And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) (TV)

Director:

Bruce Beresford

Writer (WGA):

Larry Gelbart (written by)

Release Date:

7 September 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Biography | Drama

Tagline:

Lights. Camera. Revolution.

Plot:

Hollywood makes a deal with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa to film his war and recreate his life.

Plot Keywords:

Pancho Villa | Death Of Title Character | Mexico | Revolution | Film Within A Film

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 7 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Antonio Banderas	...	Pancho Villa
Eion Bailey	...	Frank Thayer
Alan Arkin	...	Sam Drebben
Jim Broadbent	...	Harry Aitken
Matt Day	...	John Reed
Michael McKean	...	William Christy Cabanne
Colm Feore	...	D.W. Griffith
Alexa Davalos	...	Teddy Sampson
Anthony Head	...	William Benton (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Kyle Chandler	...	Raoul Walsh
Saul Rubinek	...	Eli Morton
Cosme Alberto	...	Abraham Sanchez
Damián Alcázar	...	Gen. Rodolfo Fierro
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.	...	Don Luis Terrazas (as Pedro Armendáriz)
Fernando Becerril	...	Priest

Runtime:

112 min | Israel:110 min | Argentina:110 min | Germany:108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Australia:MA | Canada:A (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | New Zealand:R13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Guanajuato, Mexico

Company:

City Entertainment

Trivia:

The actual contract that Pancho Villa signed with Frank N. Thayer and the Mutual Film Company on 5 January 1914 to film the battle of Ojinaga still exists and is in a museum in Mexico City.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Griffith is shown to be making a short western in New York in 1914. It is a very cloudy and overcast day. In reality, Griffith has already moved his stock company out to California by then, plus he would have known not to shoot on such a cloudy day (there would not be enough light for the exposure). He also did not film any westerns in 1914, and would have been at work on Battle of the Sexes (1914) at this time.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Rosalia

A movie about a movie

Every hero is guilty of some atrocities, and Pancho Villa was no exception. Antonio Banderas delivers a convincing performance as a complicated man who had the brilliance to use the majesty of his own personality to help finance a peasant revolution in Mexico.

As docudramas go, this one is very well balanced ... it reveals the darker side of a legend, the people who tried to manipulate him, and the people he manipulated. Although the original film, the making of which is the heart of this story, has been lost to the ages, it is nonetheless a moving story.

How much is history and how much is Hollywood? Who can say? All I know is that I was more impressed than I expected to be, and more than just being entertained and educated, I was given a lot of food for thought. I sincerely hope that a Spanish language version of this will be available so that the people of Mexico can learn a different version of his story than the one that is in the books in their schools.

This was two hours of my life that I'm glad I spent in front of the screen, and I thank everyone involved for the experience. It is not the best movie I've seen this year, nor will it ever be on my Top Ten list, but it *IS* a very good example of what cinema *SHOULD* be, and all too often is not ... a thought provoking drama that tells a slightly different story than the one we thought we knew.