Tagline:
"To escape his past, he had to destroy it."
Plot:
In a scenario with all the makings of a wacky culture-clash comedy, if it weren't already a deadly serious Western, Terence Stamp plays a gringo adopted as a boy by a band of Mexican banditos—er, revolutionaries—led by Ricardo Montalban. Never fully accepted by his Mexican brethren, Stamp faces an identity crisis when Montalban leads a raiding party north of the Rio Grande. Should Stamp rape and pillage with his hermanos, or hang around and farm with kindhearted doctor Karl Malden and Malden's comely daughter Joanna Pettet? Sadly, at least for viewers' sake, he chooses the latter.
Key scenes:
Waking up naked in Malden's home after an injury, Stamp is greeted by Pettet saying, "We both undressed you. I've been a doctor's daughter my whole life. Seen more than one man in his natural state... The spectacle holds no surprises for me." Stamp doesn't speak for much of the film, perhaps hoping he won't have to explain how an American boy raised by Mexicans ended up with a London accent. This leaves Pettet and Malden to read his intentions into his gestures, as when Pettet spots Stamp plowing and shouts, "He's talkin', Pa! He's saying he wants to stay and work!"
Can easily be distinguished by:
Silvio Narizzano's shaky command of day-for-night photography makes much of the film look like it takes place just before a bad storm.
Sign that it was made in 1968: Montalban's gang looks like it could be on its way to a Jefferson Airplane concert.
Timeless message:
In spite of Stamp's late-film protests against racism, the message seems to be that it's best to stay the hell away from Mexicans.
Memorable quotes:
With full Wrath Of Khan bluster, Montalban informs Malden, "You! You can only look after dirt, because that is what you are!"
Available on DVD from Paramount.
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