Movies In History: They rode into Mexico

A few weeks ago I wrote an entry on the Mexican Revolution.  In that entry, I touched on the Punitive Expedition and the occupation of Vera Cruz.  It occurred to me at the same time how many movies are based on the them of Americans, sometimes military, and sometimes not, entering Mexico in this period, and earlier.  Quite a few.  It might be interesting to look at the history portrayed in those films and how it holds up, and how they just hold up as films. So we'll take a look.  Discussed, in no particular order, are the following.

The Professionals

This film from the 1960s is in the star packed genera, which many films of this period were.  Featuring Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Burt Lancaster, and others, the film is set in the Mexican Revolutionary period, with a plot centered on American soldiers of fortune being hired by a wealthy rancher to retrieve his kidnapped wife.

All in all, this film is pretty entertaining and is done pretty well.   In terms of history, it has some interesting features including the fluid nature of the border and the confusing  nature of Mexican revolutionary forces. The film has an offhand referenced to the "Colorados", who were an actual faction in the Mexican Revolution and who were followers of Pascual Orozco, and who fought for Modero at first and then switched to Huerta against him.  This would also place the film in the 1913 to 1915 time frame and would place the revolutionaries generally depicted in the film into some category of Villistas, more or less. 

The firearms in the film are period correct, and small details, such as Marvin's clothing (he's supposed to be a former professional soldiers) show some surprisingly small scale correct details that are generally omitted in films in this period.  One of the better films of this type.

The Wild Bunch

This film was made pretty close in time to The Professionals, but is much different in character.  The film is frankly one of my guilty pleasures, and is a good, but not great, film.   It's also one of the most controversial movies ever made.

This film takes place in 1914 or 1915.  We learn from a minor line in the film that Huerta is the dictator of Mexico as the film's scenes take place.  We also learn that World War One is going on.  Very unusual for any movie, this film centers on totally unredeemed criminals who, at the onset of the film, conduct a very violent raid on an American border town, in order to rob a bank.  The film follows their retreat into Mexico and their pursuit by bounty hunters and the U.S. Army, before they become entangled with Mexican revolutionaries and the Mexican army.

This film might be summarized as gritty, to say the least, but it does a very good job of portraying chaos and violence, and its a well done film.  The concluding scene of the film is one of the most famous, most violent, and most misunderstood scenes in any movie of any era.  Director Peckinpah's point in the film, that Americans like films about criminals because of their criminality, not because they have "a heart of gold", is typically missed by viewers.

In terms of its history, the film does a good job of getting the confusing and violent nature of the era right, but it's poor on material details.  Firearms are not all period correct, and there's at least one plot device about one that's inaccurate.  The inclusion of German officers is a nice suggestion of what would be coming and what was going on in Mexico at the time, so while their placement in the film is unlikely, what it suggests is interesting.  Depictions of the nature of transportation at the time are well done.

They Came to Cordura

Another film set during the Mexican Revolution is They Came to Cordura.

I'll be frank, I've never seen this entire movie and I haven't found it engaging enough to watch all the way through.  I probably, therefore, shouldn't be including it, but as I've seen the beginning and the end, and as its in the category, I've included it.

This film concerns a group of American soldiers who have distinguished themselves in the Punitive Expedition and whom are being taken back to the United States to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.  The lead character in the movie is a cavalry officer portrayed by Gary Cooper, in his typical understated style.  His character, and every single other character in the film, has some horrible skeleton in his closet, and so the movie is a character study of a group of men who are supposed to be heroes but whom are actually deeply flawed.

That thesis is a fine one, but it just doesn't work well, in my view, in this film. All the hidden character traits are too overdone and the entire thesis of that many men winning the CMH, and being taken across hostile Mexico in a small mounted party, is really strained.  Also strained is the portrayal of a largely empty Mexico, which is rather odd.  The Mexico of The Wild Bunch, with small villages and the like, is much better done. 

Major Dundee

This film is set during the American Civil War, and like The Wild Bunch, it was filmed by Sam Peckinpah.

This film is often noted as being a deeply flawed film, but it's deeply flawed in its original version in part because the movie editors cut huge amounts of significant material from it, actually omitting some critical scenes. This film seems to be missing something when viewed in its original form, because it is.  The restored version, which wasn't able to incorporate everything left on the editing floor, is much better and restores some very necessary details to the film, as well as incorporating a much better soundtrack. This is one of those rare films where a "directors cut" is indeed much better than the version that toured in the theaters.

It's actually a very good film and its unique amongst movies showing the frontier American Army in that many of the minor material details portrayed in the film are accurate where, in other films, they're incorrect.  Uniforms, for example, while not done perfectly in this film, are more accurate than in most other American frontier Army movies, and the U.S. cavalry is depicted wearing short boots, rather than cavalry boots, which is an oddly correct item as cavalry boots were only just coming into service at this time.  The firearms are also period correct, sometimes in odd ways. The use of Henry rifles, always a movie favorite, is a bit of a questionable item, but they were in the service at the time and are depicted as an unusual military arm.  The handguns are generally all cap and ball revolvers, with one single exception which depicts a cartridge conversion to a cap and ball revolver, which in fact is not only correct but probably an actual example of the rare conversion depicted.  The use of cap and ball revolvers, it should be noted, is quite rare for films of this period, which generally used later handguns instead.  All in all this is a well done film.

It's also one of at least three movies that all have a nearly identical scene of a waterfall that's in a Mexican national park, the other two being The Wild Bunch and Big Jake.

Geronimo

This film mostly takes place in the American southwest, but it does include a scene where two American cavalry officers and a scout go into Mexico in an effort to make contact with Geronimo.

This film is based on real events, and is based on a book by Britten Davis, who was a frontier cavalry officer who did in fact make contact with Geronimo.  I'm not familiar enough with his story to know if he ever crossed into Mexico as part of that effort, but I do know that the scout who is depicted as having gone over the border in the scene, and who is shown getting killed in a gunfight against scalphunters, in fact lived well after the frontier period and died during the construction of Hoover Dam.  Indeed, the accident that killed him, involving a large rock rolling down on him during construction, is sometime suspected of being the work of Apache workmen who remembered his earlier role.

In material details this film is well done.  Being a later frontier movie, the uniforms and equipment are correct, and in fact some of the weapons depicted are not only correct, but obscure.

Rio Grande

I haven't seen this film in years and years, but it's one of John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy, and is, I believe, the last one to have been released.

In this film John Wayne reprises his role as Kirby York, a frontier Army officer.  York first made his appearance in the first of these three films, Fort Apache.  In the second, and best of the three, Wayne plays a different character, Cpt. Nathan Briddles.  Well cast with members of the John Ford Acting Repertory Company, the  movie includes a scene in which the Army crosses the border into Mexico.  For that matter, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon includes a border sense, but one in which the soldiers do not cross.

All in all, all three of these films are well done, but they do tend to miss the point that border crossing by military forces in hot pursuit of Indian bands was in fact tolerated by the US and Mexico, so the crisis that it seems to create in these films didn't exist in reality, to the same degree.  In this film, the crossing is shown to be an illegal oral order, but in reality, it would have just been done.

Like all of these films, material details are only so so.  Filmed in the era in which it was, departures from period uniforms and weapons was generally not a matter of great concern.  Ironically, these three films tended to actually define what people came to believe the frontier Army actually looked like.

Big Jake

This is one of John Wayne's better films, and its interesting a 20th Century western.  Set in 1909, a persistent theme of the film is the lingering of the old west as it yields to modern times.  Wayne symbolizes the endurance of the old west in the film.  The plot revolves upon a criminal raid on a ranch which results in a kidnapping of Wayne's grandson, whom he's never seen, who is taken over the border to Mexico.

Truth be known, Mexico oddly hardly figures in this movie in any fashion, even though the last half of the movie is set there.  The Mexican border town in the film is more like a typical movie Texas town, so we can't say much about that aspect of the film. It is a good film, however.

On material details, this film isn't bad, particularly given the era in which it was filmed.  The transition in firearms and the arrival of automobiles and motorcycles is accurately portrayed, as is the ongoing importance of the horse.  The arrival of oil exploration is also inserted accurately.

Rio Conchos

Mostly a film vehicle for the gravelly voiced Richard Boone, this isn't a very good film.  It's one of several based on the concept of Confederate holdouts going into Mexico to build a new Confederate life.  None of these films is very good, including this one.  Boone's acting is good, but it almost always is.  Silly plot with improbable thesis, with Mexico seemingly unpopulated enough for a Confederate empire to be rebuilt there without the notice of the Mexicans. 

The Shadow Riders

See Rio Conchos, just filmed later, and a vehicle for Sam Elliot and Tom Selleck.  This film, like the earlier one mentioned, involves die hard Confederates going into Mexico, except this time they raid a Texas ranch and take family members captive, for sale in Mexico.  This is, apparently, based on a Louis Lamour novel, none of which I've ever read.

The plot is awfully strained, and this film isn't really worth bothering with.  Like a lot of these Confederates going into Mexico movies, some Confederates seem to have strangely well preserved uniforms even after years in the field and defeat at the hands of the Union, I'd note.

The Undefeated

Yet another so so effort involving Confederates attempting to go into Mexico, although this time they succeed and are sort of the good guys.  Not worth viewing and improbable as the rest of these films.

In this one, Rock Hudson is the defeated Confederate officer (who oddly also retains a well preserved uniform) and John Wayne is a former Union officer, just back from the Civil War.  The Confederates are taking their families and horses into Mexico to be sold to Juarez's forces.  A strained plot in the extreme.

A Fist Full of Dollars
For A Few Dollars More
Once Upon A Time In Mexico

Sergio Leone managed to make an entire franchise out of the concept of really gritty Mexican border towns. The best of these films is A Fist Full of Dollars, but quite frankly none of these movies is really very good.  The Mexico they portray didn't ever really exist, and the films don't do Mexico, or the old west, justice in any fashion.  At best, A Fist Full of Dollars is worth watching to contrast it with its Japanese inspiration, Yojimbo. The worst, in some ways,is Once Upon A Time In Mexico which takes all of the elements of these films that made them a surprise hit, and ramps them up to the extreme.

The Magnificent Seven

Like A Fist Full of Dollars, this movie is actually based on a Japanese film, and that film is an absolute classic.  The Magnificent Seven takes the classic Seven Samurai, and resets the story in the west.  It's pretty faithful to the Japanese original, although its considerably shorter, and not as good.

Which isn't to say its bad.  Its a great film.

It can't be said to really portray Mexico accurately, but  in some ways it does touch upon elements of the isolated Mexican agrarian life (as the original did upon the Japanese agrarian life of the Japanese middle ages) fairly accurately.  Its very well done.

In terms of material details, this film is a typical 1950s-60s western, and it just doesn't bother.  The clothing for the seven is closer to mid 20th Century western clothing than late 19th Century western clothing, which is frankly the norm for western movies of the time.  The Mexican people are uniformly portrayed more accurately, however.  All in all, it's a good film worth seeing.

I should note that, like A Fist Full of Dollars, this film inspired a franchise with there being a series of films based on it.  None of them are worth seeing, in my view.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

An absolute classic, this film was filmed in 1948 and takes place at some point within the prior 20 years prior to that.  The date it is set in is never explained, but the suggestion is that it takes place during the Great Depression.

This film follows three down and out American ex patriots in their effort to become wealthy gold prospectors.  It's a wonderfully filmed movie and is one that can be watched on more than one level.  Indeed, it's one of those films in the American film library that a person should really see.  The cast, including Walter Houston and Humphrey Bogart is fantastic, and it includes some of the all time great movie stock lines.

In terms of material details, its more accurate than a person might suppose, portraying the wide open nature of northern Mexico relatively accurately.

All the Pretty Horses

This movie is set just after the Second World War, and is another one worth seeing.  A very bittersweet movie, this movie follows two American cowboys, who pick up an American runaway, who venture into Mexico.  One comes from a ranch that has just been sold and is without work or purpose, and the other simply follow him.

A beautifully filmed movie, this movie does again capture the wide open nature of northern Mexico but at a time when its really entering the modern world.  It also portrays the corrupt nature of Mexico at the time, as well as the still very rural nature of southern Texas.  A sense of loss is sewn throughout the film, starting with the protagonist loss of his family ranch at the hands of his selling mother, to the loss of the heavily rural nature of Texas due to changing times.

It's a sad film, but a good film worth seeing.

Lonesome Dove

This movie has been addressed elsewhere, so I wont' repeat that, but I would note that the films early scene of a cattle theft raid into Mexico is pretty accurate for the time.  Indeed, this film scores high overall in terms of accuracy, as earlier noted.

Two Mules for Sister Sara

A Fist Full of Dollars converted Clint Eastwood from a good looking television cowboy, Rowdy Yates, into a tough, grizzled, movie cowboy.  This film is not part of the Sergio Leone franchise, but Eastwood is cast in the role, in essence that he was in the Leone films he was in.

This movie isn't a good film.  It basically is set around the Eastwood's role during the Juarez revolution against Maximilian, with "Sister Sara" actually being far from a nun, and merely assuming that role as part of a similar effort.  Basically not worth viewing.