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Major Dundee Overview:

Major Dundee (1965) was a Adventure - War Film directed by Sam Peckinpah and produced by Jerry Bresler.

Major Dundee BlogHub Articles:

Major Dundee (1965)

Major Dundee Directed by Sam Peckinpah Written by Harry Julian Fink, Oscar Saul and Sam Peckinpah 1965/USA Jerry Bresler Productions First viewing/Netflix rental Sam Peckinpah’s first major directing credit didn’t grab me. The film is set in the last months of the Civil War near the Te... Read full article


Major Dundee (1965) – Father’s Day Gift Guide

Twilight Time is ambitious for putting out a critically excoriated (at the time) Sam Peckinpah film, but they have and I applaud the effort.  While I didn’t adore Major Dundee, and it wears its problems sewn into its sleeve, there’s something to admire in its scope and tenacity.  Conta... Read full article


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Major Dundee Quotes:

Aesop: [observing the French troops] My outfit could lick those boys - those ones on foot, anyway. With one hand tied behind our backs.
O.W. Hadley: How's that, Aesop?
Aesop: They're soft, O.W. - they ain't never been South.

Capt. Benjamin Tyreen: You don't have the temprament to be a liberator, Amos.

Samuel Potts: Bannon was a soldier, Amos. It goes with the pretty girls and the pension.

O.W. Hadley: [as he is about to be executed as a deserter] Aw, hell, Major, you're just doin' what you gots to do! But goddamn your soul for it anyway, and God bless Robert E. Lee!
[Tyreen shoots him in the back of the head]

Capt. Benjamin Tyreen: [to Dundee] Now, I have orders to take you out of here in a way that befits your character - out the back door!
[punches Dundee]
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Major Dundee Facts
Lee Marvin was Sam Peckinpah's initial choice for the role of Samuel Potts, but Marvin wanted too much money. Marvin's agent suggested James Coburn for the part, and Coburn ultimately got the role.

During the filming of this movie, Sam Peckinpah was so obnoxious and abusive towards his actors that Charlton Heston physically threatened the director with a sabre. Heston later remarked that this was the only time he had ever threatened anybody on a movie set.

Despite his quarrel with Sam Peckinpah, producer Jerry Bresler fought very hard with Columbia to keep the 136-minute cut (the "Extended Edition" now on DVD) despite its poor reception at its preview, but was rebuffed by the studio.

The script was originally written with John Ford in mind to direct, but Ford was busy working on Cheyenne Autumn and in any case was uninterested.

Sam Peckinpah originally wanted Lucien Ballard, with whom he had had a good working relationship on Ride the High Country, as the director of photography, but producer Jerry Bresler refused the request, making him work with Sam Leavitt, whose credits included Diamond Head, a previous Bresler production, and Cape Fear. Although Leavitt did get along fairly well with Peckinpah, this was the first sign of tension between the director and the producer.

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