Antonio Moreno Movies

If John Ford is the greatest Western director, The Searchers is arguably his greatest film, at once a grand outdoor spectacle like such Ford classics as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950) and a film about one man's troubling moral codes, a big-screen adventure of the 1950s that anticipated the complex themes and characters that would dominate the 1970s. John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a former Confederate soldier who returns to his brother Aaron's frontier cabin three years after the end of the Civil War. Ethan still has his rebel uniform and weapons, a large stash of Yankee gold, and no explanations as to where he's been since Lee's surrender. A loner not comfortable in the bosom of his family, Ethan also harbors a bitter hatred of Indians (though he knows their lore and language well) and trusts no one but himself. Ethan and Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), Aaron's adopted son, join a makeshift band of Texas Rangers fending off an assault by renegade Comanches. Before they can run off the Indians, several homes are attacked, and Ethan returns to discover his brother and sister-in-law dead and their two daughters kidnapped. While they soon learn that one of the girls is dead, the other, Debbie, is still alive, and with obsessive determination, Ethan and Martin spend the next five years in a relentless search for Debbie -- and for Scar (Henry Brandon), the fearsome Comanche chief who abducted her. But while Martin wants to save his sister and bring her home, Ethan seems primarily motivated by his hatred of the Comanches; it's hard to say if he wants to rescue Debbie or murder the girl who has lived with Indians too long to be considered "white." John Wayne gives perhaps his finest performance in a role that predated screen antiheroes of the 1970s; by the film's conclusion, his single-minded obsession seems less like heroism and more like madness. Wayne bravely refuses to soft-pedal Ethan's ugly side, and the result is a remarkable portrait of a man incapable of answering to anyone but himself, who ultimately has more in common with his despised Indians than with his more "civilized" brethren. Natalie Wood is striking in her brief role as the 16-year-old Debbie, lost between two worlds, and Winton C. Hoch's Technicolor photography captures Monument Valley's savage beauty with subtle grace. The Searchers paved the way for such revisionist Westerns as The Wild Bunch (1969) and McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), and its influence on movies from Taxi Driver (1976) to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Star Wars (1977) testifies to its lasting importance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Saskatchewan is a "northern" starring Alan Ladd as tight-lipped Canadian Mountie Sgt. Thomas O'Rourke. He rescues Grace Markey (Shelley Winters), sole survivor of a Sioux uprising, and the two of them set out across the treacherous Saskatchewan terrain to safety. To keep himself and his companion alive, O'Rourke must rely on his own knowledge of Sioux behavior...not as daunting a task as it seems, since the Mountie was raised by Cree Indians. Along the way, the stoic O'Rourke melts enough to fall in love with Grace, who isn't as helpless as she seems at first glance. Saskatchewan is directed by Raoul Walsh in his usual virile and vigorous fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Thunder Bay was another inspired collaboration between star James Stewart and director Anthony Mann. Stewart plays an ex-GI named Steve, who has a hankering to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Together with his army buddy Gambi (Dan Duryea, in a rare good-guy role), Steve attains the financial backing of irascible oil-company chieftain Kermit MacDonald (Jay C. Flippen) and the two head southward. Before they can even place their drills in the clamps, Steve and Gambi run afoul of local shrimp fishermen who consider the presence of oil speculators as a threat to their livelihoods. Things get dicey when Steve falls in love with Stella (Joanne Dru), the daughter of combative fisherman Dominique Rigaud (Antonio Moreno). Mob mentality threatens to overcome common sense until a clever -- and mutually beneficial -- compromise between the drillers and the fishermen is reached. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

MGM's Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charisse were loaned to Universal for the Technicolor period piece Mark of the Renegade. Set in 19th-century California, the film stars Montalban as Marcos, in league with a band of pirates. Marcos falls into the hands of Don Pedro Garcia (Gilbert Roland), a despot who hopes to become dictator of California. Planning to force the cooperation of benevolent politico Jose De Vasquez (Antonio Moreno), Garcia orders Marcos to court De Vasquez' comely daughter Anita (Cyd Charisse). It soon develops that Marcos is not the criminal he appears to be, and that he is dedicated to the vanquishing of the evil Garcia. Somehow, Mark of the Renegade finds an excuse for Cyd Charisse to perform a bewitching dance number. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joel McCrea was still relatively new to westerns when he starred in Saddle Tramp. McCrea is cast as footloose and fancy free cowpoke Chuck Connor, who has no intention of settling down. Alas, this decision is made for him when Connor "inherits" the four recently orphaned sons of his best friend. Since his pal died while riding Connor's horse, Our Hero feels obligated to raise the kids as his own -- and it's not gonna be easy. Connor's brood is increased to five when they're joined by runaway gamine Della (Wanda Hendrix). Additional complications include Connor's kid-hating rancher boss (John McIntire), a crooked foreman (John Russell), and an ongoing blood feud. The song "The Cry of the Wild Goose" popularized by Frankie Laine, is heard throughout Saddle Tramp as the restless Joel McCrea's leitmotif. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Producer/director S. Sylvan Simon, a man usually associated with comedies and musicals, turned out a rip-roaring western melodrama when he aimed his sights at Lust for Gold. Most of the film is told in flashback, relating the exploits of Jacob Walz (Glenn Ford), the greedy, homicidal owner of the legendary Lost Dutchman Mine. After conniving and killing his way to success, Walz is destroyed when he falls in love with equally mercenary Julia Thomas (Ida Lupino at her nasty best). The film returns to the Present, as a descendant of Walz tries to locate the mine--and endangers his own life in the process. Most of the action highlights in Lust for Gold would turn up as stock footage in future Columbia productions, including an episode of TV's Captain Midnight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Esther Williams moves from the swimming pool to the bull ring in this musical drama. Antonio Morales (Fortunio Bonanova) was once a champion bullfighter; now in retirement, Antonio and his wife (Mary Astor) have high hopes that their son Mario (Ricardo Montalban) will follow in his father's footsteps as a matador. However, Mario's great passion is music, and he longs to pursue a career as a composer. But there is a budding toreador in the family: Mario's sister Maria (Esther Williams), who has learned the basics of bullfighting from her sibling. Not wanting to be thought a coward, but with no desire to enter the ring, Mario allows Maria to disguise herself as him and take his place in the bullring, allowing her to compete in a traditionally male sport while Mario devotes his time to his music. Fiesta gave Ricardo Montalban his first English-speaking role, with Cyd Charisse appearing as Conchita, his love interest and dancing partner. Classical music buffs might notice that Mario's composition "Fantasia Mexican" is actually Aaron Copland's "El Salon Mexico." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

RKO Radio's first film in the three-color Technicolor process was the standard-issue swashbuckler The Spanish Main. Paul Henried is his usual stoic self as Laurent Van Horn, a Dutch sea captain shipwrecked on the coast of Cartagena, a Spanish-held island. Sentenced to be hanged, Van Horn and his crew escape from jail and take up piracy as revenge against Spain. Soon afterward, they capture a ship carrying Francisca (Maureen O'Hara), the fiance of Cartagena's corrupt governor Don Alvarado (Walter Slezak). Van Horn vengefully forces Francisca to marry him instead, which causes dissension at the Pirate colony of Tortuga. Naturally, Van Horn and Francisca eventually fall in love with each other, but the bad guys must be vanquished before a happy ending can be realized. Binnie Barnes steals the show as feisty female buccaneer Anne Bonney (who in real life looked less like Barnes and more like Walter Slezak!) The script is a cynical melange of pirate-movie cliches and the performances are generally routine, but The Spanish Main pleased the crowd in 1945, posting a profit of nearly $1.5 million and encouraging future Technicolor adventure films from RKO. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though officially based on a Saturday Evening Post story by Clarence Buddington Kelland, RKO Radio's Valley of the Sun was obviously inspired by the blockbuster comedy western Destry Rides Again (indeed, both films were directed by George Marshall). James Craig stars as Indian scout Jonathan, whose pro-Native American sentiments do not rest well with crooked civilian Indian agent Jim Sawyer (Dean Jagger), who intends to benefit from an impending tribal uprising. Court-martialed on a trumped-up charge fomented by Sawyer, Jonathan escapes the stockade with the help of a friendly sergeant and rides off to Washington DC, hoping to forestall an all-out Indian war. En route, he makes the acquaintance of Sawyer's snooty fiancee Christine (Lucille Ball), forcing her into a marriage for plot reasons too complicated to go into here. After juggling comedy and melodrama for nearly eight reels, the film turns serious towards the climax, when the fate of the protagonists falls into the hands of level-headed Indian chieftan Cochise (Antonio Moreno) and his hotheaded rival Geronimo (Tom Tyler). RKO's first big-budget western in several years, Valley of the Sun lost $158,000 at the box office, temporarily discouraging any followups. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Spain sometime in the late 1930s, Maria De La "O" was brought to American shores by Columbia Pictures in 1942. Onetime Hollywood favorite Antonio Moreno stars as an American artist who returns to Spain after a long absence. Here he makes the acquaintance of fiery gypsy dancing girl Carmen Amaya, who turns out to be his own daughter. "Buying" Amaya from her gypsy tribe, he brings her back to the U.S. in hopes of a reconciliation. Eventually, Moreno realizes that the girl will be happier with her "own kind." The story is for the birds, but the dance numbers are well handled. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hal Roach's first Technicolor production was the 48-minute musical Fiesta. The story takes place on the Mexican ranch owned by Don Hernandez (Antonio Moreno), whose niece Cholita (Anne Ayers) is returning home to marry local caballero Jose (George Negrete). When Cholita arrives, however, she has a new fiance in tow: pompous radio star Fernando Gomez (George Givot). Unwilling to resort to anything as crass as physical violence, Jose spends the next four reels cooking up schemes to scare Gomez off the property. Like Roach's first "streamlined" musical All-American Co-Ed, Fiesta was directed by choreographer Leroy Prinz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a South American planter and his neighbors find themselves plagued by vandals who have been destroying their equipment thereby forcing them to sell their fruit at below cost. Meanwhile, the orchardist's foreman hires a vagabond, an escaped convict framed for murder. It is he who reveals that the vandals are a wicked trio of attempting to steal the planter's land. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide