Major Dundee (SIERRA CHARRIBA)

Most of Sam Peckinpah’s films bear witness to the fact that American history was written primarily in blood. His third feature film is a Ford-style Western turned on its head: after Apaches massacre a group of settlers, Cavalry officer Dundee resolves to finish off their chief, Sierra Charriba. It is a suicide mission that finds itself caught not only between the warring Mexican and French factions but also spiraling ever closer to madness... Amidst this film dominated by men, Senta Berger radiates a touch of civilized Old Europe and a glimmer of hope that the senseless dying might end. We are screening a reconstructed extended version of the film—which had been heavily cut by the producer for its original theatrical release—that comes closer to Peckinpah’s original vision.
(Florian Widegger)