the film "seems a direct reaction to [john] ford's "fort apache" ... with charlton heston cast as a more psychotic, more bluntly careerist version of ford's lt. col. owen thursday (henry fonda)," according to a ny "times" review of the film at the time of the 2013 blu-ray release. reviewer dave kehr went on to write that peckinpah "plays heston's square-jawed intransigence against the aristocratic refinement of a southern officer (overplayed by ... harris)" and that peckinpah "would essentially reshape this material into "the wild bunch" four years later, wisely dividing dundee's divided character into two separate figures" played then by robert ryan and william holden.