STACK July 2016 Issue 141

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in the ruthless editing
process, it was, however,
always an ambitiously flawed
project that was never
totally resolved in both
script and shooting. Charlton
Heston identified what was
probably a crucial problem
with the production when
he wrote in his journal,
“Looking back, I think we all
wanted to make a different
sort of film. Bresler and Columbia
wanted a standard cowboy and Indian
story. I wanted a film about the most
traumatic event in American history
– the civil war. And Sam... well Sam
wanted the film he later got to make”.
Many film writers have
perceived that Major Dundee
was practically a dry run for
Peckinpah’s next film, which
he directed three years later
– the one that elevated him
into the pantheon of great
American filmmakers. A line of
dialogue from this 1969 groundbreaking
western masterpiece serves as a perfect
metaphor for both movies. Following a
botched bank robbery, a gang of outlaws
methodically plan their next job – to hijack
a US Army train on the Tex/Mex border.
As they prepare to execute the plan, their
leader turns to them and says, “This time we
do it right!”
Unlike the debacle that befell his Major
Dundee, by writing and directing The Wild
Bunch, Sam Peckinpah most definitely – this
time – did it right.
and directly led to MGM unfairly firing him
from The Cincinnati Kid, on which he had
begun pre-production.
Suddenly finding himself out on the street,
he desperately began phoning around the film
studios in search of employment. But when
no one returned any of his calls, he realised
that he had been effectively blacklisted. Sam
Peckinpah would remain persona non grata
in Hollywood for the next three years.
Yet when the film was released in Europe,
it received a much kinder reception from both
reviewers and audiences than it had in the
US. Although European critics identified it as
flawed, they admired its undeniable grandeur
and lauded Peckinpah’s obvious talent as a
visionary filmmaker.
Over the following years, Major Dundee
entered into film legend as “a castrated epic
ruined by colossal studio interference.”
Although the film certainly lost its cohesion
visit EXTRAS
26 JULY 2016
a castrated epic
ruined by colossal
studio interference
Major Dundee film poster for its original US release
“This time we do it right!” Poster for The Wild Bunch
The extended version, released in 2005
Throughout his movie
career “Bloody Sam”, as
the media later tagged
him, would remain a
recalcitrant filmmaker who,
through his inherent hatred
of the “movie money
men”, was always destined
to clash with studio
management.
And yet, following the
enormous worldwide
critical and box-office
success of both The Wild
Bunch and Straw Dogs
(1971), Peckinpah received
an unexpected invitation
to return to Columbia to
reassemble Major Dundee
into his original version.
Re-score, re-dub – the
whole nine yards. Sam’s
exacting reply to Columbia
Pictures is unprintable
here.
However, some 20 years
after Peckinpah’s death,
an extended version of
Major Dundee was given a
theatrical and DVD release
in 2005. The restored
thirteen minutes plus a
new musical score was a
significant improvement
that added some clarity
and cohesion to the
story that Sam had
originally intended to
tell onscreen. Hardly
a “director’s cut” but
nevertheless, for the
many aficionados of the
film, it was a welcome
glimpse of what could
have been.
End Notes