MovieChat Forums > Major Dundee (1965) Discussion > Favorite Scenes?

Favorite Scenes?

posted 19 years ago by Hancock_the_Superb
10 replies | jump to latest

Very basic discussion: what are your favorite scenes from this movie?

I like most of the movie's dialogue scenes, I think that the screenplay (even in its unfinished state) was very good, and with such great actors performing it it's no wonder I like it so much. I especially like the recruiting scenes in the first hour.

My absolute favorite scene is the campfire confrontation where Jimmy Lee Benteen picks a fight with Aesop and causes the whole camp to turn on each other. Really symbolizes the theme of the whole movie in a nice little five minute passage, and it's perfectly written, acted, and directed by all concerned.

Other favorites:
- The opening scene, where Dundee and Co. survey the massacre scene, has a few nice moments. Great cinematography in this scene with a lot of nice wideshots by Sam Leavitt, that is lacking in much of the rest of the film.
- Pretty much all of the character establishing scenes, particularly Tyreen in the courtyard and Dahlstrom's entrance.
- The river ambush. Despite the poor day-for-night filming, it is - especially in the restored version with the new score - a very suspenseful sequence, and the battle itself is fairly well-done.
- O.W. Hadley's execution. In just six minutes, Warren Oates went from just another white-trash bit actor (like John Davis Chandler and L.Q. Jones, for instance) to a legend in his own right.
- The planning of the final battle with the Apache by Dundee, Potts, Tyreen, Graham, and Gomez, and the discovery of Riago. (really glad they restored this scene, if only they'd been able to put back in the Potts-Gomez knife fight)
- Tyreen's rescuing of the colors, mortal wounding, and death in the final battle (despite the glaring continuity error of Tremaine being back in the saddle seconds after being knocked off his horse)

Anyone else care to contribute.

"We don't give a good FART about the socialist workers or their movements!"

[–] mausermike63 19 years ago

There were so many good scenes in the movie. Other than those you listed, I liked the scene where Aesop and O.W. Hadley are lying close to each other, spying on the French, and Aesop tells Hadley that his group can take the French-Algerian troops, confiding that they were soft, not ever having been down South.

It was a moment that conveyed the growing comraderie that would have been unthinkable early on in the campaign. The Southerners had such a contemptious disrespect for the black contingent it would have been unlikely that Hadley would have been even lying next to one of the black troopers in the first place. But the common struggle and experience of the campaign had a way of reducing some of the prejudices, for a time anyway.

I was a bit disappointed in the new scene that has the officers planning the final strategy. I was glad it was placed in the movie but I thought it was going to be a longer fare with more detail and more back and forth input from its characters. A really good movie that has cavalry tactics expressed is ULZANA'S RAID. I wish MAJOR DUNDEE had something akin to that movie's amount of tactical discussion.

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 19 years ago

That's a good moment. One thing I didn't like about it was listening to the DVD commentary, with the know-it-all guys saying "These were really the best guys the French army had, etc." Well of course they were, dumbass! That's the point!

It's a shame that they didn't use Brock Peters better in this film. He was a great actor and his character could've been one of the more interesting ones in the movie, but sadly he had pretty much nothing to do outside of the campfire scene and a few scattered lines of dialogue here or there.

I've not seen "Ulzana's Raid", but since it's on AMC every other week I'm bound to catch it sooner or later.

"We don't give a good FART about the socialist workers or their movements!"

[–] mausermike63 19 years ago

I'm guessing that much of the missing half hour or so has quite a bit with the movie's character actors. Since so many were introduced in the beginning and then underused in the movie, it's likely that there would have been more scenes involving them. Since a theme in the movie was how a somewhat divided command became one, I'm sure that the missing scenes involved them.

One scene that should have been in the movie was the initial massacre at the Rostes Ranch. It was cited as having been among the original footage by DVD Savant. It was supposedly so impressive it was studied by UCLA film classes. If it was anything like the description in Fink's novel, it's a shame it is missing. The Apaches attacked the ranch during an evening Holloween party and were so quick and efficient that most of the inhabitants were killed without sound by surprise with arrows, almost like a modern day commando raid. That would have been the perfect beginning to the movie.

Yeah, catch ULZANA'S RAID. I can't think offhand of another western film that has as much tactical decision making in it. The story has a young, green lieutenant choosen to bring in an Apache raiding party after two older career officers pass it up because of self interest. He has to learn from his civilian scout on how to outwit and predict the Apache moves.

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 19 years ago

Well, according to Jim Kitses' book "Horizons West", there wasn't a whole lot that was cut that wasn't restored. Most of what was were essentially longer versions of already existing scenes.

Here's what I can remember off the top of my head (I lost my copy of the book a few days ago). If you've read the book, I'm sorry if I'm repeating this to you:

- The massacre scene. There's still debate over how much of this was actually filmed. DVD Savant thinks it definitely was filmed, but most Peckinpah biographers and film experts are of mixed opinions as to whether or not it was, or how much. I'm willing to believe that at least some of it was, due to the end and aftermath of it already existing. It was the screenplay depiction that was studied at UCLA, IIRC, though I certainly could be wrong.
- Sergeant Gomez telling Dundee about his growing up with the Apache (would've occurred right before or after the "prison break" sequence which was restored)
- A scene which probably wasn't filmed, where Captain Waller tries to get General Carleton (commander of the California Column - whose name, for some reason, is misspelled on the movie's subtitles) to arrest Dundee before he crosses the border into the Rio Grande.
- One scene in partiuclar which I would've killed to have seen. After the fight between Aesop, Benteen and Dahlstrom, Dundee breaks out whiskey to reward his men for the river crossing (and presumably for not killing each other just a moment ago). Dahlstrom toasts the Union, Chillum toasts the Confederacy, and the scene ends with everyone except Wiley spilling their whiskey on the ground as a result.
- The mule scene with Dundee, which I think most fans of this film are familiar with, whether or not it currently exists.
- The fiesta scene was a lot longer in the original script, and Dundee and Tyreen had a long passage where they pretend (or think, due to their being drunk) that they are back at West Point. I would loved to have seen the complete, uncut version of the Potts-Gomez knife fight.
- The Durango scenes were even longer and also involved Potts and Gomez, again, gaining love (I guess) and respect for each other as they rescue Dundee, bonding over some nasty tequila.

"We don't give a good FART about the socialist workers or their movements!"

[–] blackknight40 18 years ago

Capt. Tyreen-"Now, Major? Or across the River in Texas?"
Maj. Dundee-"I guess now's just as good a time as any, Ben."
Sam Potts-"You boys want a fight? Well, I got one for ya!"
Ryan (narrative)-"We had forgotten the French, but the French had not forgotten us."

[–] slokes 18 years ago

Dundee's picking his troops is great, especially his confrontation with Tyreen which he finishes up by saying he'll see Tyreen hang and Tyreen confidently responds (correctly) that Dundee will be back asking him to volunteer again.

That scene where Dundee throws a lit cigar into the Confederate prison camp and, after a brief melee, the Johnny Reb with the cigar sees who his benefactor is, and with a withering look stamps out the smoldering stogie with his bare foot.

Aesop unfurling Old Glory at the end is the best moment in the picture; he does it with such pride, even though his holding it effectively finishes him in the film.

[–] Attillio 17 years ago

I liked the scene where trooper Ryan (Michael Anderson, Jr.) is asked by Aesop (the distinguihed Brock Peters) if he (Anderson) had just shaved for the first time. "Yep," replies Ryan. "Maybe we should start calling you Ryan, instead of Tim," observes Aesop, with both Brock Peters and the great (and toothless!) Dub Taylor laughing out loud good-naturedly.

Another great scene is when Maj. Dundee and the soldiers are about to leave the Mexican village, and we see Sgt. Gomez carrying a drunken trooper Ryan in his arms out of an adobe house with Ryan's adoring girlfriend following them. When the callow Ryan pauses to give the girl one, last passionate kiss, Maj. Duddee barks out "Put it in the saddle, Ryan!," and the other calvalrymen, especially the late, great Ben Johnson, start to cheer and wave their hats in the air. Great stuff with so many superb actors!

[–] bullit2513 17 years ago

One of my favorite scenes is a really quick one after Dundee's troop robbed the French camp. When the camera pans to follow the French column, you see Dundee, Tyreen, and a bunch of others lying at the top of a hill watching the column go by. There's several great lines, including Ryan's "What if they don't stop? What if they keep on and smash hell out of the lieutenant?", but the best is between Aesop and O.W. Hadley.

Aesop: Well, my boys can take the walking ones at least.
Hadley: How's that Aesop?
Aesop: They're soft, O.W.. They never been South.

It's such a great little exchange between Brock Peters and Warren Oates.

"Congratulations, Major. It appears that at last you have found yourself a real war." Ben Tyreen

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 17 years ago

Besides those already mentioned, will single-out Sergeant Gomez's great line in the final battle:

"Any of you damned gringos fire before the signal, I swear to God I'll kill you!"

"The best of them won't come for money - they'll come for ME!" - Lawrence of Arabia

[–] cowboydesperado-1 17 years ago

I like the opening - with character actor Michael Pate as 'The Apache' - saying to the strung-up Lieutenant...

'Pony soldier - I am Sierra Charriba. Who will send against me NOW?'
(Answer: title credit "Major Dundee')

'Comes with the pretty girls and the pension...'