100 Rifles

100 Rifles is directed by Tom Gries and Gries adapts to screenplay with Clair Huffaker from Robert MacLeod's novel The Californio. It stars Burt Reynolds, Jim Brown, Raquel Welch, Fernando Lamas and Dan O'Herlihy. Music is by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Cecilio Paniagua.

Arizona lawman Lydecker (Brown) travels into Mexico to arrest bank robber Yaqui Joe Herrera (Reynolds), and lands in the middle of a war between the Yaquis and the Mexican army.

A good blood pumping Oater feasting on Spaghetti leanings, 100 Rifles boasts star appeal coupled with exciting genre staples. Filmed in Almeria in Spain, pic doesn't lack for smooth on the eyes locations either. The dialogue is a mixture of cheese and the philosophical, but it sits well in the production. It's strong on violence, with a number of action sequences very well constructed, while it has a cheeky glint in its eye and for sure is sexy into the bargain. OK, so the cast aren't exactly pulling up any trees, but they are fun to watch as we take in weasel villains and lovable rogues.

Good time to be had here. 7/10

I admit that I liked the film, rather more than I expected to. Jim Brown, while not a professional actor held his own for the most part, although his scenes with Raquel Welch seemed a little forced. This makes me think that acting is not really that hard to do acceptably, since so many non-actors have done OK at it. Welch does her part and looked wonderful. Burt Reynolds was at the top of his game here, before he became a world-wide phenomenon, still had to make his way ACTING. Fernando Lamas was suitably evil as the native general/governor trying to commit genocide on the poor, misunderstood, peaceful Indians. And I have to mention the beauty of the late Soledad Miranda. She brightened the screen in the short time she was on it.

Entertaining and amusing Western that tells the story of a thief (Burt Reynolds is of part Cherokee Indian descent) , his flight into Mexico and his pursuit by a Black American lawman (Jim Brown) and both of whom chased by a despotic military governor (Fernando Lamas) and his hoodlums (Aldo Sambrell , Eric Braeden) . As in 19th century Mexico appears a half-breed bank robber (Burt Reynolds plays a native/half-white American and his previous film, Navajo Joe 1966 , he also played an Indian) , he is Yaqui Joe , an Indian who robs a bank in order to buy guns for his people who are being savagely repressed by the government . As the lawman and the outlaw eventually become allies and team up with a female revolutionary (Raquel Welch) to help save them from annihilation and to take up the cause of the Indians.

Stirring and exciting Western with thrills , violence , shootouts , a lot of firing squad and plenty of action in which a misfit group formed by Yaqui Joe and a sheriff join up with a female revolutionary and attempt to take money from a bank to buy arms for their oppressed people but all of them are relentlessly pursued by the Mexican Army . It includes spectacular pursuits in which the pursued protagonists cross impressive landscapes , rivers and mountains . Although quite racy in its day for its interracial sex sizzle of Brown and Welch , it's overblown and tame by today's standards . In fact , this film was apparently one of the first movies to feature a sex scene between people of different races . What it lacks in political correctness it makes up for in fits of action . Although this film was shot in Spain , it was filmed by an American studio -20th Century-Fox- with an American director , Tom Gries , producer Marvin Schwartz , and expert Western writer Cliff Huffaker , being based on the novel written by Robert MacLeod . Nice acting by Burt Reynolds as a mestizo or half Yaqui Indian who finds himself wanted by an American lawman , adequately played by Jim Brown . Raquel Welch is gorgeous and memorably over-the-top as as the woman who forms a strong axis to Brown . This is one of a number of westerns that Burt Reynolds made during the mid- to late 1960s and early 1970s . These include Navajo Joe(1966), Sam Whiskey (1969) and The man who loved Cat Dancing (1973). And gorgeous Raquel Welch giving a mediocre acting ; Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds fell out whilst making this movie, three years later they both starred in "Fuzz" . Support casting and crew are formed by an European (usually Spanish) cast , all of them ordinaries in Paella/Spaghetti Western shot in Spain such as : Aldo Sambrell , Alberto Dalbes , Sancho Gracia , Jose Manuel Martin , Charly Bravo , Rafael Albaicín and the beauty Soledad Miranda as a prostitute .

Superbly photographed by Cecilio Paniagua on spectacular outdoors from Almeria -though the train wreck station shot in Villamanta, Madrid- , including its terrain closely resembles the northeast Mexico/southwest US área and where in the 60s and 70s were filmed uncountable Westerns . The Spanish Cecilio Paniagua was a very good cameraman who photographed several Westerns such as ¨Custer of the West¨ , "Great Treasure Hunt" , and ¨Hunting party¨ , all of them filmed in Almeria . Special mention for the thrilling as well as evocative musical score by maestro Jerry Goldsmith , composed in his peculiar style . The motion picture was professionally directed by Tom Gries though flopped in theatres . This movie was filmed in the same Almeria, Spain, region as director Tom Gries' TV series The Rat Patrol (1966), both starred Eric Braeden . Traveling to Hollywood in 1947, Gries took a job as a talent agent, and eventually went to work for producer/director Stanley Kramer . He entered the production end of the business as an associate producer, then graduated to writing and producing documentaries. Tom switched to television, where he received an Emmy in 1963 for directing the series East Side/West Side (1963) . Tom was an expert director of Western as ¨Breakheart pass¨ , this ¨100 Rifles¨ , and ¨Will Penny¨ that is the best work ever made ; Gries also directed other successes as ¨Breakout¨, ¨The glass house¨ , ¨Helter Skelter¨ and TV series as ¨QBVII¨ , but he also made some real duds . His later output in other genres was routine.

The movie takes place during a bloody time period of Mexico history… At that time, anyone coming to Mexico ought to be speaking Spanish… But Lyedecker (Jim Brown) didn't speak the language… He was a black policeman looking for a valuable man, a bank robber named Joe Herrera (Burt Reynolds), who looks Mexican but doesn't talk Mexican… Herrera is a half-breed, whose mother was a Yaqui Indian and his father was from Alabama…

General Verdugo (Fernando Lamas) is sure that the money was not spent on women or on Whisky… For him, Joe stole the $6,000 from the Citizen's Bank in Phoenix, Arizona to buy 100 rifles for his people, the Yaqui Indians…

Verdugo—a murderer and an assassin who runs the State of Sonora—have orders to get rid of the Yaquis any way he could, and he took the easy way by killing everybody… He even kidnapped Yaqui children to regain the rifles… And now he wants Lyedecker's head on a stick in the middle of the plaza for everyone to see…

Lyedecker doesn't care about nothing and nobody… He took a job that nobody else wanted… His intentions are to take Joe back for the $200 reward and a permanent job… The policeman rejected any deal in spite of all the atrocities he witnessed like executing Indians or hanging them up like a side of beef…

Steven Grimes (Dan O'Herlihy)—who runs the railroad— doesn't want his train to be a small sacrifice to the mean general… The German military adviser Lt. Von Klemme (Eric Braeden) thinks that the Indians must be finished off as quickly as possible before more guns come through… Raquel Welch's most audacious moment comes out when the Indians attack a well-guarded train carrying troops and supplies, and she was openly showering in the flat part, under a water tower…

With a very nice score by Jerry Goldsmith, "100 Rifles" is a slam-bang action epic, with loads of explosions and gory fighting, making little sense but a lot of amusing noise

Decent enough action-drama, set in Mexico in the late-1800s/early-1900s. Good plot, though it runs out of steam towards the end. Direction is solid, though unspectacular.

Good performances Jim Brown and Burt Reynolds. However, Raquel Welch steals the show with her stunning beauty and action-girl character.