THE UNDEFEATED
US, 1969, 119 minutes, Colour.
John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Jan Michael Vincent, Ben Johnson.
Directed by Andrew V.Mc Laglan.
A standard spectacular western starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson.
It is a typical John Wayne vehicle, heroism and toughness and good fellowship in the American west. He is quite well-matched by Rock Hudson as the leader of a Southern group going to Mexico after the end of the Civil War. Jan Michael Vincent has an early role and a lot of John Ford regulars are in the supporting cast, including Ben Johnson.
The film is directed by Andrew V. Mc Laglen who directed a number of John Wayne films and westerns with James Stewart for example, McLintock?, Shenandoah, Chisholm. He has directed many action films including the ambitious The Wild Geese. Attractive colour photography by William Clothier and a rousing if derivative score by Hugo Montenegro.
1. The appeal of the western, the background of the Civil War, the clash of North and South, the American heritage of the west, heroism? Cattle, treks, western landscapes and the Rio Grande? Mexico? How colourful and enjoyable was this western?
2. The film as a John Wayne vehicle and his standard performance, values? A symbol of the American west? How well-matched by Rock Hudson representing the South? The working together as a team, the clash of characters? A dramatic western?
3. Colour photography, Panavision, Texan and Mexican locations? The cattle and horse round-up, the trek, the battles? The rousing western style score?
4. The basic western plot - the retired military from the North, having to settle down, rounding up horses, the agreements with the Mexicans, the clash with the Southerners, with the Juaristas? The betrayal and the final battle? The Southern rebel family trying to join with the emperor Maximillian? The atmosphere of the west?
5. John Wayne as hero? Colonel Thomas? His leadership, work in the Civil War, the final battle of the war and the deaths? The attempts to make peace and yet the underlying hostility? His encountering this hostility with Colonel Langdon and his family? The good fellowship and the men of the west, partners, working together? The rounding up of the horses? Taking them to Mexico? The encounter with Langdon, clashes? The celebration of the Fourth of July party and the good fellowship and brawling? Keeping a wise eye on the group? The Mexican situation, the going to the rescue of the Langdon family? Returning to America? A typical John Wayne hero?
6. Rock Hudson's style as Colonel Langdon - the house in the South, the unwillingness to acknowledge the end of the war, the burning of the mansion? The group and the hopes for Mexico? The clash with the bandits and needing to be rescued by Thomas? Mutual suspicions? The good fellowship on the celebration? The build-up of the romance between Blue Boy and Charlotte? Bubba and his courting of Charlotte? The way that the romance was used for the finale and the need for rescue? The happy ending? Rock Hudson's style as a Southern gentleman?
7. The minor characters - Thomas's friends, their advice, participation in the round-up, the clash with the bandits, the Mexican situation and the Juaristas? Audience response to the types of the west? The contrast with Langdon's family, his wife and her Southern attitudes. his daughter, Bubba, the suspicions of the Southerners for the Northerners?
8. The Mexicans - the bandits and their cruelty and the siege, the Juaristas and their taking over from Maximillian's troops, General Rojas and his conditions? The kidnapping of Charlotte, Langdon's plea and the final clash?
9. The set pieces of the western - the many sequences of trekking through the desert, the intercutting of the journey of the Northerners and the Southerners? The spectacle of the rounding up of the horses, stampeding? The battle with the French troops? The final siege? Special effects for a satisfying western?
10. How well did the film use the basic western themes, present the American heritage of the 19th century? The ever-popularity of the western?
