpah releases, and they haven't run out of steam yet, based on the results here -- they deliver wall-to-wall commentary, and they're never dull as they explain the importance of this movie, not just as a Peckinpah film but as a piece of popular culture and cinema history, about as well as anyone could, delving into comparisons with the work of John Ford and others and relating the movie to contemporary events around it. Their work, coupled with the two different scores, means that one is getting at least six to eight hours of first-time viewing on this disc, and their track is entertaining enough to return to -- often. The other major supplementary materials include an extended excerpt from the documentary Passion & Poetry -- The Ballad of Sam Peckinpah, which, between period footage and interviews with surviving cast members (best of all L.Q. Jones), gives one a great picture of the man and his work on the movie, and the period featurette promoting the movie "Riding for a Fall" (the latter in black-and-white and color versions), dealing with the stuntmen at work on Major Dundee. And, finally, there is the accompanying printed insert containing the essay "Peckinpah's Wounded Masterpiece," by Glenn Erickson. The disc's bonus features are very easy to access, through a multi-layer menu, and they only enhance an already brilliant presentation. The whole package is essential, even for non-fans of the director or the genre. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

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