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thus: "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". Whilst Dundee attempts to
muster volunteers to rescue the kidnapped
Rostes children, he orders his scout,
Samuel Potts, to locate the Apache, adding:
"Do not get yourself killed, as that will
inconvenience me."
The next scene is the capture of
five Confederate escapees, led by the
flamboyant Captain Benjamin Tyreen (a
standout performance from Richard Harris).
The five Rebels are sentenced to be hung
for killing a prison guard. Dundee then offers
Tyreen a reprieve if he and 20 of his men
volunteer to serve their country's flag and
join his expedition. A defiant Tyreen replies,
"It's not my country Major Dundee. I damn
its flag and I damn you. I would rather hang
than serve." However, to save his men from
the scaffold he reluctantly agrees, "But only
until the Apache is taken or destroyed."
Thus in the film's opening scenes,
Peckinpah had skillfully established the plot
and a cast of disparate characters consisting
of rival factions who hate each other more
than the Apache they are after. The open
hostility of this dysfunctional group is
slightly tempered with the scene of Dundee
leading his ramshackle command out of Fort
Benlin to begin his mission.
The Confederates start to
sing their martial anthem,
"Dixie", the Union troopers
counter with "The Battle
Hymn of the Republic", and
the civilian volunteers bring
up the rear with "Oh, My
Darling Clementine". This
nostalgic scene was an homage to John
Ford's famous cavalry trilogy, but Peckinpah
had no intention of delivering a traditional
Ford cavalry film.
For almost four months Peckinpah toiled
in Columbia's editing room until finally, he
had a first cut of two hours and forty one
minutes. However, he told Bresler that he
felt he had been somewhat impetuous and
as a consequence needed to put another
ten minutes back in before the first public
preview. This would make it closer to the
three hour movie as originally conceived,
and if the audience reaction proved positive,
it would vindicate him once the studio
executive realised his version worked.
But producer Jerry Bresler and Columbia
Pictures had other ideas.
Whilst he waited for Bresler to make
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For almost four months
Peckinpah toiled in
Columbia's editing room
until finally, he had a
first cut of two hours
and forty one minutes
arrangements for a public preview,
Peckinpah busied himself with sound
effects and selecting a composer for the
music score. But without Sam's knowledge,
instead of organising a preview, Bresler took
the director's cut to NewYork and screened
it for a number of theatre exhibitors. Their
damning verdict was, "too long and too
violent." On his return to Hollywood, Bresler
relayed the verdict to Peckinpah, whose
immediate reaction was, "To hell with the
theatre owners, let the public decide after
the preview". But the producer remained
adamant that the film needed to be cut to
a two hour running time, which Peckinpah
vehemently disagreed with.
The following morning when Sam drove
up to the studio front gate, the guard told
him he was under strict orders not to admit
him and passed him a large cardboard
box containing Peckinpah's personal
belongings from the studio office, which
had presumably been cleared out the night
before. Sam Peckinpah was no longer
an employee of Columbia Pictures and
would have no further input into the post-
production of
Major Dundee
.
The ruination of Peckinpah's version of
the film now moved into its final phase.
To be concluded...
"Do not get yourself killed Mr Potts as that
will inconvenience me"
A scene from the fight at the river with
a regiment of French Lancers
The captured Rebel prisoners played by (l to r) L.Q. Jones, Ben
Johnson, Richard Harris, John Davis Chandler, and Warren Oates