Pancho Villa (1972)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

Eugenio Martín

Writers (WGA):

Eugenio Martín (story)
Julian Zimet (screenplay) (originally as Julian Halevy)

Release Date:

31 October 1972 (West Germany)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Western

Tagline:

The only man to invade the U.S.A.!

Plot:

Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa is double-crossed in an arms deal planned by his comrade Scotty. Villa and Scotty plot a raid on a U.S...

Plot Keywords:

Arms Deal | Pancho Villa | Spaghetti Western | Mexican Revolution | Shot In The Forehead

Cast

Telly Savalas	...	Pancho Villa
Clint Walker	...	Scotty
Chuck Connors	...	Col. Wilcox
Anne Francis	...	Flo
José María Prada	...	Luis
Ángel del Pozo	...	Lt. Eager
Luis Dávila	...	McDermott
Mónica Randall	...	Lupe
Antonio Casas	...	Gen. Goyo
Alberto Dalbés	...	Mendoza
Barta Barri	...	Alfonso
Eduardo Calvo	...	Banker
Lucy Tiller	...	Woman
Inés Oviedo	...	Soldadera
Dan van Husen	...	Bart

Also Known As:

El desafío de Pancho Villa (Spain)
Vendetta (USA)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

Spain | UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG (DVD rating) | Iceland:12 | West Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Aranjuez, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Granada Films

Soundtrack:

We All End Up the Same

Not exactly an enlightening take on the historic figure...

This is an odd little film about infamous Pancho Villa featuring an all Spanish cast except for a quartet of "name" American actors. Savalas (attempting no sort of accent or strong characterization) slides through the film on his unique brand of charm. (He was at or near his height of fame at he time.) He's given a scene to explain why, in this version of the story, Villa is bald, yet in a clip that takes place prior to the shaving, he is bald then, too! He is only effective at all because so many of the rest of the cast are bad. Roman god come to life Walker co-stars as a gunrunner who works alongside Savalas. Sadly, he is covered up by a jaunty captain's hat and a double breasted coat much of the time, so his treasure of a chest is under wraps. Still, his innate charm and handsome face add a lot to this very slight movie. He manages to inject some humor and slyness into his part. Francis has very little to do in her role (and disappears without a trace at some point!), but is attractive. Conners (with his skeletal features and corpse-like lips) plays a mad, driven Army officer who's bent on cleanliness and order at the expense of efficiency. He has a notable scene in which a mess hall is virtually trashed in order to excise one fly. The film is impossible to take seriously and it doubtful that it was intended as such. It's a sort of parodic, satiric take on the genre. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the wit or the money to make much of an impression. The sets look like they wouldn't pass muster on "Bonanza" and the dubbing (in fact all of the sound) is horrible. The music in this film is almost it's worst aspect. There is a highly aggravating theme played by the Mexicans as they enter the U.S. and it is ceaseless in its torture of the viewers' ears. To top it off, there's a hellacious closing credit song sung by Savalas (!) and written by John Cacavas (who did music for "Kojak" and a horde of TV movies.) The film is not very good, but watchable once if little is expected of it.