Have you ever had a really bad boss? I think we've all had them at one point or another, but it's safe to say that nobody's at a boss like Sam Peckinpah. The stories about him quote unquote directing Major Dundee are

legendary. More often than not, Peckinpah arrived drunk on set and continued to drink once there.

He was so abusive to the cast and crew, often threatening to fire them over nothing, that

the star of the film Charlton Heston had to defend them using a cavalry saber.

I'm guessing the rap party was epic.

It's one of the many examples of a studio looking the other way from the behavior

of a creator or executive in order to get the product they desire. And it wasn't just the studio

thinking this way, the very same Charlton Heston, who was swinging that

saber around and charged Peck and Pot on horseback, also gave up his entire salary for the film in order to keep the director attached.

And he did remain attached to the film when he wasn't wandering offset to the degree that

Heston had to direct many of the scenes toward the end of the shooting schedule.

They sure don't make bosses like this anymore.

But Major John D. was made in 1965 a full four years before his Magnum opus, The Wild Bunch, or The Getaway or Convoy,

which is to say that the long-leaf peck and paw was given on this film grew so long that could cross the Grand Canyon by the time

1975 rolled around. But as friendly fire movies go, Major Dundee sits in a unique sweet spot for a couple of reasons. It's during the Civil War but not about the Civil War, and it takes place in Mexico in a war against Native American Apaches.

Heston, playing the title character, is so desperate to exact his revenge on an Apache tribe

that's been raiding settlements in the Mexico territory that he drafts Confederate Army prisoners of war from the prison camp he runs.

But maybe draft isn't the right word.

He says they have to volunteer or be hung, so tough choice.

Leading the prisoners is Richard Harris's Captain Benjamin Tyrene, whose performance is commensurate

with an actor of his stature, while still being totally

hatable because say it with me, all Confederates are traders. And all the

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