Major Dundee (1965)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

Harry Julian Fink (story)
Harry Julian Fink (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

15 March 1965 (Denmark)

Genre:

Adventure | War | Western

Tagline:

THE EPIC STORY OF THE GREAT SOUTH-WEST !

Plot:

During the last winter of the Civil War, cavalry officer Amos Dundee leads a contentious troop of Army regulars...

Plot Keywords:

Apache | Confederate | Prisoner | Mexico | Prisoner Of War

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Major Amos Charles Dundee
Richard Harris	...	Captain Benjamin Tyreen
Jim Hutton	...	Lieutenant Graham
James Coburn	...	Samuel Potts
Michael Anderson Jr.	...	Trooper Tim Ryan
Senta Berger	...	Teresa Santiago
Mario Adorf	...	Sergeant Gomez
Brock Peters	...	Aesop
Warren Oates	...	O.W. Hadley
Ben Johnson	...	Sergeant Chillum
R.G. Armstrong	...	Reverend Dahlstrom
L.Q. Jones	...	Arthur Hadley
Slim Pickens	...	Wiley
Karl Swenson	...	Captain Waller
Michael Pate	...	Sierra Charriba
John Davis Chandler	...	Jimmy Lee Benteen
Dub Taylor	...	Priam
Albert Carrier	...	Captain Jacques Tremaine
José Carlos Ruiz	...	Riago (as Jose Carlos Ruiz)
Aurora Clavel	...	Melinche (as Aurora Clavell)
Begoña Palacios	...	Linda (as Begonia Palacios)
Enrique Lucero	...	Doctor Aguilar
Francisco Reiguera	...	Old Apache (as Francisco Reyguera)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Whitey Hughes	...	Confederate trooper (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons	...	(uncredited)
Jody McCrea	...	Lt. Brannin (uncredited)
Dennis Patrick	...	(uncredited)
Rockne Tarkington	...	Jefferson (uncredited)

Directed by
Sam Peckinpah

Writing credits
Harry Julian Fink		(story)
Harry Julian Fink		(screenplay) &
Oscar Saul		(screenplay) and
Sam Peckinpah		(screenplay)

Produced by
Jerry Bresler	....	producer

Original Music by
Daniele Amfitheatrof
Christopher Caliendo		(2005 restored version)

Cinematography by
Sam Leavitt

Film Editing by
Howard Kunin
William A. Lyon
Donald W. Starling		(as Don Starling)

Art Direction by
Alfred Ybarra		(as Al Ybarra)

Costume Design by
Thomas S. Dawson		(as Tom Dawson)

Makeup Department
Larry Butterworth	....	makeup artist
Ben Lane	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Francisco Day	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Floyd Joyer	....	assistant director
Cliff Lyons	....	second unit director
John Veitch	....	assistant director

Art Department
Joe LaBella	....	property master (as Joe La Bella)

Sound Department
James Z. Flaster	....	sound
Charles J. Rice	....	sound supervisor
Rafael Ruiz Esparza	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Augie Lohman	....	special effects (as August Lohman)

Stunts
Jerry Brown	....	stunts (uncredited)
Archie Butler	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Joe Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Catching	....	stunts (uncredited)
Philip Crawford	....	stunts (uncredited)
Richard Farnsworth	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jerry Gatlin	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	....	stunts (uncredited)
Robert 'Buzz' Henry	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bob Herron	....	stunts (uncredited)
Whitey Hughes	....	stunts (uncredited)
Leroy Johnson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Walt La Rue	....	stunts (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons	....	stunts (uncredited)
Hal Needham	....	stunts (uncredited)
Carl Pitti	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jim Sheppard	....	stunts (uncredited)
Roy N. Sickner	....	stunts (uncredited)
Buddy Van Horn	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)
Henry Wills	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Henry Wills	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Gordon T. Dawson	....	set costumer (uncredited)

Other crew
Rick Rosenberg	....	assistant to producer
'Chema' Hernandez	....	head wrangler: Mexico (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents)
• Jerry Bresler Productions

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1965) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia-Bavaria Filmgesellschaft m.b.H. (1965) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1966) (USA) (TV) (original airing) (pan/scan)
• GoodTimes Home Video (1988) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Columbia Pictures Home Video (1996) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Columbia TriStar (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Columbia (1965) (France) (theatrical)
• Opção (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (198?) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)

Other Companies

• Intrada  score album released by (limited edition) (signature edition)
• Pathé  Eastman color by
• Sony Pictures  restoration (2005 restoration)

Also Known As:

Mayor Dundee (Spain) (Venezuela) [es]
I taxiarhia ton ekdikiton (Greece) [el]
Juramento de Vingança (Brazil) [pt]
Juramento de venganza (Mexico) [es]
Kahraman binbasi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Major Dundee (Denmark) [da]
Major Dundee (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Major Dundee (France) [fr]
Majuri Dundee (Finland) [fi]
Sierra Charriba (West Germany) [de]
Sierra Charriba (Italy) [it]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and some sensuality. (2005 re-issue)

Runtime:

123 min | 136 min (2005 restored version) | Spain:117 min | USA:152 min (unreleased director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Spanish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Singapore:PG | Iceland:16 | West Germany:12 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 (re-release) (2005) | USA:Approved (Certificate #23829)

Filming Locations:

Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Average Shot Length (ASL) = 4.7 seconds

Goofs:

Continuity: In the final battle, Captain Tremaine is struck by Tyreen and falls from his horse into the river, but in the very next shot he is back in the saddle.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: In the territory of New Mexico towards the end of the Civil War, an Indian, Sierra Charriba, and his Apache warriors raided, sacked and looted an area almost three times the size of Texas.

Movie Connections:

References Red River (1948)

Soundtrack:

Major Dundee March

Good But Not As Great As It Could Have Been

The first half of "Major Dundee" is gripping and fascinating. The problem is that the second half doesn't deliver on the build-up. The whole point is supposed to be the pursuit of the Apache, yet the film spends more time getting sidetracked from all this, in particular the scenes of Dundee's injury and descent into drunkenness (and did we really need Senta Berger, since her role is really pointless, despite the visual scenery she adds?) and when the Apache is found, it happens too abruptly. Fascinating supporting characters disappear or are downplayed too much in the second half, and the ending is too abrupt as well. Since the expedition ends up returning after the surrender of Lee and the end of the War, I was surprised there was no scene of Dundee returning to the Fort and offering a final reflection on Tyreen. The film literally cried out for it.

Charlton Heston felt that Dundee should have been more about the issues of the Civil War and had they stuck to this approach all through the film we might have had a great film instead of a merely good one.