Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

dglink Set in the period just after the Civil War, "The Undefeated" pits ex-Union officer John Wayne against ex-Confederate officer Rock Hudson in an amiable, if uneven, big-budget western. Hudson, as Colonel James Langdon, leaves his ancestral home after the defeat of the Confederacy and leads his family and friends southwards on a trek to find a new home in Emperor Maximilian's Mexico. Meanwhile, Colonel John Henry Thomas, played by Wayne, gathers his ex-army buddies and endeavors to round up and sell horses to the U.S. Army. The two men and their followers meet up in Northern Mexico and find themselves embroiled in the struggle between French-backed supporters of Maximilian and Mexican nationalists who back Benito Juarez. The resulting film, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, is a predictable western with enough action and friendly verbal sparring between the former battlefield enemies to entertain for the two-hour running time.Besides Wayne and Hudson, the cast benefits from such veteran western stalwarts as Bruce Cabot, Ben Johnson, Paul Fix, Harry Carey Jr., John Agar, and Dub Taylor. However, the film's most outstanding assets are a fine musical score by Hugo Montenegro and exceptional cinematography by William H. Clothier; Clothier captures sweeping vistas of northern Mexico, a herd of galloping horses, mounted cavalry advancing across battlefields, and horse-drawn wagons fording a river that enhance the visual spectacle of "The Undefeated." Unfortunately, the film falters during a silly mass fist fight between the Northerners and Southerners, and the anachronistic romance between a Native American scout and Langdon's daughter creates a time warp; the pairing of a Southern white woman with a Native American in the days after the fall of the Confederacy is pure fantasy. Well coiffed and made-up ladies in formal French gowns dining on make-shift tables outside their covered wagons is also a stretch of credibility; no dust or grime intrudes on their frontier life. The friendly bonding between the former adversaries Langdon and Thomas and their followers is equally unlikely, and, although Wayne and Hudson make strange bedfellows, they work well together. While not among the landmark westerns of Wayne's career, "The Undefeated," elevated by Clothier's outstanding cinematography, Montenegro's score, and a supporting cast of familiar western faces, is solid entertainment and well worth discovering or re-discovering.

utgard14 If you ever wanted to see John Wayne and Rock Hudson wear long sideburns, this is the movie for you. Duke plays a Yankee and Rock plays a Rebel in this post-Civil War western that finds both men coming into conflict with Mexican bandits and soldiers. Yeah. Watch to see how that happens. Supporting cast includes Jan-Michael Vincent, Merlin Olsen, Tony Aguilar, and so on. Certain elements of this, such as the hairstyles, are very much a product of the era in which this was made rather than historical accuracy. It reminds me of Bonanza in the '70s when Little Joe had long bushy sideburns because actor Michael Landon cared more about his personal style than that of his character. The curiosity factor of seeing Duke and Rock in a movie together might make it worth seeing for some. Really, though, it's pretty dull. The direction is pedestrian and uninteresting. It's watchable enough, particularly for fans of Wayne and Hudson. But beyond that it's nothing special.

zardoz-13 "Wild Geese" director Andrew V. McLaglen's "The Undefeated" marked a low point in John Wayne's cinematic career. James Lee Barrett's screenplay has an ending looks like something out of a John Huston heist caper because nobody wins in the end except the Mexican revolutionaries. Indeed, "The Undefeated" looks like a reconciliation fable as former Union troops and their tenacious Confederate adversaries find common ground and help each other out. Furthermore, the notion that each side--John Wayne's cowboys and Rock Hudson's unreconstructed rebels--would become friendly with each other seems improbable. After four years of fighting Johnny Rebs, no Yankee blue-coat would change their attitudes so quickly. The optimistic protagonists behave like everything will magically work out for them. Hudson's rebels dream that they can find sanctuary in Mexico and fight alongside Emperor Maximilian to oust Benito Juárez and his revolutionaries. Again, the lackluster ending where Wayne and company cave-in to the demands of the revolutionaries just doesn't reasonable.This routine but polished post-Civil War western opens with one final battle between the Blue and the Gray. No sooner have Colonel John Henry Thomas (John Wayne of "True Grit")and his troops triumphed in battle than he discovers that the war had concluded three days previously with General Lee's surrender. As it turns out, the Confederates already knew about Lee's historic surrender at Appomattox Court House and preferred to keep on fighting. This is about as realistic as "The Undefeated" gets, because everything afterward defies logic and credibility. Later, our hero in a ten-gallon hat changes his uniform for civilian clothes and several of his troops help him herd and sell horses for a living. Co-starring with Wayne for his first and only time, superstar Hollywood legend Rock Hudson plays a Confederate Colonel James Langdon. This proud southern plantation patriarch burns his mansion rather than hand it over to Yankee carpetbaggers. Langdon and his family and friends leave their home in Louisiana to head for Mexico to join the ranks of the Emperor Maximilian's army. They barely get Mexico soil beneath their hooves with a Federal patrol at their heels. Meantime, John Henry learns that the Emperor is willing to pay more for his 3000 horses than the U.S. Army, and he drives his horses to Mexico. Along the way, Thomas' men run into Langdon's caravan and help them fend off marauders. The confrontation between Wayne and the villains is pretty good. The photography is splendid, but the ending leaves much to be desired.

Spikeopath The Undefeated is directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and adapted for the screen by James Lee Barrett from a story by Stanley L. Hough. It stars John Wayne & Rock Hudson, features a musical score by Hugo Montenegro and William H. Clothier provides the South Western cinematography.Much yee-hawing and lots of patriotic fervour, The Undefeated is a fun and undemanding way for the Western fan to spend a couple of hours. Plot basically revolves around some post Civil War rivalries between Union and Confederate leaders played by Wayne and Hudson respectively. Both men and the groups they have under their control, get mixed up in the Maximillian/Juarez revolution in Mexico. Cue moral quandaries, big decisions and life affirming human interests; as McLaglen (aided by Wayne apparently) directs unfussy without pushing the envelope of Western directing. True enough at times the tone is uneven, it's hard to tell if it's meant to be light hearted or serious during some passages (kind of why John Ford was a genre master since he could achieve it comfortably), and some casting decisions are rather baffling (hello Roman Gabriel); but it's all very spirited, especially Hudson, to round it out as a solid genre offering from the late 1960s. 6.5/10