Part 5: The Mexican Revolution In Film

The first few major films about the Mexican Revolution (the ones which have stood the test of time

, at least) focused quite a bit on depictions of real figures like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, and fictionalized true events. However, there were also several films where the focus was on fictional characters, and the historical men were limited to cameos - if they appeared at all. It didn't stop studios from using their names to sell movies, but the stories were not drawn from real life.

In 1955, a western called 'The Treasure of Pancho Villa' was released in the United States. You might think that the revolutionary general was the focus of the story, as his name appears in the film's title, but you would be incorrect. Instead the main character is a mercenary, Tom Bryan (played by Rory Calhoun), who is offered one last job before he retires: help a rebel named Juan Castro steal a shipment of gold from a government train and deliver it to the famous Northern general.

The beautiful Ruth, a female fighter (who used to be an American schoolteacher), accompanies the thieves into the countryside, once the heist is pulled off. Bryan and Castro never meet up with Villa, as they are pursued by the Federal police; instead they team up to avoid Yaqui Indian raids, and to rescue Ruth from her kidnapper - who demands gold as ransom. Filming for 'The Treasure' took place in Mexico, and contains a notorious anachronistic error: out of place in a narrative of 1915, the modern 1950's Coca-Cola sign was forgotten in the background of one scene.

1956 saw the release of another western, 'Bandido', starring Robert Mitchum, a legend in the film noir genre. He also played an American mercenary, Wilson, who begins the film with a suitcase stuffed with grenades in his care. He eventually teams up with a team of Mexican revolutionaries to hijack a shipment of arms from another American named Kennedy. Of course, in the process of carrying out his plan, the hero falls for the beautiful wife of his rival, and things get complicated, as they tend to do!

From Mexico, the home of the Revolution, came the 1959 drama 'La Cucaracha', which starred the legendary Mexican actress Dolores del Rio. Retelling the most violent period of fighting, it is about a young woman, Refugio, whose nickname was the 'cucaracha' of obscure origin. She was passionate about the rebellion, but she met her match in a Colonel named Antonio Zeta, who is only interested in the beautiful widowed Isabel (played by del Rio). When released in the United States, this film went by the title 'The Soldiers of Pancho Villa', despite the fact that he doesn't appear as a major (or even secondary) character in it.

by: Robert Nickel

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