Major Dundee

Major Dundee was a 1965 Western film starring Charlton Heston and Richard Harris, and directed by Sam Peckinpah. It has become notorious for the feud between Peckinpah and the producing studio, Columbia Tristar, during its production and editing.

Restored Version (April 2005)

In the summer of 2005, a restored 136-minute version, released by New York City's Film Forum featured several restored scenes, along with a new musical score by Christopher Caliendo. All of the cuts were edited out of the release version at the last minute; it is highly unlikely that Peckinpah's director's cut - which would presumably include a night-time Apache massacre which originally opened the film and has gained a measure of notoriety through screenwriting and film classes - will ever be fully restored.

Related Topics:
Film Forum - Christopher Caliendo

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Major Dundee has long been considered a lost masterpiece due to studio tampering with it. It also helped cement Peckinpah's image as a renegade film maker, which he would enhance with the conflicts on his later films, such as Straw Dogs, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.

Related Topics:
Straw Dogs - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid - Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

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