The Undefeated (1969)

After the end of the Civil War, a Confederate Colonel (Rock Hudson) takes a group of Southerners (including women and children) to Mexico where they hope to assist Emperor Maximillian in his war against the Juaristas. Meanwhile, a Union Colonel (John Wayne) takes a group of ex-soldiers and rounds up wild horses to sell to Maximillian's army. The paths of the two men will eventually converge. Directed by Andrew V. MacLaglen (SHENANDOAH). Several months after his triumph in TRUE GRIT (which would get him an Oscar), John Wayne followed it up with this mess of a western. While the premise is interesting, the movie settles for western cliches like the big comedic brawl between ex Union and Confederate officers right out of a John Ford movie that stops the movie cold. While Wayne is in his element, Rock Hudson seems out of place and other than those two, there's no one else around to hold the film together. In addition to the movie's fluctuating tone, I wasn't fond of the film's attempt to make the arrogant Southerners "victims" of the Civil War. With Jan Michael Vincent, Lee Meriwether, Marian McCargo, Bruce Cabot, Ben Johnson, John Agar, Richard Mulligan, Carlos Rivas and Antonio Aguilar.