The Undefeated (1969)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writers:

James Lee Barrett (screenplay)
Stanley Hough (story)

Release Date:

27 November 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

After the Civil War, ex-Union Colonel John Henry Thomas and ex-Confederate Colonel James Langdon are...

Plot Keywords:

Colonel | Mexico | Civil War | Horse | Mexican Revolution

Cast

John Wayne	...	Col. John Henry Thomas
Rock Hudson	...	Col. James Langdon
Antonio Aguilar	...	Juarista Gen. Rojas (as Tony Aguilar)
Roman Gabriel	...	Blue Boy
Marian McCargo	...	Ann Langdon
Lee Meriwether	...	Margaret Langdon
Merlin Olsen	...	Cpl. Little George
Melissa Newman	...	Charlotte Langdon
Bruce Cabot	...	Sgt. Jeff Newby
Jan-Michael Vincent	...	Lt. Bubba Wilkes (as Michael Vincent)
Ben Johnson	...	Short Grub
Edward Faulkner	...	Capt. Anderson
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Soloman Webster (Thomas rider)
Paul Fix	...	Gen. Joe Masters
Royal Dano	...	Maj. Sanders (one-armed major)

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Australia:PG (TV rating) | West Germany:12 (f) (re-rated) | West Germany:16 (f) (original rating) | New Zealand:PG | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-12 | South Korea:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:G | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Rock Hudson admitted in a 1980 interview that he thought the movie was "crap", and attributed its box office success only to the fact that it immediately followed True Grit (1969). However, he had fond memories of the filming because he became a close friend of John Wayne and Roman Gabriel.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The cavalry uniforms are Indian Wars vintage, not Civil War uniforms.

Quotes:

Col. John Henry Thomas: [Thomas has just learned that the war ended several days before] Major, we just received word that General Lee surrendered three days ago.
Maj. Sanders, CSA: Yes, sir.
Col. John Henry Thomas: You knew?
Maj. Sanders, CSA: We received the news yesterday.
Col. John Henry Thomas: Major, I don't think you realize that the war is over.
Maj. Sanders, CSA: NO, sir.
Col. John Henry Thomas: Are you saying that you still intend to keep fighting?
Maj. Sanders, CSA: Haven't we just proven that?
Col. John Henry Thomas: But why?
Maj. Sanders, CSA: Because this is our land, and you're on it.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in W.R. - Misterije organizma (1971)

Duke Yank and Rock Reb

The Civil War is over and it's been pretty costly to both sides. John Wayne has lost nearly every man who volunteered to serve with him and is broke. Rock Hudson who was also a Colonel on the other side went broke financing a regiment of his own and the Yankee carpetbaggers are ready to take over his plantation.

Wayne leads the remainder of his men to capture and tame wild horses to sell. Hudson gets an offer from Emperor Maximilian of Mexico to bring his people and resettle there. He needs all the help he can get to prop up his unpopular government. Hudson is certainly bringing a better quality of Anglo than Burt Lancaster did in Vera Cruz.

When Wayne feels a rip off coming from some middlemen horsetraders, he settles it in the usual Duke fashion and heads to Mexico himself. There the parties of Wayne and Hudson meet and their stories are entwined from then on.

With Wayne and Hudson co-starring, The Undefeated was led by two men who between them were number one at the box office for about a dozen years combined. Wayne was coming off his Oscar winning performance in True Grit. This film was definitely guaranteed an audience.

The story is both men are decent fellows and born leaders. Each is trying to pick up the pieces of civilian life and each is the leader of a party looking to them for leadership. A healthy and mutual respect develops between them despite previous political differences.

Wayne gets a whole load of players who worked with him before for this part. As he grew older he liked to have familiar faces around him. He had the star clout to insure it as well. Ben Johnson, Bruce Cabot, Edward Faulkner, Harry Carey, Jr., are some of the Wayne film veterans here.

Dub Taylor in his only film with the Duke does a very entertaining job as McCartney the cook. Dub did so many westerns when he wasn't doing hillbillies it's amazing that his and Wayne's path crossed only once.

This was also an early film for Jan Michael Vincent who went on to a star career of his own. Two members of the Los Angeles Rams, Roman Gabriel and Merlin Olsen were in this as well. Gabriel played a surrogate son to Wayne and rival for the hand of Melissa Newman to Vincent. Merlin Olsen is also here as a Confederate aide to Hudson. Gabriel decided movies wasn't his thing, but Olsen certainly had a substantial career after football.

The Undefeated has a nice, easy and charming flow to it, just like The Comancheros. Wayne and Hudson work well together in their only joint outing. Less action than you normally have in a Wayne film, but it's mixed in well with some good comic moments.

As Duke said parodying one of his one lines from a previous hit film of his, "Let's Take 'Em to Mexico." You'll like the ride.