Major Dundee
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Written by Harry Julian Fink, Oscar Saul and Sam Peckinpah
1965/USA
Jerry Bresler Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Maj. Amos Dundee: I have only three commands. When I signal you to come, you come. When I signal you to charge, you charge. And when I signal you to run – you follow me and run like *hell*![/box]
Sam Peckinpah’s first major directing credit didn’t grab me.
The film is set in the last months of the Civil War near the Texas-Mexico border. Maj. Amos Dundee (Charleton Heston) is tired of Apache raids on his men across the border. So he boldly decides to illegally pursue the raiders back into Mexico with a ragtag bunch of Union regulars, Union deserters, Confederate prisoners, and freed black slaves. Adding to the excitement, the commander of the Confederate contingent, Captain Benjamin Tyreen (Richard Harris), has sworn to kill Dundee after the Apache are defeated. There’s also a love triangle tossed in the form of Teresa Santiago (Senta Berger). With James Coburn almost unrecognizable as a bearded Indian Scout and Jim Hutton as an eager lieutenant.
This is quite OK and the action is effectively shot. But it’s nothing that caused me to think OK here’s the first film of a major talent. The jury is still out. Also I’m not a Charleton Heston fan. He’s exactly the same here as in every other movie and if you like him he won’t be a drawback.
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With the Criterion Collection announcing its own independent streaming service for Spring 2019, I’m switching gears back into 1965 films.
