José Torvay Movies

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

A spare, almost austere western, From Hell to Texas stars Don Murray as a carefree cowpoke. Accidentally killing the son of a powerful land baron (R. G. Armstrong), Murray runs for his life, pursued by the dead man's vengeful brothers. The fugitive is sheltered by Chill Wills, upon whose ranch Murray spends the bulk of his screen time. In love with Wills' daughter (Diane Varsi), Murray is concerned that he'll eventually have to leave when his pursuers catch up with him, but the boy is exonerated when he saves the life of the land baron's youngest son (Dennis Hopper). A superb piece of filmmaking, From Hell to Texas is barely worth watching unless seen in its original CinemaScope. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bandido is set during the Mexican civil war of 1916. Robert Mitchum stars as a sleepy-eyed soldier of fortune who finds himself in the middle of the fracas. At first refusing to take sides, Mitchum eventually casts his lot with insurrectionist Gilbert Roland. On the opposite side of the fence is gun-runner Zachary Scott, whose attractive wife Ursula Theiss has a yen for Mitchum. Lensed on location in Mexico, Bandido offers little in the way of provocative plotting or clever dialogue, but it definitely delivers the goods so far as action and adventure are concerned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Third-billed Lee Marvin dominates the proceedings in A Life in the Balance. Marvin plays a psycho killer, whose trail is dogged by inquistive young Jose Perez. Jose's father, musician Ricardo Montalban, has been accused of a series of murders. The boy is convinced (correctly, it turns out) that Marvin is the guilty party, and trails the man in hopes of bringing him to justice. No dummy he, Perez leaves a trail for the authorities to follow--a series of smashed-up police call boxes (a similar plot device was deployed for comic purposes by Harold Lloyd in Professor Beware). A Life in the Balance was filmed on location in Mexico City, with a great deal of screen time devoted to a colorful carnival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Mexico, The Littlest Outlaw was produced for Walt Disney Studios by Larry Lansburgh, who'd previous turned out several of the best Disney live-action short subjects. The hero is ten-year-old Pablito (Andres Velasquez), the stepson of a mean-spirited horse trainer. Unable to abide the cruelties inflicted by his stepfather on a prize jumping horse, Pablito "liberates" the animal and runs away from home. Along the way, the boy and horse make the acquaintance of a kindly priest (Joseph Calleia). Worried that the padre will turn him over to the authorities, Pablito runs off again, and this time is separated from the horse. A band of gypsies capture the animal and sell him to a bullfight arena, where the horse is used to lure the bulls out of the pen. Pablito and the priest manage to rescue the horse and return it to its rightful owner, a powerful Mexican general (Pedro Armendariz). Fortunately, the general is a good-hearted soul, and it is he who paves the way for the film's happy ending. Moderately successful at the box-office, The Littlest Outlaw soon became a mainstay of Disney's many TV anthology series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Daniel Mainwaring took this story right out of the headlines of the day, penning this true story of a mass murderer who was eventually executed in San Quentin's gas chamber. Released during McCarthy's witch-hunt, Mainwaring was not given credit because Howard R. Hughes, who produced it under RKO, refused to give credit to any "radicals." The story is that of two men on a fishing trip who pick up a hitchhiker. He turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who has committed multiple murders, a sociopath who hates humanity because of his own abuse as a child. He also has an affliction which terrifies these two men: an eye which is permanently open, thereby never allowing them to know if he is really asleep or just faking it--something which he does with regularity to scare them...letting them take off and then meeting up with them just as they feel they have escaped from him. A tense thriller skillfully directed by the only female director of the time, Ida Lupino, it is a suspenseful tale of terror on the highways. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Filmed on location in Mexico (one of several Hollywood-financed films of the 1950s to take advantage of the lower production and labor costs south of the border), One Big Affair stars Evelyn Keyes as Jean Harper, a scatter-brained American schoolteacher and Dennis O'Keefe as Jimmy Donovan, a stateside lawyer. When Jean is separated from her tour group, it is assumed that she's been kidnapped. In fact, she has fallen in love with fellow tourist Donovan, and has joined him in his journey to Acapulco. The local constabulary refuse to believe that Donovan isn't a kidnapper, and a zany chase across Mexico ensues. One Big Affair was produced by the estimable Benedict Bogaeus, on the verge of his lucrative association with RKO Radio, and director Allan Dwan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mel Ferrer and Anthony Quinn are perfectly cast in The Brave Bulls. Ferrer plays a star matador who is the idol of the crowds, an image carefully cultivated by Quinn, his manager. The matador is unbeatable until the woman he loves (Miroslava) perishes in an auto accident. Wracked by guilt and self-doubt, Ferrer is gored in his next battle. The rest of the film traces Ferrer's slow and torturous regaining of his courage. Based on the novel by Tom Lea, The Brave Bulls manages to convey the euphoria and blood-lust of the aficionados without offending the sensibilities of the Hollywood censors. The film's greatest asset is the gut-wrenching camera work by James Wong Howe and Floyd Crosby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This crime melodrama with humorous undertones involves the investigation of dope smugglers on the Mexican border. Americans Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor enter the scene and find themselves embroiled in the illicit activities. Both are government agents, but each one thinks the other is a crook. The real bad guy is Raymond Burr, head of the smuggling ring. At one point, MacMurray and Trevor must pretend to be husband and wife, which weakens their mutual mistrust. Eventually, MacMurray and Trevor sort out the heroes from the villains, and the dope ring is scuttled...at least for the time being. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As far removed from a "typical" MGM picture as it was possible to get back in 1949, Border Incident is a gritty, realistic crime melodrama. The story concerns the efforts by both the Mexican and American governments to stop the smuggling of Mexican migrant workers across the border. Representing Mexico is special agent Pablo Rodriguez (Ricardo Montalban), while Jack Bearnes (George Murphy) works on behalf of the US. Screenwriter John C. Higgins and producer/director Anthony Mann refuse to pull any punches, as witness the surprising mid-film murder of one of the major characters. Highlights include a harrowing episode involving a plowing machine and a climactic shootout in a quicksand swamp. The uniformly well-chosen supporting cast includes Howard da Silva, Arnold Moss, Alfonso Bedoya and Charles McGraw, "film noir" veterans all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As Cold-War melodramas go, Sofia goes pretty well. Set in a backlot version of Turkey, the film stars Gene Raymond as former OSS man Steve Roark. Assigned to rescue two atomic scientists from Russia and spirit them across the Iron Curtain, Steve discovers that one of the scientists is his ex-lover Linda Carlsen (Sigrid Gurie). Meanwhile, sultry cabaret singer-turned-spy Magda Onescu (Patricia Morison) offers her services to both the Allies and the Communists, hoping to be financially renumerated by both sides (Guess how she ends up?) Some of the espionage techniques are amusing, especially when the rascally Russians are so easily fooled by the simplest subterfuges. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Huston's 1948 treasure-hunt classic begins as drifter Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), down and out in Tampico, Mexico, impulsively spends his last bit of dough on a lottery ticket. Later on, Dobbs and fellow indigent Curtin (Tim Holt) seek shelter in a cheap flophouse and meet Howard (Walter Huston), a toothless, garrulous old coot who regales them with stories about prospecting for gold. Forcibly collecting their pay from their shifty boss, Dobbs and Curtin combine this money with Dobbs's unexpected windfall from a lottery ticket and, together with Howard, buy the tools for a prospecting expedition. Dobbs has pledged that anything they dig up will be split three ways, but Howard, who's heard that song before, doesn't quite swallow this. As the gold is mined and measured, Dobbs grows increasingly paranoid and distrustful, and the men gradually turn against each other on the way toward a bitterly ironic conclusion. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a superior morality play and one of the best movie treatments of the corrosiveness of greed. Huston keeps a typically light and entertaining touch despite the strong theme, for which he won Oscars for both Director and Screenplay, as well as a supporting award for his father Walter, making Walter, John, and Anjelica Huston the only three generations of one family all to win Oscars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide