the opening scene at the rostes ranch and the funeral after the first skirmish with the indians were inspired by scenes from "the searchers", while the scene in which dundee's troop exits fort benlin, each faction of the command singing its own distinct song, is a deliberate parody of an equivalent scene in "fort apache". the characterization of dundee, particularly his personality as a martinet and his relationship with tyreen, has been related to john wayne's character in howard hawks' "red river". the mexican civil war setting recalls robert aldrich's "vera cruz". the film also includes several references to david lean's "lawrence of arabia" – the execution of hadley, and dundee's drunken exile in durango, closely mirror sequences from this film.