 Sam Peckinpah (qv) had been pitching a movie about Colonel George  Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, because he thought it  was fascinating how Custer became a glorious, immortal American hero  after being killed and defeated in battle. The idea never came to  fruition, and Peckinpah thought the story of "Major Dundee" to be  similar enough, and took this job instead.