The Americano

After delivering his prize bulls from Texas to a mysterious buyer in the Amazon, Glen Ford is reluctantly drawn into a dispute between a wealthy rancher, a beautiful women, homesteaders and Brazilian bandits. A vintage performance by Ford is complemented by Cesar Romero, as the bandit "El Gato." The sexy Abbe Lane pulls off a song in the middle of the movie that showcases her then husband, Xavier Cugat's, Latin score. Americans in the 1950's were fascinated with the Amazon, one of North America's last frontiers. With some great second unit wildlife shots, this is not Monument Valley. If you can enjoy an old time western, with its stoic hero and sharp moral choices, set in 1950's Brazil, then this one is for you.

Four years before he would be known as the master of the gimmick, William Castle directed this South of the border Western starring Glenn Ford, Cesar Romero, Abby Lane and Frank Lovejoy. In true William Castle style, tho let it be known it wasn't always his fault, The Americano was met with a number of problems. Not least that after being afforded a considerable budget by RKO standards, they ran out of money half way thru. With most of the shoot being in the Matto Grosso jungle in Brazil, where it's believed that Budd Boetticher took control of the shoot, they had to hop tail it back to Hollywood where the project sat in limbo for months. By the time of the reconvene, original choice for the role of Teresa, Sara Montiel, had moved onto Warner Bros and was no longer available after having her RKO contract cancelled for the film. In came Abby Lane and all the scenes with Teresa in had to be re-shot.

The plot sees Ford as Texas cowboy Sam Dent who agrees to take on a job of delivering prize Bulls to a mysterious buyer down near the Amazon in Brazil. However, when he gets there he finds that the man he was meant to meet has been murdered. Quickly making friends with Manuel (Romero), Dent finds that there is a range war going on and that bandits run rife in the area. Trying to stay neutral he finds that he may have to pick a side after all. Does he trust Manuel, a well known bandit by all accounts, be loyal to Bento Hermanny (Lovejoy) who has given him a roof over his head, or pitch in with the lovely Marianna Figuerido (Ursula Thiess) who he is starting to get sweet on? Either way it possibly spells trouble for him.

Amiable, if over used, story that becomes watchable due to the efforts of Ford (as cool as ever) and Romero (who walks away with the movie), The Americano is clearly not the movie the makers set out to make. It was a bold move to make a Western down by the Amazon, not least because the locale should have made for rich pickings. But the problems off screen are up there on the screen. It's photographed by William E. Snyder (Creature from the Black Lagoon/Flying Leathernecks) and the locale is not utilised at all. Shot in Technicolor, the jungle sadly looks grey and almost ashen. There's a little bit of good lens work for a fire sequence, but the majority of it is very poor. They may as well have just built a cheap jungle set at the California base where the rest of the film was shot. The editing is bad and some scenes are blighted by basic errors, watch as Ford is hand tied on his horse one minute then rides an escape in free hand the next! Then there is the awful performance of Thiess, so bad it's obvious why she didn't go on to have a career in Hollywood. This in spite of Howard Hughes manfully fighting her corner.

However, this is a film I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to my Western loving friends on proviso they don't expect too much. Ford and Romero are worth it, as is a couple of scenes such as a pitch fork fight and a dandy piranha dangle sequence. While for the boys Lane warbles and wobbles in a very engaging way. So a big case of not what it should have been, but not without its merits either, and certainly fun enough to adequately fill a couple of hours of undemanding time. 5.5/10

This is a much better Technicolor production than many of the other Castle films of the era. Castle brings back his oblique staging/blocking and adds some interesting low and high angle shots (which had been poorly employed in preceding Castle films) in order to develop a clear psychological motivation for the titular character. The shot-reverse-shot construction is more subtle than previous Technicolor Castle films, making the suture smoother and thus more endearing for the spectator. Depth of field creeps back into Castle's stylistic system in this film, aided by picturesque natural exteriors. Castle plays around with montage again, purposeful as ellipsis and appropriate to plot progression. I am reserved in labeling certain elements of the production as budget due to the possibility of a poor transfer for the copy I viewed (in particular I am referring to the cross-cut shots of wild animals). The script is more natural and a nice fit for the milieu of the film - real people talking honestly to each other. Pace slows and shot-reverse-shot construction gets sloppy half way through the film but is compensated for by some frantic action sequences that distinguish a morality for Ford's character that drives the rest of the narrative forward. There is a nice song (musical number) tri-functional as entr'acte for the story, prompt for budding romantic subplots and homage to the chanchadas of Brazil (ironic, given that after all the Columbia Pictures distribution of Castle's films that The Americano was released through RKO). It was at this time that Columbia Pictures's exploitation of the Brazilian film market was reaching critical mass and spurring the development of the Cinema Novo counter-cinema movement. Dramatic confessions under extreme duress perfectly mirror Castle's The Chance of a Lifetime (1943) and tease out a neat closure to a film that operated with few plot contrivances.

Glenn Ford is out of money and land, but he has a contract to sell his string of bulls down in the Mato Grosso in Brazil. Except when he gets there, the man he's supposed to sell them to is dead. Ford deals with the man's successor, Frank Lovejoy, but finds himself in a range war, between Lovejoy, Ursula Thiess, whose father left her a tiny ranch and a string of cattle, and Cesar Romero, whom Lovejoy says killed his predecessor. But did he?

With talk about nesters moving in, this looks like an attempt to upgrade a western into the A category with an exotic locale. Indeed, Bud Boetticher shot some scenes in Brazil, before the money ran out. By the time additional capital was available, Boetticher and the original leading lady had moved on, and William Castle was called in to finish up, leaving Ford underplaying everything. The result is a very unkempt Romero steals every scene he's in, resulting in an erratically interesting movie.

Watchable and standard Western set in flashy Brazil about classic confrontation between cattlemen and homesteaders . There are wonderful , showy outdoors shot on spectacular territory and it displays action , shootouts , violence and though sometimes is slow-moving , isn't tiring neither dreary , sustaining the interest for quite a while . It deals with an American who takes a small herd of Brahma bulls and undertakes the long drives began from Texas to Brazil where he has sold them for a small fortune that is subsequently robbed . Later on , the American working on a ranch in the Amazon comes up against a gang of Brazilian bandits (Cesar Romero) . The American named Sam Dent fights to stifle the conflicts between homesteaders (led by Ursula Thies) and cattleman (Frank Lovejoy) who hires gunfighters . Texas cowboy become involved with a group of bad guys versus Brazilian good guys in this way-south-of-the-border Western . Meanwhile , he is hired for a time to keep the peace and develops a love story with the wealthy owner. But the Amazon becomes notorious for its lawlessness .

The picture gets action Western , shootouts , a love story , musical numbers (in charge of a gorgeous Abbe Lane) and is quite entertaining . A formula film featuring the standard grand opening , an enjoyable change of scenery , dramatic problem-posing center and slang-bang climax , but a nice entertaining Western nonetheless . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians, cheap production values and pleasing results . Bright scenarios shot in Brazil and Riverside, California , though there are excessive stock-shots. The main asset results to be the change of scenery , but a familiar theme : homesteaders against cattlemen make this movie all but a little bit pedestrian . Acceptable acting by Glenn Ford as a Texas cowboy gets embroiled with bad guys and finds himself in the middle of a range war . Commendable support cast as Frank Lovejoy , Cesar Romero , Rodolfo Hoyos and the gorgeous Abbe Lane , though Sara Montiel was originally cast for the role of Teresa and filmed some sequences in the Matto Grosso jungle . Atmospheric musical score by Roy Webb , including agreeable songs ; being danced and sung by Abbe Lane and composed and conducted by her husband Xavier Cugat .

This low-budgeted motion picture was professionally directed by William Castle . He was an expert craftsman with some of the all-time great schlock names serving as the producer Sam Katzman and fondness for gimmicks as proved in his successful terror films such as House of haunted hill , The Tingler , Mr Sardonicus , Strait-jacked , Homicidal , Macabre and 13 Ghosts . Castle emulated Alfred Hitchcock , this included the practice of appearing in the trailers, and even making cameo appearances in his films . Furthermore , he made several Western such as 1955 Duel on the Mississippi , 1955 The Gun That Won the West ,1955 El Americano , 1954 Masterson of Kansas , 1954 The Law vs. Billy the Kid , 1954 Jesse James vs. the Daltons , 1954 Battle of Rogue River , 1953 Fort Ti , 1951 cave of outlaws. Rating : 6. Acceptable and passable