new dvd version
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m-j-mooney — 17 years ago(February 22, 2009 09:08 AM)
Never saw this when it came out, but just watched the DVD and really enjoyed it.
But for an even BETTER film on a similar theme, check out VERA CRUZ (Burt Lancaster/Gary Cooper), which is excellent and better paced. -
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dorozco028 — 19 years ago(November 07, 2006 12:11 AM)
I hate the DVD version. I seen this movie as a boy and it was much more exciting because the music score was much better and enhanced the feel. With the DVD version the music score sucks badly and has made the movie duller. Pay the musicians or whoever royalities and get back the original music back. I doubt that will ever happen.
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bullit2513 — 19 years ago(November 09, 2006 04:28 PM)
You do realize you can listen to the original music track on the dvd, right? I do agree though, I'll stick with the original score.
"Congratulations, Major. It appears that at last you have found yourself a real war." Ben Tyreen -
Hancock_the_Superb — 19 years ago(November 11, 2006 06:01 AM)
Listen to the original score (which is on the DVD, in case you didn't know). It's silly and campy and surreal and stupid - but it fits in with the movie's tone perfectly. I like the new score less and less each time I hear it - one time I had to turn the film off, I was so bored by it! It seems like a rather blatant attempt to conflate "Major Dundee" back into the "masterpiece" it allegedly was.
"Truly, for some men,
NOTHING IS WRITTEN
unless they write it!" ~ Omar Sharif -
slokes — 19 years ago(November 14, 2006 08:25 PM)
With all due respect, you people are all off your nuts! Heston ROCKS in this movie. Yes, he's over the top, but that's what the script calls for. You like Tyreen better. Guess what? You're supposed to. Dundee is a decent man, but a glory-seeker all the same, a somewhat more humane version of Custer (whom Peckinpah originally had thought of making a film of before deciding "Dundee" fit his purposes better.) Harris plays a character who has more true individual honor, but he would be too much in a film with a more subdued actor like William Holden in the lead. Harris and James Coburn both had outlandish ways of delivering a performance, and without Charlton holding down the fort they'd be off the reservation too fast for this film to pack the punch it does.
I love Heston's range in this film, his great way with a line, and how well he fits into the Peckinpah cycle of films with a performance that's uniquely his own yet in touch with the shaded moral tones of his director's vision. I'm a bigger fan of William Holden, and love "Ride The High Country" for the sedate, commanding way its lead actors assay their roles, but this is a unique and singular film in large part because of how Heston commands every frame of film he's in. -
skyb87 — 19 years ago(December 11, 2006 11:23 PM)
Heston is perfect casting as Dundee, essaying the drive of the man and his frustration very well. He is supposed to be unlikable. The new DVD is a vast improvement - it fleshes the characters out and the whole thing hangs together better when previously it was totally disjointed. However, the finale remains hurried and the film still feels 'lacking', probably because the potential was so great.
One thing has always bothered me and does not ring true ( and is pointed to on the commentary on the DVD
why would Senta Berger's character fall for the stiff, unlikable Dundee when Tyreen is far more charming and likable?
One final irony: Heston was popular amongst cast and crew, while Harris was much disliked. ( Check out the interviews on the DVD. )
'Leave politics to the politicians' -
Hancock_the_Superb — 19 years ago(December 27, 2006 03:16 PM)
Whatever else may be said of Heston, he's always been a very friendly and down-to-Earth guy, so that's not too surprising. And the fact that he gave up his salary probably helped his standing among the cast and crew - L.Q. Jones and R.G. Armstrong really couldn't say enough good things about him on the DVD documentaries, but understandably I think.
"My dear Norfolk, this isn't Spain - this is
England!
" -
kiddglock — 19 years ago(January 02, 2007 09:15 PM)
Heston's performance is spot-on. He certainly doesn't deserve the dissing he's getting here. He was a very good if not great, actor. This is one of his best performances. The scene where he asks the Confederate POW's to join him is excellent. The torture scene at the beginning of the movie really packs a wallop too. Both where the Apaches are fixin' to torture the cavalryman and where Dundee and company find him. I tend to think that it would have been a much better film had Peckinpah been given more leeway.
There are no more friendly civilians, sir. -
paul-hulatt — 19 years ago(January 25, 2007 07:23 AM)
I saw this movie at 6 years old and it made an indelible impression. Most of the things people dislike made an impression on me then and stay with me now.
The cheesy theme song which suits Hestons Character
Hestons martinet character
Harris's cavalier character
The eerie jangling chains leitmotif I thought worked well and struck me as innovative for the time
The juxtaposition of the Union and Confederate personalities
I think Peckinpah had some wonderful ideas and themes and even political undertones in this movie that were overlooked both then and now. Especially how Dundee gets himself clumsily embroiled in foreign relations and has to be bailed out by the troops!
See it again!