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The Wonderful Country
Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father's murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss, strongman Governor Cipriano Castro. Brady breaks a leg and while recuperating in Texas the gun shipment is stolen. Complicating matters further the wife of local army major Colton has designs on him, and the local Texas Ranger captain makes him a generous offer to come back to the states and join his outfit. After killing a man in self-defense, Brady slips back over the border and confronts Castro who is not only unhappy that Brady has lost his gun shipment but is about to join forces with Colton to battle the local raiding Apache Indians.
Release : | 1959 |
Rating : | 6.1 |
Studio : | United Artists, D.R.M. Productions, |
Crew : | Production Design, Director of Photography, |
Cast : | Robert Mitchum Julie London Gary Merrill Albert Dekker Pedro Armendáriz |
Genre : | Western |
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Reviews
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
It occurred to me in the final minutes of the picture what the title might have been meant to represent - as Martin Brady (Robert Mitchum) makes his way across the Rio Grande from Mexico, his destination is the United States. Notwithstanding the dramatic desert scenery of his foster country, it's America where Brady will find some measure of freedom and liberty upon escaping the invisible noose of the Castro's. Fifty years removed from the original release of the picture, and without benefit of knowing to what extent politics played in the development of the story line, it's interesting to speculate about the film maker's use of the Castro name. It was in 1959 that Fidel Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba after a colorful history of insurrection and guerrilla warfare. The movie's Castro had a brother as well, while today, Raul Castro replaces his ailing brother at the helm of his island country.Whether my speculation holds any water or not, one thing I'm not buying is Brady's horse being spooked by a tumbleweed. Was that the first time he ever saw one? I lost a little credibility in the story at about that point; Brady could have broken his leg or been laid up in a more effective manner, perhaps a bar room brawl or a gunfight. But it did set him up as a sympathetic character for the admiration of Helen Colton (Julie London) and as a foil in Mrs. Colton's relationship with her husband (Gary Merrill).The genuine surprise in the picture for me was the appearance of the legendary Satchel Paige as a soldier in Colton's black regiment. How cool was that? It was Paige's only movie credit, and makes me curious as to how he was selected for the role. So there's another bit of historical trivia I'll have to scope out.Generally speaking, I found the picture to hold my interest well enough beyond the tumbleweed incident. Mitchum was a bit too droll in his portrayal to suit me, but he's certainly competent enough here as in other films I've seen him. It hadn't occurred to me before how much he resembles another celebrity of the era, Dean Martin. It makes me want to go out and get a copy of "Five Card Stud" in which they both appeared.
This is a decent if not great Western the ploughs the familiar western fields of redemption. Robert Mitchum is Martin Brady an American who has grown up in Mexico but whom is now back. We witness Brady getting used to his new surroundings and the unexpected knowledge that comes with them, yet we also see him come to terms with the fact that the Americans are just as scheming as the Mexicans they think themselves superior to. Mitchum does reasonably well in this part though he does have a rather strange accent. He gives a good account of a brooding man coming to terms with him self and the political machinery of life. Unfortunately the supporting cast do not fare so well but some of this may well be to do with the sparse two dimensional characters. Again the story or the script does nothing to particularly lift this movie but they are not terrible either. So at the end of the day would I watch this movie again? Probably not unless there really was no alternative viewing. If you're a fan of the western give the movie an additional star.
This film came as something of a surprise. I watched it because Alex Phillips was its cinematographer, but I quickly found myself noticing other things, like the character played by Robert Mitchum whose allegiances are seriously divided between the country of his birth and Mexico. In fact, the title makes one wonder which "Country" is supposed to be "Beautiful". Mitchum plays his role with absolute conviction, not at all like he's in between his usual film noir roles (even if he was).But the real star is the photography of Alex Phillips. The Mexican landscape, in Technicolor, never looked more beautiful AND authentic. It didn't take much to dress it up in period costume, since much of it still looks exactly as it did in the 19th century. Phillips had worked in Mexican films since the early 1930s, and had collaborated with Fernando de Fuentes, Emilio Fernandez, and Luis Bunuel."The Wonderful Country" also features Julie London in one of her last screen appearances before she disappeared into television. The film makes short-shrift of her, however, which may have simply been the result of the film's makers being dissatisfied with the love-interest sub-plot to begin with. That Robert Mitchum doesn't ride off into the sunset with her (he actually WALKS away from the camera, without his gun) is a credit to the film.
I think this movie is one of the better movies I'v seen and I have seen a lot of movies in my life time. I really like some of the lines in the movie. Like close to the end of the movie. They Martin Brady and Helen Colton are sanding next to the wall of a old mission talking to each other about what they had done. Helen make's the remark that she is ashame of the feelings she has for Brady knowing that her husband is not in the ground yet. Brady replies by saying what we did may have been wrong but the feelings they have for each other are not. Helen replies to him. Is'n it a pity then that life is what we do and not what we feel. At the last part when Brady had to shoot his horse named Tears. That got to me as I had a small dog and I loved her much. I had to put her down, her name was Tears. Maybe I'm just a old corn ball from the pass. But some movies and the words in them get inside of me. I like that. They will always be apart of me and my life.