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Such a frustrating disappointment

How sad is this?

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It always strikes me as odd when a well known and celebrated white actor is given a Mexican or Indian role in a Western. It seems like the man's celebrity overwhelms the characterization to a distracting degree. Other examples would be Paul Newman as "Hombre" (1967) and Chuck Connors as "Geronimo" (1962). I guess it was customary for the era, and for the most part the actors made it work, but the idea always jolts me just a little bit.There's another thing with Burt Lancaster here to go along with the above. When Bob Valdez (why not Roberto?) puts on his former Apache-hunting military garb, he looked like the exact spitting image of character actor John Dehner. If you don't know him or can't picture Dehner right off, the next time he shows up in a Western you're watching, you're going to go hey, that looks like Burt Lancaster from "Valdez is Coming"; I guarantee it.I guess you'd have to call this a revenge Western of sorts after Valdez is entrapped into shooting an innocent black man for a propertied, belligerent rancher. Speaking of resemblances, didn't Jon Cypher look a little like Warren Beatty portraying Frank Tanner? Tanner was one of these arrogant know-all types who refuses to share compensation for the pregnant widow of the man killed by Valdez. If you tally up the damage done for the sake of a hundred dollars, even by late 1800's standards, you'd have to say the C-note would have been a bargain at half the cost. Tanner's woman Gay Erin (Susan Clark) described him best - "Sometimes you're human. Sometimes." A unique element in the story that I hadn't seen before had to do with the 'crucifixion' of Valdez at the hands of Tanner's henchmen. The makeshift cross tied to his back carried just enough symbolism to suggest that Valdez would earn his redemption the hard way. Eleven dead men later and his mission would be complete.

Probably a very low budget film but a great script and a good job of acting by many of the cast. I came away with a deep appreciation for this film.Burt delivers a surprising well covered Mexican character portrayal as do many of the cast. This is a story about power and ego. The plot centers around justice in a wild west and who has the power can be quite corrupt. The story deals with a last stand by Valdez to make right a wrong. A bit of David and Goliath with Valdez proving that he still has his finally tuned talents from his years of Indian Scouting. I truly liked this movie because it was believable and honest about the pride of a man determined to make things right.Perhaps somebody in Hollywood has the good sense to try a remake, since that seems to be common play these days. I'd like to see what modern movie industry could do.

Fundamentally a revenge Western, not too badly done, but with considerable built-in illogic. The humble, wheezing old local sheriff, Lancaster, is tricked into shooting a man by the evil boss man Jon Cypher. The deferential Lancaster begs one hundred dollars from Cypher for the innocent dead man's window. Cypher and the gang laugh at him and shoot holes in the wall against which he's standing. Lancaster pursues the matter and Cypher's gang beat him and tie him to a crucifix and send him off stumbling through the forest to die. Well -- he doesn't die. How COULD he die? If he did -- or even if he were merely disabled for life -- the title of the movie wouldn't be "Valdez is Coming." It wouldn't even be "Valdez is Going." As it is, Lancaster recovers from his near-death experience with the help of humble Mexican farmer Frank Silvera and his taciturn family. Then, Cypher and his group had better look out because Valdez is definitely coming. He digs out his old uniform and weapons from the time he was a cavalry trooper, hits and runs, kidnaps Tanner's girl friend, Susan Clark, and finally get the one hundred dollars for the widow.Frank Silvera's part isn't a big one but he's great at playing Mexicans. He was the gunslinger who finally offed Paul Newman in "Apache." He's played African-Americans and Tahitians. He LOOKS ethnic. His father was a Spanish Jew and his mother was Jamaican. A marvelously reassuring performance.Susan Clark is fine. She has deep-set blue eyes and thin but sensuous lips, the upper one the same shape and size as the lower one. I wouldn't mind kidnapping her myself.Lancaster is Lancaster. He was fifty when this was shot and still running and hopping around doing some of his own action scenes. My God, he was fit. His Spanish accent isn't bad but he really ought to stay away from dialects.I don't know who is responsible for casting and make ups but the director should really have brought some of them up short. The head of Cypher's gang is played by Barton Heyman. His appearance is ludicrous and he's on screen often. First, his face is too dark for a Mexican or Mestizo, emphasizing his startling blue eyes. Next, he's balding and yet make up has given him the kind of long bushy hair combed back that was fashionable among rock stars in 1970, when this was shot. And they've topped it off with a set of mutton chop whiskers that turn him into a simulacrum of Frank Zappa or somebody. I don't like to carry on about what ought to be a minor problem like this but every time the guy appears, it's as if a gong had been rung and a big red sign flashed on the screen -- "1970".At the end -- lookout, a spoiler -- Cypher and his gang have trapped the unarmed Lancaster and his captive Clark. Clark has decided to abandon Cypher and leave with Lancaster. Cypher orders the gang to shoot Lancaster. One of the gang has developed respect for Lancaster and refuses. Bart Heyman grins through his ridiculous mustache and hollers, "She is not MY woman!" Cypher himself hasn't the guts to do it. Lancaster gets his one hundred dollars.It's not a bad movie. It's merely rather routine. But it is fun to see Lancaster unlimber his Sharps carbine and shoot half a dozen bad guys at a distance over a mile. Those bad guys were colleagues and friends of Heyman's gang -- you know, the gang that refused to kill Lancaster because they had no motive for doing so? Cue the deus ex machina.

Valdez is more a symbol of conscience!Burt Lancaster—at that time 57 years old—in fact dominates the film by a mystic presence, rather than actually being on screen for any length of time…The bulk of the film constitutes a battle of wits and guns between Valdez and an extremely stubborn leader of a band of trigger-happy gun-slingers… So when Frank Tanner (John Cypher) provokes a shoot-out which results in the death of an innocent man, Valdez asks $100 compensation from Tanner to provide financial support for his pregnant widow… Tanner not only refuses, but humiliates Valdez and orders his hired gunmen to beat him hardly, to tie him to a cross, and to drive him out of his place… Again Spain locations represented the American frontier for this revenge tale about an aging former cavalry man who dusts off his old uniform, straps on his old guns, takes plenty of ammunition, and erupt a one-man army against a greedy, rotten, evil rancher and his henchmen to enforce justice at any cost…As the pursuers forge deeper into the wilderness, the situation shifts around with hunters becoming the hunted…Susan Clark (Gay) sides with Valdez without falling in love with him, while Barton Heyman (playing the chief henchman "El Segundo") provides his character with warmth and quality at a pivotal time