What could have been gives way to an enjoyable curio piece. Originally intended as a searing epic by director Sam Peckinpah, Major Dundee was taken away from his guiding hands post production and edited into an almost incoherent mess. Here in the new millennium we are able to see a restoration of the film with added scenes that gives the film are more cohesive structure, and yes it improves the film ten fold…

***Harsh, dense Peckinpah Western with Charlton Heston, Richard Harris and James Coburn*** A disgraced Major (Charlton Heston) guilty of making a tactical error at Gettysburg is assigned to command a dull P.O.W. camp in the New Mexican Territory. After some ranchers and a cavalry unit are massacred, the glory-seeking Dundee (Heston) seizes the opportunity by illegally crossing into Mexico to wipe out the Native…

There were quite a few westerns made that featured famous actors - one in blue, the other in grey, having to work together after the end of the American Civil war. This one pitches Charlton Heston as the eponymous leader of a troop tasked with bringing to heel some Apache who are raiding from Mexico. When I say troop, I really mean a disparate bunch of ill-disciplined ne'er-do-wells, and only the strength of…