Peckinpah’s ambitious epic focuses on a little-known chapter of American history—the fateful adventures of a ragtag group of Confederate prisoners, outlaws and freed slaves led by Cavalry officer Dundee into battle against the Apaches during the final days of the Civil War. While Columbia Studios expected a Western and the film's star, Charlton Heston, envisioned a serious treatment of the Civil War, Peckinpah instead set out to craft a searing portrait of an obsessive Captain Ahab in the desert. The new extended version of the film presented here restores a crucial twelve minutes of recovered footage that clarifies plot points and adds a more tragic dimension and depth to the character of Dundee. Far closer to Peckinpah's original vision, this version also features a newly composed film score that more accurately reflects the director’s intentions, and does away completely with the original score, which was imposed on the film despite Peckinpah’s furious objections.