And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003)

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

Director:

Bruce Beresford

Writer:

Larry Gelbart

Stars:

Antonio Banderas, Eion Bailey, Alan Arkin

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 9 wins & 21 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

Storyline

Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (Antonio Banderas) finds himself without adequate funding to finance his war against the military-run government. He also finds himself at odds with the Americans because of the Hearst media empire's press campaign against him. To counter both of these, he sends emissaries to movie producers to convince them to pay to film his progress and the actual battles. Producer D.W. Griffith (Colm Feore) becomes interested and sends Frank Thayer (Eion Bailey) with a film crew to develop film reels. Thayer becomes horrified and fascinated by the bandit. He finds an enigmatic individual that is both ghoulishly brutal and charmingly captivating. The resulting film became the first feature length movie, introducing scores of Americans to the true horrors of war that they had never personally seen. Thayer sold the studios on making the film despite their concerns that no one would sit through a movie longer than 1 hour by convincing them that they could raise the ...

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Plot Keywords:

revisionist western | man murders a woman | pancho villa | battle | bandit | 

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Taglines:

Lights. Camera. Revolution.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | War | Western

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

HBO Films

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 September 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pancho Villa

Filming Locations:

Guanajuato, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

City Entertainment, Green Moon Productions, HBO Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Pedro Armendáriz Jr., who plays Don Luis Terrazas, played Pancho Villa in Old Gringo (1989) and is the son of Pedro Armendáriz, who also played Pancho Villa in several Mexican movies.

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Goofs

During the battle of Torreon scene, night falls and we see a moon that is half full (1st quarter). The date is given as 30 March 1914, but on that date, the moon was a crescent and would not be half full until several days later on 4 April 1914.

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Quotes

Pancho Villa: [after hearing a gunshot] Sometimes justice can be loud.

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Connections

References The Life of General Villa (1914)

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Soundtracks

Tierra Mestiza
Written by Gerardo Tamez
Performed by Tuna Normalista de Dan Miguel de Allende, Guanajuayo
Courtesy of Discos Imagen

User Reviews

A Movie About a Revolutionary and a Legend of a Lost Movie

In 1914, the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (Antonio Banderas) invites studios to shoot his actual battles against Porfírio Diaz army to raise funds for financing guns and ammunition. The Mutual Film Corporation, through producer D.W. Griffith (Colm Feore), interests for the proposition and sends the filmmaker Frank Thayer (Eion Bailey) to negotiate a contract with Pancho Villa himself. They become very close and along months, Frank makes the first feature five reels length movie, "The Life of General Villa", when the usual was two reels only. After edition, another reality about Pancho Villa is screened for the audience.

"And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" is a surprisingly good made for television movie. The story about the life of Pancho Villa is also homage to a lost movie. In accordance with the legend, the first five reels length movie would be "The Life of General Villa", directed in 1914 by Frank Thayer with Pancho Villa as himself. Truth, or legend, this interesting movie was nominated for Golden Globe, awarded with seven wins and another eighteen nominations. The cast is splendid, highlighting the performance of Antonio Banderas, who gives a great credibility to General Pancho Villa. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "E Estrelando Pancho Villa" ("And Starring Pancho Villa")