Monday, May 16, 2005
MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR
Saw Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee (1965) at the Music Box last Thursday night. Peckinpah appears to have shot all of the existing footage, but was fired by execs at Columbia before he could complete filming and editing. Depending on whom you believe, Peckinpah was either an abusive jerk or the studio couldn't understand his artistic vision. The film has recently been restored with a new score and footage that had previously been thought lost.
Plot: Charlton Heston plays the eponymous Major, a Union Army officer in charge of a military prison in the New Mexico territory during the last years of the Civil War. A band of Apaches has been wreaking havoc in the country surrounding Dundee's command, but he doesn't have enough men to do anything about it. However, a group of Confederate soldiers is locked up in Dundee's prison and their leader just happens to be Captain Benjamin Tyreen (Richard Harris), an old West Point classmate of Dundee's. Hmmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking? Dundee's chocolate and Tyreen's peanut butter? Yep, Dundee convinces Tyreen to hunt down the Apaches in return for the freedom of Tyreen's men.
Major Dundee has a good premise, but fails severely in the execution. What should be a taught action-adventure tale is slack and episodic; the film slogs from incident to incident without gaining any momentum. For example, it's understandable that some time should be spent on Dundee's recruitment of the Confederates to his cause; after all, it wouldn't be very interesting if they immediately agreed to help him. However, the better part of an hour passes by before the soldiers set out on their mission. Believe me, it isn't time well spent, as it's mostly composed of tired, familiar scenes of Dundee sorting through all the riff-raff in search of a few good men.
The actual military expedition is handled at a similarly static pace. Instead of concentrating on the Apache-hunting story and allowing the Civil War subplot to develop from that, we're treated to countless, North/South confrontations between Dundee, Tyreen, and their soldiers. What should be an interesting context to the film quickly becomes tiresome. The mission is actually forgotten about for large parts of the film, only reappearing in force at its conclusion.
As for the actors, I thought Charlton Heston was terrible. Handsome in a dignified and stately manner, he looked the part, but just didn't have the range to play the role. He either looked serious or angry. Actually, that's not quite it. He looked pompous too. Overall, he's been a wooden actor in every film that I've seen him in.
Richard Harris fared much better. He played his part with a hammy theatricality that brought some desperately needed life to the film and suited the character. It's too bad that Tyreen wasn't the focus of the film.
James Coburn, as Dundee's one-armed scout, and the luscious Senta Berger, as the woman torn between the two leads, were mostly wasted in potentially juicy supporting roles.
So, I didn't like Dundee much and wouldn't recommend it. And I haven't even said anything about the voice-over narration, which might be the worst in film history. ¶ 9:09 AM
Plot: Charlton Heston plays the eponymous Major, a Union Army officer in charge of a military prison in the New Mexico territory during the last years of the Civil War. A band of Apaches has been wreaking havoc in the country surrounding Dundee's command, but he doesn't have enough men to do anything about it. However, a group of Confederate soldiers is locked up in Dundee's prison and their leader just happens to be Captain Benjamin Tyreen (Richard Harris), an old West Point classmate of Dundee's. Hmmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking? Dundee's chocolate and Tyreen's peanut butter? Yep, Dundee convinces Tyreen to hunt down the Apaches in return for the freedom of Tyreen's men.
Major Dundee has a good premise, but fails severely in the execution. What should be a taught action-adventure tale is slack and episodic; the film slogs from incident to incident without gaining any momentum. For example, it's understandable that some time should be spent on Dundee's recruitment of the Confederates to his cause; after all, it wouldn't be very interesting if they immediately agreed to help him. However, the better part of an hour passes by before the soldiers set out on their mission. Believe me, it isn't time well spent, as it's mostly composed of tired, familiar scenes of Dundee sorting through all the riff-raff in search of a few good men.
The actual military expedition is handled at a similarly static pace. Instead of concentrating on the Apache-hunting story and allowing the Civil War subplot to develop from that, we're treated to countless, North/South confrontations between Dundee, Tyreen, and their soldiers. What should be an interesting context to the film quickly becomes tiresome. The mission is actually forgotten about for large parts of the film, only reappearing in force at its conclusion.
As for the actors, I thought Charlton Heston was terrible. Handsome in a dignified and stately manner, he looked the part, but just didn't have the range to play the role. He either looked serious or angry. Actually, that's not quite it. He looked pompous too. Overall, he's been a wooden actor in every film that I've seen him in.
Richard Harris fared much better. He played his part with a hammy theatricality that brought some desperately needed life to the film and suited the character. It's too bad that Tyreen wasn't the focus of the film.
James Coburn, as Dundee's one-armed scout, and the luscious Senta Berger, as the woman torn between the two leads, were mostly wasted in potentially juicy supporting roles.
So, I didn't like Dundee much and wouldn't recommend it. And I haven't even said anything about the voice-over narration, which might be the worst in film history. ¶ 9:09 AM
