This week’s Moviedrome Monday entry consists of two films by late great legendary director Bloody Sam (a.k.a. Sam Peckinpah). If any of you readers are interested, here is a link to my favorite Sam Peckinpah films (read here).

Major Dundee (1965)

I have posted a youtube video link below to Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox’s introduction to Peckinpah’s 1965 cavalry western Major Dundee. Readers can also read Cox’s intro transcript here. The episode’s original airdate was September 4, 1994 (read here). Though I still love the film, I do agree with Cox that Columbia Pictures (the distributor) meddling of Major Dundee is too hard to shake off. Major Dundee originally ran 278 minutes long (though this has been highly debated), before being cut down to a reported 156, 136 and finally, 123 (read here). That last one served as the theatrical cut. In 2005, the restored 136-minute cut became available here in the US on DVD (read here). Whether it is the theatrical or restored cut, I do agree with Cox’s eloquent assertion that even an incomplete Major Dundee being better than no Major Dundee at all.

Here is a youtube video link to Alex Cox’s Moviedrome intro to Major Dundee

Here is a youtube video link to the film’s original theatrical trailer

Also, here is a youtube video link to film distributor Michael Schlesinger’s Trailers from Hell commentary for it

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

Once again, I have posted a youtube video link below to Moviedrome presenter Alex Cox’s introduction to Peckinpah’s vastly underrated 1974 Neo-Western gem Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Readers can also read Cox’s intro transcript here. The episode’s original airdate was September 5, 1994 (read here). I am so glad that Cox reversed his opinion on Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia because like him, I too regard it as Peckinpah’s second greatest film after his 1969 magnum opus The Wild Bunch. Cox’s commentary is (as usual) articulate and insightful. Like him, I also think that Peckinpah may have seen Bennie (Warren Oates character) as a metaphor for himself.

Here is a youtube video link to Alex Cox’s Moviedrome intro to Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Here is a youtube video link to the film’s original theatrical trailer

Also, here is a youtube video link to screenwriter Josh Olson’s Trailers from Hell commentary for it