José Chavez Movies
- 1987
In Central America, the peasants are nearly all "Indios," or people whose cultural values are those of indigenous people (rather than European or Spanish). Since the landowning and propertied classes abuse them horribly, these same ruling-class types live in perpetual fear of a bloody uprising. As a result, they suppress and abuse the peasants even more. Ironically, for the most part these peaceable people only want to be left alone. Those who do want to foment revolution have virtually no weapons and few allies to help them. In this action/adventure movie, based on a true incident, a group of Guatemalan peasants who have sought refuge in Mexico are sought out by Guatemalan death squads, and those who aren't tortured and killed are taken away in captivity. The hero in the story is a Mexican hunter whose family is mistakenly included in the raid and who teams up with a few of the survivors to win his family back and take revenge. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Almada, Gilberto Trujillo, (more)
Kathleen Turner plays a writer of adventure stories, Joan Wilder, who has been having trouble selling her works of late because they aren't remotely believable. The basic problem is that the mousy Joan has never had any real adventure in her life. All this changes when she receives a frantic phone call from her sister, whose is being held prisoner by evil art dealers in Colombia. It seems that sis has mailed Joan a map leading to a valuable treasure. Nasty but cowardly Ralph (Danny DeVito), cousin of the principal villain (Zack Norman), has been assigned to claim the map from Joan. But upon arriving in Colombia, Joan and Ralph learn that others of a more homicidal bent are also after the map. Joan is rescued by soldier of fortune Jack Colton (Michael Douglas), who isn't quite clear about his stake in the proceedings. Jack and Joan undergo several perilous adventures in the wilds of Colombia. The treasure turns out to be a valuable jewel, which changes hands (one of them severed!) many times before it is swallowed by an alligator. Joan manages to break free from her pursuers, but Jack is presumed dead. Jack returns at the end of the film in Manhattan to surprise Joan. The sequel to Romancing the Stone was 1985's The Jewel of the Nile. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, (more)
- 1982
In this exciting aerial actioner, a young woman convinces her ex-boy friend, who used to fly a chopper in Vietnam, to help her out. The airborne special effects are particularly effective. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1981
- R
In this strange, unsatisfying remake of Casablanca, directed by J. Lee Thompson, a bar owner helps a woman find a missing fortune. Right after the end of WWII, Giff Hoyt (Charles Bronson) owns a bar in Peru into which Marie Allesandri (Dominique Sanda) enters one day, in search of her lover and some missing money. Matters are complicated by Gunther Beckdorff (Jason Robards), a Nazi who has his own plans for the money. Terredo (Fernando Rey) observes all the action and helps at an important moment. Despite the very good cast which also includes Camilla Sparv and Gilbert Roland, all of the various subplots and characters fail to gel, and Caboblanco is confusing, unsatisfying and slow-moving. Any fan of Casablanca should skip this and see the original again. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, Jr., (more)
Gary Grimes stars in this revisionist western as Ben Mockridge, a 16-year-old boy who has long dreamed of living the life of a cowboy. Wanting adventure, he persuades Frank Culpepper (Billy Green Bush) to take him along on a cattle drive, and Ben learns the hard way just how lonesome, exhausting, and violent the life of a cowhand can be. As one of the men on the drive puts it, "Being a cowboy is what you do when you can't do anything else." Hal Needham, who would later direct a string of successful films starring Burt Reynolds, can be spotted in a small role as Burgess, one of the cowboys. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Grimes, Billy Green Bush, (more)
- 1971
Ricardo Montalban is well cast as legendary Mexican bandit Joaquin Murietta in Desperate Mission. As in most previous filmed adaptations of the life of this controversial character, Murietta is depicted as a South of the Border Robin Hood, more sinned against than sinning. The storyline is open-ended enough to suggest that this made-for-TV movie was intended as the pilot for a weekly series. If this was indeed the case, the producers needn't have bothered. Lensed in 1969, Desperate Mission didn't get a TV playdate until December 3, 1971 (though it was released theatrically outside the US in 1970). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Tarzan (Ron Ely) tries to stop a bloodthirsty Colonel (Jock Mahoney) from taking over an African village with his soldiers of fortune. The ape-man has been rendered deaf by an exploding hand grenade, effectively limiting one of his keen senses. Tarzan relies on his telepathic powers to stop a lion. Woody Strode also appears in this film that combines two made for television episodes. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Ely, Jock Mahoney, (more)
Director Budd Boetticher wrote the story upon which this comic Western was based. Clint Eastwood stars as Hogan, a tough cowboy who rescues a woman, Sara (Shirley Maclaine) as she's about to be attacked by a trio of rapists. Surprised to learn that his new traveling companion is a nun, Hogan agrees to escort her to a camp occupied by anti-French revolutionaries. It turns out that neither of this pair is what they claim to be: Hogan is to scout out a French military garrison for a future attack, while Sara is actually a prostitute masquerading as a nun. After Hogan spies Sara smoking cigars and drinking whiskey, he begins to figure out she's not a bride of Christ, and the two team up with the Juaristas to destroy the French fortifications. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, Clint Eastwood, (more)
- 1969
In this French/Italian co-production set in Mexico in 1746, Alastray (Anthony Quinn), a gunman on the run from the law, happens upon a Franciscan priest, Father Joseph (Sam Jaffe), while in flight. Father Joseph shows mercy on the fugitive and allows Alastray to stay with him, but when the locals find out that Joseph is harboring criminals, he's run out of town; Alastray travels with him, disguised as a monk. While approaching what appears to be a deserted village, Father Joseph is killed by a sniper, and Alastray heads into town. He is met by Teclo (Charles Bronson), a half-breed who calls the village home. It seems that a band of savage Yaqui Indians have been terrorizing the town and have a special hatred for men of faith; they intend to continue laying waste to the village until the residents beg for mercy and renounce Christianity. The Village leaders want to make Alastray their new spiritual leader, and despite his great reluctance, he agrees, mostly as a means of maintaining his cover. But when Alastray tries to organize the building of a much needed dam, as well as obtaining a stash of weapons so that the citizens may defend themselves, the Yaquis return in force, leading to a decisive confrontation. Guns for San Sebastian also features Anjanette Comer and Silvia Pinal. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Anjanette Comer, (more)
- 1968
In this Mexican horror movie a scary bloodsucker is loose on the streets of contemporary Mexico and he is trying to con a young woman out of her family fortune. He first tries by charming the girl's vulnerable aunt. Later he buries the girl alive. Thankfully she is saved and soon someone drives a stake through the evil human leech's heart. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Grant (Ralph Bellamy) is a wealthy rancher who hires four mercenaries to retrieve his wife, Maria (Claudia Cardinale), from the clutches of the desperado Raza (Jack Palance) in this Western adventure set in 1917. Dolworth (Burt Lancaster) is a munitions expert who joins gunslinger Fardan (Lee Marvin), horse trainer Hans Ehrengard (Robert Ryan), and longbow master Jake (Woody Strode) when the men are offered 10,000 dollars apiece for the safe return of Grant's kidnapped wife. The cadre travels 100 miles into Mexico to retrieve the woman, whom they later discover wants to remain with Raza, but they decide to nab Maria anyway to make good on the money. Soon Fardan, Hans, and Jake are chased across the border by the enraged Raza and his equally deadly female accomplice Chiquita (Marie Gomez), while Dolworth stays behind to fight off Raza's Mexican banditos. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Direction (Richard Brooks), Best Screenplay (Brooks again), and Best Cinematography (Conrad L. Hall). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, (more)
- 1964
In this ironic drama set in a Mexican peasant village, the parish priest admonishes and chastises his congregation for not being generous, but then later catches a desperate father stealing a pearl from a statue so he can pay for the medicine his sick boy needs. After being caught, the fellow loses the pearl, which is later found in a pile of pig manure. Fortunately, the man's neighbors rally to his aide and he is freed. Later his wife finds the pearl and surreptitiously returns it to the statue causing the other locals to believe a miracle has occurred. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
This jungle adventure provides a wonderfully corny look into the mysteries of the Amazon and the African Congo as it chronicles the journeys of two intrepid explorers. There each of them must face assorted dangers including enormous iguanas, diminutive pygmies, voracious crocodiles, and man-eating natives who like to prepare their ritual meals atop an alter made of human skulls. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A favorite era of Mexican cinema returns to the screen in this well-wrought tale of a family and how it copes with the dynamic changes happening all around. The time is the end of the Mexican revolution and Porfirio Diaz is about to lose power. On the ranch known as La Gaviota, the feudal patriarch (Fernando Soler) of a small family and a large group of peasant workers is caught in the contemporary drama. He represents the old, entrenched, often arrogant aristocracy, and his daughter (Maricruz Olivier) more or less carries on in the same tradition. Opposite this holdover from past times is a revolutionary (Antonio Aguilar) who organizes the family's peasant workers, setting up a dichotomy that reflects the events in the country as a whole. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maricruz Olivier, Fernando Soler, (more)
The Mexican horrorama Man and the Monster is yet another wrinkle on the Faust story. A concert pianist, desirous of international fame, sells his soul to the devil. Satan's price: whenever the pianist plays a particular selection, he turns into a monster. After a string of brutal murders perpetrated by this musical Jekyll/Hyde, he is foiled by a quickwitted concert master. When the orchestra strikes up the fatal tune, the pianist goes through his slavering metamorphosis before a packed audience, who presumably spend the rest of the evening paging through their programs to see if the monster is a hitherto unannounced guest artist. Abel Salazer produced, wrote and starred in Man and the Monster, which was originally titled El Hombre Y El Monstruo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1953
Exiled from his Spanish homeland, director Luis Bunuel set up shop in Mexico. Here he made his only American-financed film, The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. This is a reasonably reliable version of the Daniel Defoe's novel about a 17th century shipwreck victim (Dan O'Herlihy) and his "Man Friday" (James Fernandez). Bunuel cannot resist tossing in his occasional barbs against the smugness of Society--though not so many as to scare away customers. The director's long-standing distaste with the church is discreetly manifested in a few brief scenes wherein Crusoe's faith in God wavers. Magnificently photographed in Pathecolor, Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was released in Mexico two years before its American distribution. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan O'Herlihy, Jaime Fernandez, (more)
