Bandolero!

Sure, Dean and Jimmy starred in better westerns in their careers, RIO BRAVO and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, to name a few, but this one doesn't have John Wayne. The Duke didn't need to be here. This is a good ride that holds the formula western of better days to its heart and you're none the worse off for having given 90+ minutes of your time. And yes, Raquel Welch is gorgeous, baking in the hot Mexico sun. Dino doesn't sing, but the soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith is haunting.

Without comparing it to any of the acknowledged "greats" or even better westerns any of the stars made, "Bandolero" is a satisfying movie - interesting enough story with a bit of a humorous twist, well-mounted, beautifully shot, and everybody involved does their customary good job. If it drags a bit in some of the campfire scenes, it makes up for it in the action scenes. Must single out Rudy Diaz, who plays the chief Mexican bandit, as making a particularly vivid impression in his few scenes. Oh, I almost forgot, another rousing Jerry Goldsmith score worth owning on its own account. What more can you ask, seeing great guys like Jimmy, Dean, George, Harry Carey & Co., and of course Raquel, going thru long-practiced paces they knew so well by this time?

This is a pretty entertaining movie - not one of the best westerns any of these actors ever made, but it's always fun to watch Jimmy Stewart and George Kennedy do their thing. Dean Martin isn't bad, Raquel Welch looks great, but at this point she still needed to expand her talent. Entertaining plot, decent action, but the thing I think is most interesting are the names of three of the characters: The sheriff is July Johnson and his deputy's name is Roscoe, and the main villain's name is Dee, all names used in the same way in the great TV movie Lonesome Dove.

Mace Bishop is slumming his way across Texas when he hears that his brother has been caught robbing a bank and is due to be hung, along with his whole gang. Posing as a hangman, Mace manages to convince the Sheriff of his stolen identity and merrily sets about preparing for the execution. When the day comes Mace goes through the motions until the first chance he gets to slip Dee a gun unseen – allowing them to escape. While all the men ride out of town, Mace finishes off the bank that Dee failed on and rides on to meet up with the gang fleeing to Mexico – however even with a hostage, the Bishop gang are closely pursued by an angry Sheriff Johnson.

From the very start this film marks itself out as a strange mix that relies on its stars more than anything else. The opening scene is edgy but then the credits are laid back with an almost comic theme tune. The first half continues with this tone and is quite relaxed and enjoyable while also being a bit amusing; however once the Bishops escape, things begin to go downhill but yet there is still over an hour to go. The film forgoes the amiable tone it had in the start and tries to build a story and characters but does neither very well at all. It all drags and is never really convincing with the actual 'chase' sort of petering out in a distracting subplot involving Mexican bandits while the rest of the characters change and act totally unconvincing. It affected my enjoyment of the film – not because it got more serious but because it never got involving. The ending is a massive gunfight that is more silly than exciting and is just a lot of noise to satisfy the audience rather than a good conclusion to the story.

The characters are a problem because they seem to have been written to suit the stars rather than being true to the story and situations. The best examples of this are Maria (who falls in love too easily), Dee (who is just Dean Martin and not an end of the road bandit) and Mace (who is just James Stewart). People on this site have said that this film gave the stars the chance to play bad guys but this is nonsense – the 'bad guys' here are the gang, who are set as mangy in order to help us see how likable and honourable the Bishops are. Martin plays to his smile but does nothing else – certainly he is not the tough criminal that the opening scene would have us believe he is. Stewart suits his role but there is nothing to him other than a watered down version of his personae and a bit of relaxed charm; this makes for dull viewing though. Welch looks gorgeous and yet she cannot make us believe in her character at all and she is all about being Raquel Welch rather than being a character – heck, even an attempted rape seems to have been shot to show off her back and legs. Kennedy just saunters along in a wasted role and the rest of the gang just do the best they can with thin characters.

Overall this is a pretty poor film that has an enjoyable little first half but then unsuccessfully opens up into an attempt at a story with characters and such. The story is weak and falls down in the second half, partly due to the characters just not convincing at all. The stars try to work with the material but they are only ever partly successful – Stewart being OK, Welch forcing the emotion and Martin just smiling and relying on his celebrity status. The first hour is OK but this is one for real fans of the actors but nobody else.

An entertaining Western whose major selling points are a winning cast and beautiful outdoor photography, 1968's "Bandolero!" proved an easy 100 minutes for me to sit through. In it, James Stewart rescues brother Dean Martin and his sleazy gang from a neck-stretching party in 1867 Texas, after Dino & Co.'s botched bank robbery. They hightail it over the Mexican border with the recently widowed "vistoso" Mexican Raquel Welch as their hostage, while sheriff George Kennedy and his posse follow in hot pursuit. Truth be told, Kennedy is more hot for Raquel than the pursuit of justice, and who wouldn't be? Racky, 28 here and at the peak of her sex goddess phase, looks terrific, and acts very passably. She makes for a very convincing Mexican (although, in real life, her father was Bolivian and her mother of English descent). Stewart (need it even be said?) is fine as always, and supplies much of the film's humor with his double takes and slowpoke delivery. This is no Anthony Mann Western, however, and Stewart was ever so much more impressive in oaters such as "Winchester '73" (1950) and especially "The Naked Spur" (1953). Dino, it should be added, is also fine as a decent guy who just can't seem to make good. "Bandolero!" also features some amusing lesser characters (particularly that hangman!) and a surprisingly gritty and quite violent conclusion. It's no Peckinpah bloodbath, but following what is essentially a fun, lighthearted Western, it does shake the viewer. Lesson to be learned: Don't press your sexual "favors" on a Mexican woman if she's anywhere near a six-shooter!