The Undefeated | |
---|---|
![]() 1969 theatrical poster | |
Directed by | Andrew V. McLaglen |
Screenplay by | James Lee Barrett |
Based on | Stanley Hough (Based on a Story by) |
Produced by | Robert L. Jacks |
Starring | John Wayne Rock Hudson Tony Aguilar Roman Gabriel Marian McCargo Lee Meriwether Merlin Olsen Melissa Newman Bruce Cabot Ben Johnson |
Cinematography | William H. Clothier |
Edited by | Robert L. Simpson |
Music by | Hugo Montenegro |
Color process | Color by DeLuxe |
Production company | 20th Century-Fox |
Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 118 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $7,115,000 [1] |
Box office | $8,000,000 [2] |
The Undefeated is a 1969 American Western and Civil War-era film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson. [3] The film portrays events surrounding the French Imperial intervention in Mexico during the 1860s period of the neighboring American Civil War. It is also loosely based on Confederate States Army General Joseph Orville Shelby's factual escape to Mexico after the American Civil War (1861–1865), and his attempt to join with Maximilian's Imperial Mexican forces.
Just outside of Natchez, Mississippi during the closing days of the American Civil War, Union Army Colonel John Henry Thomas and company organize one final attack on a small unit of Confederate soldiers, only to be informed after bloodily defeating them that the war had ended three days earlier at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. Saddened and weary, Thomas leads his men out west towards home with the intention of rounding up and selling wild horses in the Arizona and New Mexico Territories to compensate them for their loyalty, friendship, and war service.
Meanwhile, some Confederate States Army soldiers led by Colonel James Langdon feel the war has left them with no home, and they prepare to emigrate south to Mexico and serve as reinforcements to Emperor Maximilian, leader of the French intervention invasion of Mexico against the republican government of President Benito Juárez. Langdon torches his plantation home before he departs rather than seeing it fall into the hands of Northern carpetbaggers. At the same time, Thomas and the surviving members of his command meet up with Thomas' adopted Indian son, Blue Boy, and other members of his tribe from the Oklahoma and Indian Territories. Together, they round up a herd of 3,000 horses and take them across the Rio Grande of the North for sale to Maximilian's representatives in Durango, Mexico after refusing a lower offer from corrupt and greedy U.S. Army purchasing agents.
Halfway there, Blue Boy discovers tracks indicating that Mexican Comanchero bandits are planning an ambush on the group of Confederate travelers. Blue Boy and Thomas go to warn the emigrating Confederates and Thomas and Langdon meet. Despite their differences, the Americans - Northerners, Southerners, and Cherokee Indians - repel the group of Mexican bandidos attacking the Confederate camp, with Thomas' former Union Army troopers saving the day. Col. Langdon thanks the Northerners by inviting them to celebrate at a Fourth of July party - "Southern style". However, the former soldiers soon relive the war when a fight breaks out. They then split and go their separate ways. Meanwhile, Langdon's daughter Charlotte and Blue Boy have quickly fallen in love.
When Langdon's Southern company finally reaches their destination in Durango, they find that Emperor Maximilian's forces had been chased out days earlier, replaced by ragged Mexican Republican forces of President Juárez, under General Rojas, who imprisons them. Viewing the new foreigners as potential enemies, the Juarista general holds the Southerners hostage, offering to release them in exchange for Thomas' horses. After Langdon is sent to Thomas' camp with Rojas' demands, the reluctant American cowboys agree to pay the ransom to free their brethren. On the way to Durango, Thomas and his men are confronted by French cavalry. A battle erupts with the Americans coming out victorious. Thomas and his men bring the horses to town and pay the ransom for their former enemies.
The company of reunited Americans rides out of Durango to return to the U.S.A. Trying to decide what song to listen to as they ride, the group passes over "Dixie" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic" before settling on "Yankee Doodle". Charlotte and Blue Boy are seen as a couple, while both Thomas and Langdon laugh at how the Confederate colonel's daughter has cut Blue Boy's hair.
The original script was by Stanley Hough and Casey Robinson, neither of whom unfortunately is credited in the final film. Producer Robert Jacks bought the script and proposed project in December 1967, announcing James Lee Barrett would do the final script rewriting. [4]
In May 1968, Jacks announced the film would be made through 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation (motion pictures studios) . [5] Andrew McLaglen signed to direct as the first of a two-picture deal with 20th Century-Fox. [6] In August 1968 John Wayne agreed to star. [7] The following month, Rock Hudson signed to co-star.
The stunt coordinator was Hal Needham, later a film director.
According to Rock Hudson's lover Marc Christian, John Wayne started out picking on Hudson during filming, but the two men became friends. [8] In Mark Griffin's biography of Hudson, All that Heaven Allows, Wayne is shown to have initially started to "direct" Hudson, constantly suggesting what he should do on camera. When Hudson began to do the same to Wayne, Wayne pointed his finger at Hudson and said, "I like you." The suggestions stopped, and the two men became frequent partners in chess and bridge. [9]
Filming took place in Sierra de Órganos National Park, near the town of Sombrerete, state of Zacatecas, Mexico. [10]
The film earned $4.5 million dollars in rentals in North America. [11]
In the Chicago Sun-Times , film critic Roger Ebert (1942-2013), gave the film only 2 out of 4 stars: Ebert wrote in December 1969:
Unfortunately, McLaglen is never able to draw his threads together. As in his The Way West (1967), he takes a panoramic theme and then gets so close to it that we lose sight of the whole...[Old] pro Wayne saves a scene or two with his presence and delivery. He shelves his broken-down Rooster Cogburn image from True Grit (1969) and rides high in the saddle again. [12]
According to 20th Century-Fox studio records, the film required $12,425,000 ($12.4 million dollars) in rentals to break even, but by December 11, 1970, the film had made only $8,775,000 ($8.8 million dollars) which resulted in a loss at first for the movie studio (in the short run / initial period of the one cited year (November 1969-December 1970) after its theatrical release in November 27, 1969. It could have earned many millions of dollars more in the subsequent 55 years since, with new format releases of Beta / VHS video cassette tapes, laserdiscs, broadcast / cable television rights, compact discs and online / internet streaming etc. [13]
A novelization manuscript was written by frequent author James Myers ("Jim") Thompson (1906-1977), and released in paperback form in 1969 by the publisher Popular Library. [14] [15]
Marion Robert Morrison, professionally known as John Wayne and nicknamed "the Duke", was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood's Golden Age, especially in Western and war movies. His career flourished from the silent era of the 1920s through the American New Wave, as he appeared in a total of 179 film and television productions. He was among the top box-office draws for three decades and appeared with many other important Hollywood stars of his era. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Wayne as one of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema.
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was a British-American actor and boxer. His film career spanned from the early 1920s through the 1950s, initially as a leading man, though he was better known for his character acting. He was a well-known member of John Ford’s Stock Company, appearing in 12 of the director’s films, seven of which co-starred John Wayne.
Rio Lobo is a 1970 American Western film directed and produced by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, from a screenplay by Burton Wohl and Leigh Brackett. The film was shot in Cuernavaca in the Mexican state of Morelos and in Tucson, Arizona. The musical score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith. It was the third Howard Hawks film to explore the theme of a town sheriff defending his office against belligerent local outlaws: the others were Rio Bravo (1959) and El Dorado (1966), both also starring John Wayne. Rio Lobo was the last film Hawks made.
Shenandoah is a 1965 American film set during the American Civil War starring James Stewart and featuring Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne, and, in their film debuts, Katharine Ross and Rosemary Forsyth. The picture was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. The American folk song "Oh Shenandoah" features prominently in the film's soundtrack.
Joseph Orville "J.O." Shelby was a Confederate officer who commanded cavalry in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. After the Confederacy surrendered, Shelby tried to swear fealty to Emperor Maximilian I during the French invasion of Mexico. With the Emperor's permission, Shelby formed a colony of Confederate exiles in Mexico until the defeat of the French, then abandoned the operation.
Hellfighters is a 1968 American adventure film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring John Wayne, Katharine Ross, Jim Hutton and Vera Miles. The movie depicts a group of oil well firefighters and is based loosely on the life of Red Adair. Adair, "Boots" Hansen, and "Coots" Matthews served as technical advisers on the film.
Andrew Victor McLaglen was a British-born American film and television director, known for Westerns and adventure films, often starring John Wayne or James Stewart.
Chisum is a 1970 American Western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, starring John Wayne in the title role, and adapted for the screen by Andrew J. Fenady from his short story "Chisum and the Lincoln County War." The supporting cast features Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Ben Johnson, Glenn Corbett, Andrew Prine, Bruce Cabot, Patric Knowles, Richard Jaeckel, Lynda Day George, Pedro Armendariz Jr., John Agar, John Mitchum, Ray Teal, Christopher Mitchum and Hank Worden with Geoffrey Deuel and Pamela McMyler receiving "introducing" credits. The picture was filmed in Panavision and Technicolor.
Major John Newman Edwards was General Joseph O. Shelby's adjutant during the American Civil War, an author, and a pro-Confederate journalist who founded the Kansas City Times. He is perhaps best known for contributing to the folk hero status of outlaw Jesse James.
The Carey Treatment is a 1972 American crime thriller film directed by Blake Edwards and starring James Coburn, Jennifer O'Neill, Dan O'Herlihy and Pat Hingle. The film was based on the 1968 novel A Case of Need credited to Jeffery Hudson, a pseudonym for Michael Crichton. Like Darling Lili and Wild Rovers before this, The Carey Treatment was heavily edited without help from Edwards by the studio into a running time of one hour and 41 minutes. These edits were satirized in his 1981 black comedy S.O.B.
The War Wagon is a 1967 American Western heist film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. Released by Universal Pictures, it was produced by Marvin Schwartz and adapted by Clair Huffaker from his own novel. The supporting cast includes Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr., Keenan Wynn, Bruce Cabot, Joanna Barnes, Valora Noland, Bruce Dern, and Gene Evans. The film received generally positive reviews.
Ice Station Zebra is a 1968 American espionage thriller film directed by John Sturges and starring Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan, Ernest Borgnine, and Jim Brown. The screenplay is by Douglas Heyes, Harry Julian Fink, and W. R. Burnett, loosely based on Alistair MacLean's 1963 novel. Both have parallels to real-life events that took place in 1959. The film concerns a US nuclear submarine that must rush to the North Pole to rescue the members of Ice Station Zebra.
Lawman is a 1971 American revisionist Western film produced and directed by Michael Winner and starring Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Lee J. Cobb and Robert Duvall.
Cahill U.S. Marshal is a 1973 American Western film in Technicolor starring John Wayne as a driven lawman in a black hat. The film was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and filmed on location in Durango, Mexico. The supporting cast features George Kennedy, Neville Brand, Marie Windsor, Royal Dano, Denver Pyle, Jackie Coogan, Harry Carey Jr., Paul Fix and Hank Worden.
What Price Glory is a 1952 American Technicolor war film based on a 1924 play by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings, though it used virtually none of Anderson's dialogue. Originally intended as a musical, it was filmed as a straight comedy-drama, directed by John Ford and released by 20th Century Fox on August 22, 1952, in the U.S. The screenplay was written by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, and stars James Cagney and Dan Dailey as US Marines in World War I.
Wee Willie Winkie is a 1937 American adventure drama film directed by John Ford and starring Shirley Temple, Victor McLaglen, and Cesar Romero. The screenplay by Julien Josephson and Ernest Pascal was based on a story by Rudyard Kipling. The film's story concerns the British presence in 19th-century India. The production was filmed largely at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, where a number of elaborate sets were built for the film. This film was the first of three in which Shirley Temple and Cesar Romero appeared together: the second was Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937), and finally The Little Princess (1939).
White Feather is a 1955 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Wagner. The movie was filmed in Durango, Mexico. The story is based on fact; however, the particulars of the plot and the characters of the story are fictional.
El Condor is a 1970 American Western film directed by John Guillermin.
John Courtney Moore was an American politician and journalist who served as the first mayor of Denver from 1859 to 1861. He was an early settler of Denver, while the area was still a territory of the United States. Moore was a newspaper journalist and publisher, working on papers in Denver, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Pueblo, Colorado. During the American Civil War, he was a judge adjutant general and colonel in the Confederate States Army.
Melissa Newman is an American actress who, as a teen, made her Hollywood film debut in The Undefeated (1969) American Civil War and Western film, starring John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Ben Johnson, Bruce Cabot, Edward Faulkner, Roman Gabriel, Lee Meriweather, Paul Fix, Robert Donner, Jan-Michael Vincent, and Merlin Olsen, among others.