Major Dundee (1965)

After making his first bonafide classic in Ride the High Country, director Sam Peckinpah took a step towards the epic with Major Dundee. The film would, in many ways, define the rest of his career both on screen and off, as the drama behind the camera matched the action in front of it.Charlton Heston stars as Major Amos Dundee, a vainglorious Union Cavalry officer, who mounts an expedition to hunt down Apache war chief Sierra Charriba. Building his own army of criminals, ex-slaves and Confederate POWs—among them one Captain Ben Tyreen (Richard Harris), whose intense former friendship with Dundee is tainted with a sense of betrayal on both sides—Dundee heads into Mexico, his eye fixed firmly on a last shot at greatness.Beautifully shot and with a stellar supporting cast including James Coburn, Warren Oates, and L.Q. Jones, Major Dundee remains a stunning achievement and an essential experience for anyone interested in the life and cinema of “Bloody Sam.” The film is presented in its extended version, alongside a wealth of illuminating extras.