The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982) (TV)

Director:

Robert M. Young

Writers:

Américo Paredes (book)
Victor Villaseñor (writer)

Release Date:

29 June 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

The true story of one man who made a difference.

Plot:

The retelling of an incident in Gonzales, Texas in 1901 revolving around a stolen horse, mistaken identity and a killing...

Plot Keywords:

Texas | Courtroom | Historical | Man Hunt | Murder

Cast

Edward James Olmos	...	Gregorio Cortez
James Gammon	...	Sheriff Frank Fly
Tom Bower	...	Boone Choate
Bruce McGill	...	Reporter Blakely
Brion James	...	Captain Rogers
Alan Vint	...	Mike Trimmell
Timothy Scott	...	Sheriff Morris
Pepe Serna	...	Romaldo Cortez
Michael McGuire	...	Sheriff Glover
William Sanderson	...	Cowboy
Barry Corbin	...	Abernathy
Jack Kehoe	...	Prosecutor Pferson
Rosanna DeSoto	...	Carlota Muñoz
Buddy Vigil	...	Skin
Zach Porter	...	Fly's Posse

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Cerrillos, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Embassy Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The film was such important a project to Edward James Olmos that he actually ran it in an L.A. theater free of charge to encourage attendance.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In some shots during the courtroom scenes, one of the jurors can be seen to be wearing a modern pair of dark-rimmed spectacles.

Quotes:

Captain Rogers: Well, out here if it crawls, it'll bite ya, if it flies, it'll sting ya and if it grows it'll stick ya!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Spy Kids (2001)

A film deserving re-discovery-- a gritty allegory of bilingualism

Robert Young is an American director whose fitful opportunities to direct nearly always has turned up singular results. This treatment of the legend of a master horseman who evaded capture during weeks of vigilante pursuit shows Young's usual care with milieu, historical detail, and shadings of character. Olmos is a splendid icon in the lead, but the revelation is James Gammon, who never had a better film role, and the supporting cast is studded with fine character actors (including two who come over w/Olmos from the BLADE RUNNER set to appear here). A climactic scene, involving a female translator working between law and prisoner in a tiny cell, has stayed in my mind for 18 years for its depiction of a heartbreaking communion between adversaries. But Young knows what Westerns do best-- trains and horses, the two most cinematic subjects in the world-- and they're both here in aces.