Bullfighter and the Lady (1951)

Hoping to impress a beautiful senorita, an American visiting Mexico trains with a famous Mexican bullfighter and becomes a competing bullfighter himself.

Director:

Budd Boetticher

Writers:

James Edward Grant (screenplay), Budd Boetticher (story)

Stars:

Robert Stack, Joy Page, Gilbert Roland

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Stack	...	Johnny Regan
Joy Page	...	Anita de la Vega
Gilbert Roland	...	Manolo Estrada
Virginia Grey	...	Lisbeth Flood
John Hubbard	...	Barney Flood
Katy Jurado	...	Chelo Estrada
Antonio Gomez	...	Antonio Gómez
Ismael Pérez	...	Panchito
Rodolfo Acosta	...	Juan
Ruben Padilla	...	Dr. Sierra
Darío Ramírez	...	Pepe Mora
Luis Briones	...	Self - Torero
Luís Castro	...	Self - Torero
Ricardo Torres 'Bombita'	...	Self - Torero (archive footage)
Alfonso Ramírez Calesero	...	Self - Torero

Storyline

Johnny Regan, a U.S. citizen, goes to Mexico and takes up bullfighting as a lark, hoping to impress a Mexican beauty, Anita de la Vega. His lighthearted studying, under the tutelage of aging matador Manolo Estrada, leads to tragedy.

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Plot Keywords:

mexico | matador | bullfighting | usa | tutor | 

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Taglines:

The Most DANGEROUS Game On Earth ! (original one-sheet poster)

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Sport

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

A Mexican stunt man was killed by a bull while filming a bullfighting sequence.

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Alternate Versions

Cut to 87 minutes after premiere; recently restored to original 124-minutes length.

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Connections

Featured in Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005)

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Soundtracks

How Strange
Written by Victor Young and Peggy Lee

User Reviews

forgotten, but a model for any film about dangerous sports.

The Bullfighter and the Lady is a great film that is forgotten. One of the reasons I think is the name of the film, which makes you think of a Walt Disney cartoon. In the fifties you would hear about John Ford or Hitchcock or Hawks being great directors but no one would mention Budd Boetticher and as time is the greatest critic, we can now appreciate how good he was. This is a semi- autobiographical film since Budd was a bullfighter before becoming involved in movies. His first job in Hollywood was as technical adviser for the bullfighting scenes in "Blood and Sand". Robert Stack is an American who becomes friendly with a great matador Gilbert Roland. Stack teaches Roland how to shoot birds and Roland teaches him to bullfight. Stack also falls in love with a woman from Roland's group (Joy Page). Katy Jurado is Roland's wife. As the story flows we see great scenes of bullfighting. Even though I have seen a couple of bullfights in Mexico, I learned much more from seeing this film. The Bullfighter and the Lady should be a model for any film about a dangerous sport. As the film was produced by John Wayne, John Ford (Wayne's great friend) cut about 30 minutes. He told Budd that the reason for this was that the studio would not release the film if it would be any longer. Budd forgave him, but he had the great pleasure of seeing his film restored to the original version before he died. That is how it is shown nowadays

Details

Country:

USA Mexico

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

7 June 1951 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Torero

Filming Locations:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

John Wayne Productions, Republic Pictures (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min 124 min (restored)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1