Amelia Zapata Movies
In exchange for staying out of jail, down-and-out bounty hunter Vince Holloway (Dylan McDermott) agrees to work for corrupt IRS agents Vera (Tovah Feldshuh) and Strick (Dean Stockwell). Holloway travels to Diablo, a country run by criminals, to intercept a transfer of funds between crooked banker Cora (Jessica Harper) and gangster Reno (James Russo). Using a plot structure derived from Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest, as well as from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, Holloway forms competing alliances with all parties to steal the money. As expected, everyone tries to double-cross everyone else. A would-be parody of film noir and westerns, John Lafia's The Blue Iguana unfolds more like a cartoon or a pinball game. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dylan McDermott, Jessica Harper, (more)
In this historical drama based on Carlos Fuentes' novel, Harriet Winslow (Jane Fonda) is a naive woman who, hoping to broaden her horizons, accepts a job as a governess in Mexico in 1913. However, Harriet unknowingly finds herself thrown into the middle of the Mexican revolution, where she attracts the attentions of two very different men: an elderly American gentleman (Gregory Peck) who has come to Mexico to die, and Tomas Arroyo (Jimmy Smits), a general with Pancho Villa's army of rebels who is fighting for the freedom of his people. The American's attraction to Harriet is more intellectual (though he unmistakably finds her attractive), while Arroyo holds a greater romantic allure to Harriet, who is still a stranger to the ways of love. In time, she gains a new sense of freedom and self-knowledge in Mexico, but while the victories of Villa's forces bring out an unseemly arrogance in Arroyo, Harriet makes a surprising discovery about the Old Gringo -- that he is in fact the fabled author Ambrose Bierce, who vanished years before. Old Gringo was the first American film for director Luis Puenzo, and the next-to-last for star Jane Fonda. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Fonda, Gregory Peck, (more)
- 1994
Cisco and his pal Pancho return in this made-for-cable nostalgic and comical reworking of the once popular western adventure series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Smits, Cheech Marin, (more)
Featuring Jennifer Lopez in her first major big-screen role, Gregory Nava's My Family traces three generations of the Sanchez's, a Mexican-American family living in East Los Angeles. Beginning in the 1930s, the film outlines the struggles faced by Jose (Jacob Vargas) and Maria (Lopez) as a recently immigrated married couple raising a family. As Jose and Maria age, the focus shifts to their son, Jimmy (Jimmy Smits), as he starts his own family in the 1960s. While Lopez' role was uncredited, she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her performance. My Family has also been released under the titles My Family, Mi Familia, Cafe Con Leche, and East L.A. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
