O Tesouro de Pancho Villa

It's 1915 Mexico. Tom Bryan (Rory Calhoun) is a mercenary with plenty of gold but encircled by soldiers. He recounts his story. After doing a bank robbery, he takes a job with revolutionary leader Colonel Juan Castro (Gilbert Roland) despite getting tired of the work. Castro plans to blow up a bridge to rob a government gold train. They find local supporters like Ruth Harris (Shelley Winters) who are willing to fight for Pancho Villa.

This is an American western shot in Mexico. The production seems big. The vista is grand. There is one or two good leads. In the end, it is no more than a B-movie. The directing is inferior. It doesn't have style and neither is it that realistic. The imagination is not really there. It's a second tier western.

Great film for Gilbert Roland fans. He goes the full nine yards in sartorial fetishism. The thigh-high multi- buckled leather boots, the narrow wrist thongs to emphasise his thewed hirsute forearms, the double flap-pocketed and epauletted safari shirt diagonally crossed with a bullet-laden bandoleer, the mandatory trouser belt above the matching holster belt (if the revolution succeeds, gringo, everyone in "May-he-co" will be able to dress like theece). This ensemble is topped off with the classical Gilbertian contest between his moustache and his cheroot as to which was thinner. In this period he starred in any film in which he appeared notwithstanding his actual billing which was dictated by him being Mexican rather than WASP(apart of course from his waist).

So here it is a film set around the time of the revolution of Pancho Villa yet features a Coca-cola advertising board!! Once you get past that this is not a bad movie at all. A movie of a simple premise where a train is robbed of its haul of gold by a band of guerrillas to support the revolutionary Pancho Villa and the trials and trails of greed an honour that the money breeds between men. At the centre of the story are two men. The American mercenary Tom Bryan who is essentially torn between his greed and doing the right thing, and his counter part Mexican revolutionary Juan Castro who has no deigns on the gold and will give everything for Villa's revolution. The story goes through many twists and turns with the standard female love interest (Shelly Winters) capturing the affections of both men. It is refreshing to see a film from this era not afraid to show Americans in a less than glorious light and a lead character with a great deal of moral ambiguousness whilst it is the Mexican who has the hero traits. Whilst not particularly well acted there are no poor performances and if you are a fan of the western then this film is worth checking out. Would I watch it again? Perhaps but only if I was bored and had nothing else to amuse me.

In this off-beat tale, Calhoun is an American mercenary that hires himself and his machine gun out to Villas band of revolutionary rebels. There's plenty of action, as the old west meets modern times. Story moves at a nice pace and the cast featurning Calhoun, Roland, and a pre-cellulite Winters make this a worthwhile view.

Yes, it's true. There is a 1950's Coca-Cola sign atop a building in this Western movie. About 5 minutes into the movie, Rory Calhoun and some Mexicans rob a bank and there, behind them atop one of the buildings, is a 1950's time period Coca-Cola sign visible for all to see. I checked the history of Coca-Cola signs and find this one was not a style until the late 1940's and, since the movie was made in 1955, it is obviously not an original 1914-1915 time period sign (which is when the movie was supposed to take place). So one wonders who was in charge of the scenery for this Western.

Otherwise, the Western is good. Calhoun plays a mercenary who is fighting for Pauncho Villa and helping the cause to raise money for guns and ammunition. Roland is one of Villa's main men who is responsible for delivery of the gold they steal to Villa. Winters, as lovely as ever, is a school teacher who wants to fight for the cause because she believes in it.

The gold gets stolen off the train and is taken by mule train to where it is to be delivered to Villa. But Villa is not there when they arrive and Calhoun wants the gold for himself. Then it becomes a struggle between him and Roland.

There's plenty of action and definitely a very good plot. The acting by the stars is good and believable. It's a Western certainly worth watching--despite the Coca-Cola sign.