STACK #140 Jun 2016

EXTRAS

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thus: "I have only three commands. When I signal you to come, you come. When I signal you to charge, you charge. And when I signal you to run, you follow me and run like hell". Whilst Dundee attempts to muster volunteers to rescue the kidnapped Rostes children, he orders his scout, Samuel Potts, to locate the Apache, adding: "Do not get yourself killed, as that will inconvenience me." The next scene is the capture of five Confederate escapees, led by the flamboyant Captain Benjamin Tyreen (a standout performance from Richard Harris). The five Rebels are sentenced to be hung for killing a prison guard. Dundee then offers Tyreen a reprieve if he and 20 of his men volunteer to serve their country's flag and join his expedition. A defiant Tyreen replies, "It's not my country Major Dundee. I damn its flag and I damn you. I would rather hang than serve." However, to save his men from For almost four months Peckinpah toiled in Columbia's editing room until finally, he had a first cut of two hours and forty one minutes the scaffold he reluctantly agrees, "But only until the Apache is taken or destroyed." Thus in the film's opening scenes, Peckinpah had skillfully established the plot and a cast of disparate characters consisting of rival factions who hate each other more than the Apache they are after. The open hostility of this dysfunctional group is slightly tempered with the scene of Dundee leading his ramshackle command out of Fort

A scene from the fight at the river with a regiment of French Lancers

Benlin to begin his mission. The Confederates start to sing their martial anthem, "Dixie", the Union troopers counter with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", and the civilian volunteers bring up the rear with "Oh, My Darling Clementine". This

The captured Rebel prisoners played by (l to r) L.Q. Jones, Ben Johnson, Richard Harris, John Davis Chandler, and Warren Oates

nostalgic scene was an homage to John Ford's famous cavalry trilogy, but Peckinpah had no intention of delivering a traditional Ford cavalry film. For almost four months Peckinpah toiled in Columbia's editing room until finally, he had a first cut of two hours and forty one minutes. However, he told Bresler that he felt he had been somewhat impetuous and as a consequence needed to put another ten minutes back in before the first public preview. This would make it closer to the three hour movie as originally conceived, and if the audience reaction proved positive, it would vindicate him once the studio executive realised his version worked. But producer Jerry Bresler and Columbia Pictures had other ideas. Whilst he waited for Bresler to make

arrangements for a public preview, Peckinpah busied himself with sound effects and selecting a composer for the music score. But without Sam's knowledge, instead of organising a preview, Bresler took the director's cut to NewYork and screened it for a number of theatre exhibitors. Their damning verdict was, "too long and too violent." On his return to Hollywood, Bresler relayed the verdict to Peckinpah, whose immediate reaction was, "To hell with the theatre owners, let the public decide after the preview". But the producer remained adamant that the film needed to be cut to a two hour running time, which Peckinpah vehemently disagreed with. The following morning when Sam drove up to the studio front gate, the guard told him he was under strict orders not to admit him and passed him a large cardboard box containing Peckinpah's personal belongings from the studio office, which had presumably been cleared out the night before. Sam Peckinpah was no longer an employee of Columbia Pictures and would have no further input into the post- production of Major Dundee . The ruination of Peckinpah's version of the film now moved into its final phase.

To be concluded...

"Do not get yourself killed Mr Potts as that will inconvenience me"

JUNE 2016

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