StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Nayan Gough
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Prismark10
Villa Rides has a screenplay written Sam Peckinpah and Robert Towne but a very workmanlike direction from Buzz Kulik.Yul Brynner with added hair stars as Pancho Villa the great Mexican revolutionary with fiery passion, cunning, pig headedness and some romance as well. Robert Mitchum is a soldier of fortune with a biplane, a pilot who supplies the Mexican army with weapons, but is gradually forced to join the rebellious side after he is caught up with Villa and a Mexican beauty. Mitchum is laconic and nonchalant but we do get to see him drop homemade bombs from the plane.More impressive is Charles Bronson as Villa's right hand enforcer who clearly enjoys slaughtering people with style and some humour. Even shoots three people with one bullet in order to be economical.Herbert Lom and Fernando Rey round up the Mexicans also bring political intrigue to the table.The film was shot in Spain and it starts out as intriguing but it is uneven. The film varies in tone with some comedy but then you have some villagers getting slaughtered, others being executed and women being raped. There are some good action sequences but the film is too messy as its does not have a coherent narrative.
Spikeopath
Villa Rides is directed by Buzz Kulik and adapted to screenplay by Robert Towne and Sam Peckinpah from the biography of Pancho Villa written by William Douglas Lansford. It stars Yul Brynner, Robert Mitchum, Charles Bronson, Herbert Lom, Maria Grazia Buccella, Robert Viharo and Frank Wolff. Music is scored by Maurice Jarre and cinematography by Jack Hildyard.Film is a fictionalised telling of a period in Pancho Villa's (Brynner) life, primarily his famous involvement in the Mexican Revolution at the start of the 20th Century.The film that should have been a Peckinpah classic!? Maybe? There is no doubting that had Peckinpah been allowed to direct his own screenplay we would have got a far better, more brutal, Pancho Villa film. In fact if we just had Peckinpah's original screenplay intact and someone like Robert Aldrich to direct, then that surely would have given us a mean and moody biography of one José Doroteo Arango Arámbula (AKA: Francisco Villa or Pancho Villa)? Film history tells us that star Yul Brynner was most displeased with the portrayal of Villa as written on Bloody Sam's page. Brynner wanted, and got eventually, his Villa to be an heroic Robin Hood type man of the people, a romanticised revolutionary as it were. Not the driven bastardo prone to acts of horror and sneak tactics that Peckinpah envisaged for the film.La Cucaracha.Brynner laughably cited Peckinpah's lack of Mexican knowledge as reason for getting him off the film, laughable because Peckinpah was married to a Mexican and visited the country regularly! So Peckinpah was off, sold his screenplay to the producers, which was remodelled considerably by Robert Towne & Brynner, and he took much of the ideas from the writing for Villa Rides to craft his masterpiece a year later, The Wild Bunch. In to the director's chair came Buzz Kulik and Brynner got to don a toupee and portray Villa the way he wanted. Although, thankfully, Peckinpah's edginess does manage to flit in and out of the finished product.Viva Villa! You can't fight for the revolution if you are dead.What remains for viewing is far better than some would have you believe. True, it's no Western/War classic, some of the politico posturings fail to make a mark because they are not expanded on, and one yearns at times for some Peckinpah grit, grue and grim machinations. There's also casting issues, for although I actually don't mind Brynner as Villa because he attacks the role with fanciful relish, he is generally miscast, while Mitchum manages to get by on laconic charm rather than have a character worthy of putting effort into. But if you can forgive the obvious missteps then it's a good two hours of rip-snorting entertainment.It's always a question of money with you Gringo.Kulik (Sergeant Ryker) keeps things lively and proves adept at action directing. The battles scenes are high on quality, particularly for the engagement at Conejos, where stunt men and horses are flung around the place, explosions puncture the air, the artillery on show resplendent as it deals out damage. Hundreds of costumed extras cut a swathe through each other, a plane and a train impact greatly on proceedings, while potent scenes involving the bad things that men do add fuel to the loud expressive fire. Jarre's score is fabulous, Latino flavours mix with high energy thunder to bounce off the burning sun with aural pleasure, while Hildyard keeps the Spanish locales vibrant in colours. Then there's Bronson stealing the movie with his portrayal of Rodolfo Fierro, a man who enjoys killing and tormenting the enemy, with dark humour also etched into his make-up.Fanciful, fun and fiery, with flaws enough for sure, but still a good time to be had for the genre faithful. 7/10
adutchinusa
This Movie is Great, besides the action & adventure , there are Great performances for this B movie that most of the times just keeps teeners (boys mainly) from the street en from their homework ! its also a movie that brings the child back in the Man ! However, besides that, i love this movie Mainly for the role of Charles Bronson, who as Fiero is a Hard ("bad") man who you gonna Love ! His portrayel is marvelous and funny !! and don't forget the Magnificent Soundtrack score from Maurice Jarre !!
