Tepepa (1969)

The Mexican guerilla leader Tepepa and his gang fight against the chief of police, Cascorro.

Director:

Giulio Petroni

Writers:

Ivan Della Mea (screenplay), Ivan Della Mea (story),

Stars:

Tomas Milian, Orson Welles, John Steiner

Cast

Credited cast:
Tomas Milian	...	Jesus Maria Moran a.k.a. Tepepa
Orson Welles	...	Colonel Cascorro
John Steiner	...	Doctor Henry Price
Luciano Casamonica	...	Paquito
Ángel Ortiz	...	Francisco
Annamaria Lanciaprima	...	Maria Virgen Escalande
José Torres	...	Pedro Pereira / El Piojo
Paloma Cela	...	Consuelo
George Wang	...	Mr. Chu
Giancarlo Badessi	...	Sergeant
Francisco Sanz	...	President Madero
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Armando Casamonica
Clara Colosimo	...	Sergeant's wife
Mario Daddi
Lina Franchi

Storyline

In Mexico, at the beginning of the twentieth century, a man is to be executed by Cascorro's men. Doctor Henry Price, en Englishman, arrives in his car and saves him. The nickname of the man is Tepepa and he was a hero of the Revolution. Tepepa asks doctor Price way he saved him and the answer is chilly: to have the pleasure to kill him himself. And he aims his gun at him.

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Plot Keywords:

mexican | violence | revolutionary | culture clash | car falling off a cliff | 

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Taglines:

Jails can't hold him! Armies can't stop him! Women can't get enough of him!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Western

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy Spain

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

November 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blood and Guns

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 24,688,580 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmamerica, Productores Exhibidores Films Sociedad Anónima (PEFSA), SIAP

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

After Tepepa blows up their wagon, he fires at the Mexican troops on the ground with his Mauser C96. The model he uses is a standard ten round integral magazine version. He clearly fires more than ten rounds, without reloading. In fact the gun is never reloaded throughout the entire movie.

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Connections

Referenced in Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005)

User Reviews

A wonderful mexican western with Mr. Citizen Kane himself - Orson Welles

If you like action-packed westerns, then you'll be in for a treat when you see the marvelous masterpiece, "Blood and Guns." It has a great cast, fantastic acting, and it takes a common "good guys vs. bad guys" plot and turns it into a memorable viewing experience through humor, tragedy, and most importantly, Orson Welles. There has never been a film like this before or after its release. It's a true original! What other movie uses billy goats strapped with dynamite to attract the enemy? What other movie shows Orson Welles shooting at a man on a horse going around a little red car in cirlces? None. There is an evil doctor with a chin bigger than Jay Leno's. There is a great battle scene between the peasants and the mexican brown-suits. Tomas Milian, who played Tomas F. Dobb in a spanish version of "Revolution", is the man with the big black sombrero who taunts Orson Welles until he learns his lesson from the big man himself. There's the naive mexican boy. The frightened citizens. The violence. And Orson Welles, who actuually trips near the end of the film and the director left it in. A classic! It's very hard to find. Get it if you can.