Katy Jurado Movies
A leading lady of Mexican cinema, Katy Jurado also found fame in Hollywood in the 1950s as a sultry supporting actress in such films as High Noon (1952) and Broken Lance (1954). Rather than abandoning her native country, however, Jurado remained a star of Mexican film as well as an esteemed character actress north and south of the border until she retired from movies in 1998.Born into a wealthy family, Jurado spent her early childhood in luxury until the family's lands were confiscated during the revolution. Nevertheless, her domineering grandmother continued to adhere to "aristocratic ideals," including staunch disapproval of Jurado's desire to become an actress after director Emilio Fernandez discovered her at age 16. Marrying actor/writer Victor Velazquez to escape her family's control, Jurado made her movie debut in No Maturas (1943). The talented sloe-eyed beauty quickly made her mark in the Mexican movie industry, winning three Ariels (Mexico's equivalent of the Oscar), including one for Luis Buñuel's El Bruto (1952). A divorced mother of two by her twenties, Jurado worked as a radio reporter, bullfight critic, and movie columnist between acting jobs to support her family. Spotted by Budd Boetticher and John Wayne at a bullfight, Jurado was subsequently cast in her first American film while on a trip to Hollywood, Boetticher's matador drama The Bullfighter and the Lady (1951). Though her English was still limited, and she learned her lines phonetically, Jurado garnered great critical acclaim for her second Hollywood picture, High Noon (1952). As upstanding marshal Gary Cooper's fiery ex-girlfriend, Jurado unforgettably locked horns onscreen with Cooper's prim bride Grace Kelly, and won a Golden Globe award.
Refusing to be pigeonholed by signing a Hollywood studio contract, Jurado went home to Mexico between American roles, and continued to star in such Mexican fare as melodrama Nosotros Los Pobres (1957) during the 1950s. Nevertheless, she was still a frequent presence in Hollywood movies, particularly in Westerns. Jurado earned a supporting actress Oscar nomination for her performance as cattle baron Spencer Tracy's Indian wife in Broken Lance (1954) -- and lived up to her sexy image when she noted on the red carpet that her underwear was the same color as her crimson Oscar gown. She also appeared in Man From Del Rio (1956), Marlon Brando's One-Eyed Jacks (1960), courtroom drama The Trial (1955), and Burt Lancaster's circus extravaganza Trapeze (1955). Jurado's life became Hollywood tabloid fodder when her relationship with her Badlanders (1958) co-star Ernest Borgnine blossomed into a brief, rocky marriage. Married in 1959, Jurado had separated and reconciled with Borgnine amid accusations of spousal abuse by 1961; after wrangling over alimony, the divorce became final in 1964. Having moved to the U.S. to be with Borgnine, Jurado acted less often during the 1960s, including roles in the glossy Barabbas (1961), the Spanish film Un Hombre Solo (1964), the TV Western series Death Valley Days (1964), and the Elvis Presley flick Stay Away, Joe (1968). After attempting suicide in 1968, Jurado moved back home to Mexico for good.
Although she worked occasionally in American films shot in Mexico, including co-starring with John Huston in The Bridge in the Jungle (1970) and a supporting role Sam Peckinpah's Western elegy Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Jurado focused on Mexican movies, including El Elegido (1977) and Arturo Ripstein's La Seducción (1980), aging gracefully into a prominent character actress. After appearing alongside her former mentor Fernandez in Huston's somber drama Under the Volcano (1984), Jurado began to work behind the scenes in the Mexican industry, promoting her home state of Morelos to filmmakers. Even as she started garnering career laurels from the Santa Fe Western Festival in 1981 and the Mexican Film Promotion Trust in 1992, Jurado remained active, albeit infrequently, onscreen. After winning a special Ariel for lifetime achievement in 1997, Jurado made her last film, playing the leader of a religious cult in Ripstein's Buñuel-ian satire El Evangelico de Las Maravillas (1998). Still the pride of the Mexican film industry, Jurado passed away in 2002. She was survived by her daughter; her son was killed in a car accident in 1981. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
Featuring the final screen appearance of Mexican screen legend Katy Jurado, director Leopol Laborde's touching tale of friendship offers an affecting study on the influence others can have on our lives. As a rebellious teen growing up in Mexico in the early 1980s, Jorge (Imanol Landeta) struck up an unlikely friendship with reclusive senior citizen Esperanza (Jurado) after sneaking into what he thought was an abandoned house. As Jorge seeks refuge from his everyday trouble at home and school in the company of the wise old stranger, their bond strengthens and Esperanza teaches the young troublemaker the value of life and the wonders of his Mexican heritage. Devastated when Esperanza passes away shortly thereafter, young Jorge takes her wisdom and attempts to make the best of his situation in life. Watching the news fifteen years later, Jorge notices a picture of his old friend as the reporter mournfully recounts the anniversary of the death of the first Latin-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Taking a journey into the past upon visiting Esperanza's memorial, Jorge slowly begins to rediscover the valuable lessons taught to him by his long lost friend. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Katy Jurado, Imanol Landeta, (more)
Mexican director Arturo Ripstein helmed this Mexican-Argentine-Spanish religious drama with Buñuelian overtones. Based on true events that took place in Mexico during the '70s, the film is updated to the present. Mama Dorita (Katy Jurado) leads the New Jerusalem cult with film-buff Papa Basilio (Francisco Rabal). Basilio's worship of movies explains the cult's costumes, imitative of Hollywood Biblical epics. When Dorita dies, she chooses teen Tomasa (Edwarda Gurrola) to give birth to the New Messiah. Unable to handle this sudden power, Tomasa instead proclaims herself to be the Whore of Babylon, forcing male cultists to have sex with her. Shown in the Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Francisco Rabal, Katy Jurado, (more)
- 1985
Known variously as "Skirty Harry" and "Dirty Harriet," beautiful but tough lady police detective Katy Mahoney (Jamie Rose) patrols the mean streets of Chicago. In her dealings with dope pushers, rapists, and loan sharks, Katy would just as soon dispense with Due Process and blast every outlaw away with her trusty .357 magnum. But Internal Affairs frowns on such behavior, so Katy is forced to adopt a more civil attitude in her efforts to bring a particularly nasty cocaine kingpin, Dona Maria Theresa (Katy Jurado), to justice -- at least until there are no other options available, allowing the heroine to fire away at her heart's content. Condemned for its overabundance of violence when it originally aired April 15, 1985, on ABC, the made-for-TV Lady Blue nonetheless yielded a weekly series, which ran from September 15, 1985 to January 25, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
A strange, hallucinatory adaptation of the Malcolm Lowry novel of the same name, John Huston's bleak drama is set during the Mexican "Day of the Dead" ceremony in 1939. Albert Finney stars as Geoffrey Firmin, the booze-besotted former British consul to Cuernevarca, who has cut himself off from his loved ones, the better to drink himself to death while surrounded by all manner of skull-and-skeleton decorations. At the urging of his wife Yvonne (Jacqueline Bisset), his half-brother Hugh (Anthony Andrews) goes on a "heart of darkness" search for his missing sibling. Novelist Lowry was himself a suicidal alcoholic, who poured every drop of his embittered philosophy into the Firmin character. If any director could bring Lowry's difficult novel to life, it was Huston, whose own record for drunken self-destruction is the source of legend. (Huston was actually the seventh director to tackle the novel, which had originally been optioned in 1957 by actor Zachary Scott.) Artists contributing to the fascinating Under the Volcano include the brilliant Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, screenwriter Guy Gallo, composer Alex North, and director Emilio Fernandez, cast in a significant cameo as a bartender. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset, (more)
- 1981
Faye Dunaway portrays the Argentinian title character in this four-hour TV biopic. The story traces Evita's rise to power from humble origins; she establishes herself as a radio and film actress, then meets and marries powerful politico Juan Peron (played by James Farentino, a last minute replacement for Robert Mitchum). Peron's iron-fisted rule of Argentina allows Evita to become a political power in her own right. At first she is widely beloved as a "woman of the people", but gradually many of her followers are disillusioned by her use -- and misuse -- of her authority and her influence over Peron. After Evita dies, she is all but canonized by the Faithful, and it becomes more difficult than ever to separate fact from legend. Evita Peron was clearly produced to capitalize on the Broadway musical hit Evita, though the script takes great pains not to copy its theatrical inspiration. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
A scheming rebel marauder uses his lover's lovely daughter as bait to entice unsuspecting soldiers into a death trap. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Katy Jurado, Gonzalo Vega, (more)
Hall Bartlett directs the rural drama The Children of Sanchez, based on the tome The Children of Sanchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family written by Oscar Lewis in the '60s. Anthony Quinn stars as the widowed Jesus Sanchez, a poor farmer struggling to provide for his family in Mexico City. Also starring Lupita Ferrer as Consuelo and Stathis Giallelis as Roberto. This is the last film in the 50-year career of international star Dolores del Rio, who plays the Grandma. Jazz-pop performer Chuck Mangione was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a Grammy award for his original musical score. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Lupita Ferrer, (more)
- 1978
Set in the early 1900s, this film charts the rule of a Latin American dictator as he moves from being a charming despot to a tyrannical ruler before he is finally ousted, only to die in obscurity in Paris. Early in his regime, the resources and agricultural products his country sells command high prices, and he is a reasonably confident, even gentle, ruler who likes to take long vacations with his daughter in Paris. After World War I, with falling prices and a number of coup attempts behind him, his rule becomes quite cruel. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nelson Villagra, Katy Jurado, (more)
- 1977
In this anti-religious Mexican movie, based on a play by Carlos Solorzano, the actors who, every year, re-enact the Passion Play during Holy Week in Ixtapapalapa are shown to be deformed and stupid. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Katy Jurado, Manuel Ojeda, (more)
- 1977
An Italian-American neighborhood is in the clutches of a swaggering Mafia don. By holding the residents in a grip of terror, the don manages to extort a great deal of money -- and undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) is helpless to do anything about it, thanks to the refusal of the locals to speak up. This episode affords ample acting opportunities for the versatile Ross Martin and the tempestuous Katy Jurado. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1976
When a worker is found murdered on the construction side, the investigation swiftly turns from things criminal to the political circumstances surrounding the building itself. Widespread corruption and neglect by the builder himself are seen to have brought the situation about. Much of the movie is filmed using hand-held cameras, and the majority of the dialogue is in the difficult-to-understand and very slangy Spanish dialect of Mexico City's bricklayers. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ignacio Tarso, Jaime Fernandez, (more)
- 1973
In this comedy, a greedy Mexican don, the biggest landowner around, is used to getting his own way. The trouble begins when he casts his avaricious eyes upon a pretty lass who is most inconveniently betrothed to another. He takes care of that by tossing her beloved into jail. Knowing that only the Don has the power to insure her lover's release, the girl and her aunt devise a devious scheme. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
A former friend betrays a legendary outlaw in Sam Peckinpah's final Western. Holed up in Fort Sumner with his gang between cattle rustlings, Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) ignores the advice of comrade-turned-lawman Pat Garrett (James Coburn) to escape to Mexico, and he winds up in jail in Lincoln, New Mexico. After Billy theatrically escapes, inspiring enigmatic Lincoln resident Alias (Bob Dylan) to join him, the governor (Jason Robards Jr.) and cattle baron Chisum (Barry Sullivan) requisition Garrett to form a posse and hunt him down. Rather than flee to Mexico when he can, Billy heads back to Fort Sumner, meeting his final destiny at the hands of his friend Pat, who, two decades later, is forced to face the consequences of his own Faustian pact with progress. With a script by Rudolph Wurlitzer, Peckinpah uses the historical basis of Billy's death to eulogize the West dreamily yet violently as it is desecrated by corrupt capitalists. Both Pat and Billy know that their time is passing, as surely as Garrett's posse knows that they are participating in a legend. Using familiar Western players like Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado, Peckinpah underscores the West's existence as a media myth, and he even appears himself as a coffin maker. Just as the bloodletting of Peckinpah's earlier The Wild Bunch (1969) invoked the Vietnam War, the casting of Kristofferson and Dylan alluded to the chaotic late '60s/early '70s present; the counterculture has little place in a corporate future. Also like The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett was truncated by its studio; the cuts did nothing to help its box office. Key scenes, particularly the framing story of Garrett's fate, have since been restored to the home-video version. In this director's cut, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid stands as one of Peckinpah's most beautiful and complex films, killing the Western myth even as he salutes it. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, (more)
- 1971
13-year-old Robert Mueller (Mark Gruner) is obsessed with guns and has a morbid fascination with death. He is also deeply resentful over the fact that his widowed mother Elaine (Diane Baker) has married Paul Hamilton (Ed Nelson). Despite all this, Elaine could never believe that her darling boy was in any way responsible for a recent campaign of terror waged against Paul, even when an unsolved homicide enters the picture. But Paul knows full well that he is next on little Robert's hit list--a fact that Robert does not even bother to keep a secret. Adapted from a novel by Fielden Farrington, the made-for-TV A Little Game made its ABC bow on October 30, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1971
- PG
When a wealthy man dies, everyone seems to be out to steal his money from the woman chosen as heiress. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- 1970
- R
Gale (Charles Robinson) is an idealistic and naive young hunter who ignores warnings that no one can survive for long in the jungles of Mexico except the native Indians. He tries to hunt crocodiles but becomes delirious, disoriented and nears death. Sleigh (John Huston) is a veteran hunter living among the natives who rescues Gale just in time. As he recovers in the Indian village, Gale listens to Sleigh's denunciation of the evils of modern society (ie. money, greed and oil). Later on, a former native of the village returns from the oil fields of Texas and presents his young brother with a pair of cowboy boots. Proudly wearing his new boots, the boy falls off the wooden bridge into the river and drowns as the boots, symbolic shackles of civilization, fill up with water and pull him beneath the surface. Sleigh and Gale observe the Indians as they recover the body and stage an elaborate funeral for the dead boy. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Huston, Charles Robinson, (more)
- 1969
In his TV-movie debut, Stewart Granger plays a philandering photographer whose wealthy wife, Lois Nettleton, catches him in an adulterous situation. Not wishing to give up his cushy life style, Granger rigs a fatal automobile accident for Nettleton before she begins divorce proceedings. She survives the crash, but suffers a loss of memory. Granger must now figure out how to eliminate her before her amnesia passes and she can finger him as her would-be killer. Filmed in Mexico, Any Second Now is highly recommended to anyone who hasn't seen the story before in its many previous incarnations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
This forgettable comedy finds Joe Lightcloud (Elvis Presley) as a mixed-blood Indian with strong ties to his tribe and his father Charlie (Burgess Meredith). Joe tries to get government assistance for the tribe in exchange for permitting the local congressman to graze cattle on Indian land. Maime (Quentin Dean) is the object of Joe's affection, but they are under the watchful eye of her mother Glenda (Joan Blondell), who owns the local saloon. The Jordanaires back up Elvis on a few songs, most notable being "U.S. Male" by guitar-great Jerry Reed. By this time, Elvis was extremely tired of churning out movies with such dismal scripts. Later in 1968, he would make a triumphant return to live performing with his NBC television special which featured Jerry Reed's "Guitar Man." Elvis was playing out the string of films set up by his controversial manager Colonel Tom Parker, who never wanted Elvis to be considered as a serious dramatic actor. Parker even went so far as to take Elia Kazan to task for even mentioning such an idea. It was such thinking that prompted the King Of Rock & Roll to return to the stage once again after an eight-year hiatus. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Burgess Meredith, (more)
- 1966
In this touching western horse story, a wandering cowboy and rodeo rider finds a beautiful wild stallion, captures him, and trains him into a fine horse. Unfortunately, the cowboy's wicked brother trades the horse so he can pay off some debts. Just as he is trying to take Smoky from his pen, something goes wrong and the horse ends up killing him. Later the horse and his beloved rider are separated after the cowboy joins the service. Smoky ends up on the rodeo circuit and is very nearly killed. When the cowboy at last is reunited with his equine friend, he is appalled to discover that Smoky has become a broken down cart horse. He ends up saving him. This is the third screen version of Will James' popular horse story. It contains the following songs: "Smoky" (Ernie Sheldon, Leith Stevens, sung by Hank Thompson), "Five Dollar Bill," "Smile As You Go By," "Trouble and Misery," "Queen of the Rockin' R" (Hoyt Axton, sung by Axton). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fess Parker, Diana Hyland, (more)
- 1966
In this courtroom drama, a Mexican American judge must preside over the case of the town ne'er-do-well, who is accused of killing his wife. The film is set during the 1920s in the Southwest. The murderer is convicted and sentenced to hang, but on execution day, he has a fight and kills the hangman. At the same time, another man confesses. While this gets the first man freed for the first killing, he must now stand trial for the hangman's death. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Maharis, Laura Devon, (more)
- 1962
Overcooked melodrama characterizes this tale set during the Mexican Revolution and starring some of Mexico's most famous, old-time actors (Katy Jurado, María Félix, Emilo Fernández, and Pedro Armendáriz). The story is about as far-fetched as can be imagined. Herrera (Armendáriz) and Gómez (Fernández) are on opposite sides in the Revolution, but then, there is more than one side anyway. Just before the two can fight it out, they are arrested and later released when the fighting is more or less over. But when the two men return home, one finds that his mistress, La Bandida (Félix) is involved with someone else, and the other is soon to be a widower. The saga then continues as both men go after La Bandida -- and all this happens with a great deal of brawling, singing, and carrying-on. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maria Felix, Pedro Armendáriz, (more)
This 1962 Biblical epic was adapted by Christopher Fry from the novel by Pär Lagerkvist. Anthony Quinn stars as Barabbas, the thief who was pardoned in place of Jesus. For the rest of his life, the guilt-ridden criminal tries to justify his existence and to determine his place in the scheme of things. Along the way he encounters the self-righteous pomposity of Pontius Pilate (Arthur Kennedy), the stoning of Sara (Katy Jurado), the gladiatorial sadism of Torvald (Jack Palance), and the burning of Rome. The film's unbilled Christ is played by Roy Magnano, the brother of Quinn's second-billed costar Silvia Mangano. Watch for the genuine solar eclipse during the Crucifixion sequence, an effect that director Richard Fleischer spent several days preparing for. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano, (more)
Western bandit Kid Rio (Marlon Brando) is betrayed by his partner, Dad Longworth (Karl Malden). Escaping from prison, Rio learns that Longworth has become a wealthy and influential lawman. Rio thirsts for revenge, but bides his time, waiting for the right moment to strike. In the meantime, Rio spitefully seduces Longworth's adopted daughter, Louisa (Pina Pellicer). After killing a man in self-defense, Rio is publicly whipped by the powerful Longworth. When Rio's old gang accidentally kills a child during another holdup, Longworth has the perfect excuse to eliminate the troublesome Rio once and for all by hanging him. But that's not what happens at all. Stripped to its fundamentals, One-Eyed Jacks is a workable Western, worthy of perhaps 90 minutes' running time. But when Marlon Brando succeeded Stanley Kubrick in the director's chair, he allowed the film's 60-day shooting schedule to stretch into six months, and delivered a finished product running in excess of four hours. The current 141-minute version of One-Eyed Jacks isn't as ponderous as some critics have claimed, but it's still too much of a good thing. While Brando the director isn't precisely in the Kubrick class, Brando the actor delivers one of his finest and most focused performances (though he is upstaged throughout by Karl Malden). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, (more)
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