Typical John Wayne formula except for the presence of another big star in Rock Hudson. The usual familiar faces are all present. There's the usual subplot involving the young, good-looking couple. Wayne is the larger than life hero.
A key battle with Mexican (or were they French?) forces near the end of the film is poorly filmed. At some points, it looks like the soldiers have turned Wayne's horse herd. At other times, the herd is plowing through them. All of Wayne's men have repeating rifles which existed, but were still fairly rare at the end of the civil war. Since these were recently mustered out union soldiers, it would be more realistic that a lot, if not most of them, would have single shot rifles. But John Wayne movies always loved those Winchesters or Henrys regardless of the era they were supposed to be in. Heck, in the Comancheros, a fairly young widow tells Wayne that her husband died at the Alamo. But the guns in that movie are the usual for a Wayne film, which would have put them about 30 years or more after the Alamo fell in 1836.
And in the Undefeated, when all the conflict is resolved, Wayne, Hudson and the Mexican leader all share a friendly chat and a toast. No one seems particularly upset that the Mexican has been threatening to murder all of Hudson's people unless his demands were met.
The movie seems silly and contrived. Nothing more than a vehicle for its two stars. They should have given them a better script. Or a better movie.
A key battle with Mexican (or were they French?) forces near the end of the film is poorly filmed. At some points, it looks like the soldiers have turned Wayne's horse herd. At other times, the herd is plowing through them. All of Wayne's men have repeating rifles which existed, but were still fairly rare at the end of the civil war. Since these were recently mustered out union soldiers, it would be more realistic that a lot, if not most of them, would have single shot rifles. But John Wayne movies always loved those Winchesters or Henrys regardless of the era they were supposed to be in. Heck, in the Comancheros, a fairly young widow tells Wayne that her husband died at the Alamo. But the guns in that movie are the usual for a Wayne film, which would have put them about 30 years or more after the Alamo fell in 1836.
And in the Undefeated, when all the conflict is resolved, Wayne, Hudson and the Mexican leader all share a friendly chat and a toast. No one seems particularly upset that the Mexican has been threatening to murder all of Hudson's people unless his demands were met.
The movie seems silly and contrived. Nothing more than a vehicle for its two stars. They should have given them a better script. Or a better movie.