The Wonderful Country (1959)

Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father's murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss, strongman Governor Cipriano ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Parrish

Writers:

Robert Ardrey (screenplay), Tom Lea (novel),

Stars:

Robert Mitchum, Julie London, Gary Merrill

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Mitchum	...	Martin Brady
Julie London	...	Helen Colton
Gary Merrill	...	Maj. Stark Colton
Albert Dekker	...	Texas Ranger Capt. Rucker
Jack Oakie	...	Travis Hyte
Charles McGraw	...	Dr. Herbert J. Stovall
Leroy 'Satchel' Paige	...	Sgt. Tobe Sutton (as 'Satchel' Paige)
Anthony Caruso	...	Santiago Santos
Mike Kellin	...	Pancho Gil
Víctor Manuel Mendoza	...	Gen. Marcos Castro (as Victor Mendoza)
Jay Novello	...	Diego Casas
John Banner	...	Ben Sterner
Max Slaten	...	Ludwig 'Chico' Sterner
Margarito Luna	...	(as Marguerito Luna)
Joe Haworth	...	Stoker

Storyline

Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father's murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss, strongman Governor Cipriano Castro. Brady breaks a leg and while recuperating in Texas the gun shipment is stolen. Complicating matters further the wife of local army major Colton has designs on him, and the local Texas Ranger captain makes him a generous offer to come back to the states and join his outfit. After killing a man in self defense, Brady slips back over the border and confronts Castro who is not only unhappy that Brady has lost his gun shipment but is about to join forces with Colton to battle the local raiding Apache Indians.

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Plot Keywords:

texas | gun | texas ranger | mexico | native american | 

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Taglines:

Sun-Burned and Gun-Burned...Like the Violent Land He Rode!

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Genres:

Romance | Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 October 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

Heiße Grenze

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

D.R.M. Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min 98 min (Turner library print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Helen Colton: What a pity then, that life is what we do, and not just what we feel.

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Connections

Featured in The Intelligence Men (1965)

User Reviews

An American (Robert Mitchum), raised in Mexico, crosses back over the border

The Wonderful Country, the Big Land, the Young Land, The Big Country . . . there were so many westerns during the late 1950s with strikingly similar titles that you needed a score card to keep them all straight. One of the least remembered - though that's a shame - is director Robert Parrish's (from a fine novel by Tom Lea, himself a forgotten figure but a western novelist worth rediscovering by buffs) yarn about a rangy American (Robert Mitchum) who has been hiding out in Mexico, returns to U.S. soil, and discovers that he's virtually a man without a country - he doesn't really belong anywhere. This had to be one of the films that influenced Sergio Leone, and his Man With No Name character played by Clint Eastwood, in that I'm not sure there was an anti-hero wrapped in a serape before Mitchum in this movie. No mule for him, though - he rides a magnificent horse, and his relationship to it - symbolic as well as realistic - will remind you of a later, greater western, Lonely Are the Brave (1962) with Kirk Douglas and 'Whiskey.' Here, the metaphor is kept more subtle. Julie London appears as the sexually frustrated wife of an army commander (Gary Merrill), and while she's certainly beautiful enough for the role, her acting is slightly more stilted and wooden than that of Kim Novak. One neat bit of trivia: This is the only film to co-star the great athlete Satchel Paige, as a 'buffalo soldier' - and here's yet another innovation, for you'd have to search hard and long to find an earlier Hollywood film that depicted members of the black army of the west. Overall, a very good show - not too much action, but gorgeous color and music,, characterizations, and overall atmosphere.