The Undefeated

The title refers to a group of proud Southern families led by an unrepentant colonel at the end of the American Civil War. Not satisfied with their loss, they plan on heading to Mexico to continue their campaign. A Northern colonel, John Henry, has retired and is catching wild horses to sell to the US army. When they stiff him on the price, he sells them to Mexico instead and must herd them all there. The two parties cross paths and at first are unfriendly, but when they get to know each other they see that both Yankees and Rebels are human, just like them. Enter the Mexican and French governments intent on stiffing both parties, and now the North and South must unite against a common foe.

One of the classic John Wayne westerns and featuring him in his ‘fat Elvis’ stage, this story features all sorts of namebrand actors including Rock Hudson, Lee Meriwether, Antonio Aguilar and ex-American footballers Roman Gabriel and Merlin Olsen in debut roles. And, just to add that element of quality, Jan-Michael Vincent appears in an early role, under the guise of plain Michael Vincent.

"If I find the time, I’m gonna sit down and write the social history of bourbon."

As far as story goes, it’s easily followed and the disparity between North and South is flagrantly apparent throughout. There is an excellent ‘breaking down the barriers’ Fourth of July party that ends in a fantastic Fight Club-like fight scene in which everyone has a blast beating the shit out of each other. Go Duke!

The quality here is really rather excellent given that the film is 34 years old. A nice restoration job is more than evident, particularly after viewing the trailer. It almost has the look of being made for TV, or even as a pilot for a show that never took off. Occasional film artefacts appear here and there, but generally the transfer is beautiful. Light and dark values are well displayed and flesh tones are natural looking. The colour is nice, though could have been a little richer in some strong reds. Seeing Wayne’s pretty pink and blue bandannas is one highlight of the well-shot colour, while desert scenes and wooded scenes are all portrayed in their natural state. Generally speaking, a nice clean picture.

Again, nice work on the audio. All dialogue is nice and crisp and the music doesn’t overpower any of the actors delivering lines. There's no noise to speak of and the sound effects are almost all well edited. The aforementioned Fight Club had its moments of wild swings with no hit but a meaty thwack provided by the sound department. I personally thought that helped add to the joy of watching grown men slug it out for fun. Classic Dolby Digital 2.0 gives us every gunshot and every punch in that classic western style films of the era had. Some parts go for several moments with no sound effects and no music, which is a little unnerving, but these are usually night scenes in which we’re waiting for some dude to show up with news. This DVD compares well to others in the box set, and beats the hell out of the audio in The Big Trail, even though they share the same format.

There's only the original theatrical trailer, which is informative without telling you a danged thing about the story. It hasn’t been restored so lovingly as the film, and artefacts are all over it. Scratches, hairs, you name it. Worth seeing for its historical value, but it doesn’t add a great deal to your overall experience.

If you’re a fan of The Duke, you’ll love this movie. Even if you’ve never seen a John Wayne movie, you could find worse films to watch than this. I’m not a major fan, but I enjoyed watching it, as the story is fairly complex without being confusing and there is a wide variety of characters and subplots. Great Saturday afternoon viewing in Dad’s shed.