"The Undefeated" with John Wayne & Rock Hudson
The Undefeated is a 1969 American Western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and John Wayne (uncredited) and starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson. The film portrays events surrounding the French Intervention in Mexico and is also loosely based on General J. O. Shelby's escape to Mexico after the Civil War and his attempt to join with Maximilian's forces.
After the American Civil War, Union Colonel John Henry Thomas (John Wayne) and company attacks a group of Confederate soldiers, only to be informed after defeating them that the war had ended days ago.
Another group of Confederate soldiers, led by Colonel James Langdon (Rock Hudson) prepare to join Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. Langdon torches his plantation before he departs rather than have it fall into the hands of carpetbaggers.
At the same time, Thomas, with his adopted Indian son Blue Boy (Roman Gabriel) and his surviving command, brings a herd of 3,000 horses across the Rio Grande for sale in Durango, Mexico. Halfway there, Blue Boy notices that the tracks of a group of bandits indicate that they are planning an ambush on a group of travelers. Blue Boy and Thomas go to warn the travelers, who turn out to be the Confederates. Together the Americans repel a group of Mexican bandits who attack the Confederate wagon train.
The two factions meet at a Fourth of July party and relive the war through a drunken brawl. They then split and go their separate ways. Meanwhile, Langdon's daughter and Blue Boy have fallen in love.
When Langdon's company reaches Mexican Republican General Rojas (Antonio Aguilar), he holds the Southerners hostage for Thomas' horses. Thomas orders the herd to stampede into the General's camp as ransom payment for their former enemies.
One glaring error is that while the Confederates are in the hands of General Rojas, the characters--both Mexican and American--keep referring to the war against Maximilian as a "revolution." As the Juarez government had never fled Mexico during the intervention, and consistently insisted it was the lawful government, no loyal Mexican would consider the war a revolution; it was the expulsion of a foreign invader.
A later verse appended to the angry post-war Confederate anthem, "The Unreconstructed Rebel" commemorates the defiance of Shelby and his men:
"I won't be reconstructed, I'm better now than then.
And for a Carpetbagger I do not give a damn.
So it's forward to the frontier, soon as I can go.
I'll fix me up a weapon and start for Mexico."
Their plan was to offer their services to Emperor Maximilian as a 'foreign legion.' Maximilian declined to accept the ex-Confederates into his armed forces, but he did grant them land for an American colony in Mexico near Veracruz. The grant would be revoked two years later following the collapse of the empire and Maximilan's execution. Reportedly, Shelby sank his battle flag in the Rio Grande near present-day Eagle Pass (TX) on the way to Mexico rather than risk the flag falling into the hands of the Federals. The event is depicted in a painting displayed at the Eagle Pass City Hall.
The memory of Shelby and his men as "The Undefeated" is used as a distant basis for the 1969 John Wayne-Rock Hudson film by the same name.
"The Undefeated" with John Wayne & Rock Hudson
The Undefeated is a 1969 American Western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and John Wayne (uncredited) and starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson. The film portrays events surrounding the French Intervention in Mexico and is also loosely based on General J. O. Shelby's escape to Mexico after the Civil War and his attempt to join with Maximilian's forces.
After the American Civil War, Union Colonel John Henry Thomas (John Wayne) and company attacks a group of Confederate soldiers, only to be informed after defeating them that the war had ended days ago.
Another group of Confederate soldiers, led by Colonel James Langdon (Rock Hudson) prepare to join Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. Langdon torches his plantation before he departs rather than have it fall into the hands of carpetbaggers.
At the same time, Thomas, with his adopted Indian son Blue Boy (Roman Gabriel) and his surviving command, brings a herd of 3,000 horses across the Rio Grande for sale in Durango, Mexico. Halfway there, Blue Boy notices that the tracks of a group of bandits indicate that they are planning an ambush on a group of travelers. Blue Boy and Thomas go to warn the travelers, who turn out to be the Confederates. Together the Americans repel a group of Mexican bandits who attack the Confederate wagon train.
The two factions meet at a Fourth of July party and relive the war through a drunken brawl. They then split and go their separate ways. Meanwhile, Langdon's daughter and Blue Boy have fallen in love.
When Langdon's company reaches Mexican Republican General Rojas (Antonio Aguilar), he holds the Southerners hostage for Thomas' horses. Thomas orders the herd to stampede into the General's camp as ransom payment for their former enemies.
One glaring error is that while the Confederates are in the hands of General Rojas, the characters--both Mexican and American--keep referring to the war against Maximilian as a "revolution." As the Juarez government had never fled Mexico during the intervention, and consistently insisted it was the lawful government, no loyal Mexican would consider the war a revolution; it was the expulsion of a foreign invader.
A later verse appended to the angry post-war Confederate anthem, "The Unreconstructed Rebel" commemorates the defiance of Shelby and his men:
"I won't be reconstructed, I'm better now than then.
And for a Carpetbagger I do not give a damn.
So it's forward to the frontier, soon as I can go.
I'll fix me up a weapon and start for Mexico."
Their plan was to offer their services to Emperor Maximilian as a 'foreign legion.' Maximilian declined to accept the ex-Confederates into his armed forces, but he did grant them land for an American colony in Mexico near Veracruz. The grant would be revoked two years later following the collapse of the empire and Maximilan's execution. Reportedly, Shelby sank his battle flag in the Rio Grande near present-day Eagle Pass (TX) on the way to Mexico rather than risk the flag falling into the hands of the Federals. The event is depicted in a painting displayed at the Eagle Pass City Hall.
The memory of Shelby and his men as "The Undefeated" is used as a distant basis for the 1969 John Wayne-Rock Hudson film by the same name.