Bandolero!

A quiet one, soft spoken, prouder, it' were the main personal characteristics of Jimmy Stewart from their characters whom he portraits in a overlong career, this turn wasn't distinct, he played in same way, after to know that his brother is about to hanging, he took place of the real hangman and avoid the whole gang to be hang on the gallows, they escape and take a Widow (Raquel Welch) as hostage, before it Mace finds appropriate to steal a Bank, quickly the Sheriff (Kennedy) and a posse pursuing them across the border at Mexico territory, meanwhile Mace reachs the Dee's gang, all sort of crooks we can imagine are there, anyway reading some comments here trying figure out if Mace did kill the hangman, absolutely not!!! According Mice's reaction when Pop Chaney implies about his father was enough to understanding how proud he was concerning over him, a decent production that Jimmy made with emphasis!!! Resume: First watch: 2007 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5

This is a pretty entertaining movie - not one of the best westerns any of these actors ever made, but it's always fun to watch Jimmy Stewart and George Kennedy do their thing. Dean Martin isn't bad, Raquel Welch looks great, but at this point she still needed to expand her talent. Entertaining plot, decent action, but the thing I think is most interesting are the names of three of the characters: The sheriff is July Johnson and his deputy's name is Roscoe, and the main villain's name is Dee, all names used in the same way in the great TV movie Lonesome Dove.

This western is for me the best of Andy McLaglen, a mix up very well done between humor and tragedy, action and character study. This film made in the late sixties, remains in the pure fifties tradition, as the rest of the movies Vic Mc Laglen's son directed. You could have found John Wayne here. But the highlight in here is the first half hour, when you wonder who Jimmy Stewart's character is. Then you have the surprise to find out that he is the brother of Dean Martin's. I find this scheme very intellligent and very rare in a film. Finding out late who a character is has always interested me. The overall topic bank robbery at the beginning and then the bunch of outlaws fighting against a huge herd of Mexican bandits reminds me Sam peckinpah's WILD BUNCH, made one year later.

Western about bank-robbing brothers in small Texas town benefits from some surprisingly violent action and an improbable but watchable cast. James Stewart rarely plays the bad guy, but he's acceptable here saving brother Dean Martin (!) from hanging. They kidnap Raquel Welch, the heavily-accented Spanish widow of a man slain in Dean's latest robbery, and take it on the lam, followed by good-hearted sheriff George Kennedy. A bloody attack by Mexican bandits--the bandoleros of the title--is vicious, though the rest of the film suffers from a lack of energy. Stewart and Martin are unlikely siblings, but they're old pros and know how to make scenes work between them; Welch, on the other hand, needs a strong director to scale down her impulses to overact, but director Andrew V. McLaglen doesn't have that knack (he's more concerned with set-pieces than with intimate scenes driven by the characters). A $12M box-office hit in its time, now a forgotten vehicle for the stars. ** from ****

Mace Bishop (James Stewart) masquerades as a hangman in order to save his outlaw brother from the gallows, runs to Mexico chased by the sheriff's posse and fights against Mexican bandits. The film was shot at the Alamo Village, the movie set originally created for John Wayne's "The Alamo". The Alamo Village is located north of Brackettville, Texas. I wonder how many film sets were strewn about the desert over the years. Of course, many were reused, but with how many westerns were made, it seemed there must have been a lot of small villages going up. Say what you will, but I think James Stewart made the best westerns. John Wayne was a bigger star of the genre and Clint Eastwood picked up Wayne's place later... but James Stewart just has a presence about him, no matter what he was doing, he made you want to watch it.

Without comparing it to any of the acknowledged "greats" or even better westerns any of the stars made, "Bandolero" is a satisfying movie - interesting enough story with a bit of a humorous twist, well-mounted, beautifully shot, and everybody involved does their customary good job. If it drags a bit in some of the campfire scenes, it makes up for it in the action scenes. Must single out Rudy Diaz, who plays the chief Mexican bandit, as making a particularly vivid impression in his few scenes. Oh, I almost forgot, another rousing Jerry Goldsmith score worth owning on its own account. What more can you ask, seeing great guys like Jimmy, Dean, George, Harry Carey & Co., and of course Raquel, going thru long-practiced paces they knew so well by this time?

Can a decent western be made without John Wayne? You're darn tootin' pard. James Stewart takes on the identity of a hangman, in order to free a gang of outlaws gravitating around his brother(Dean Martin). This outfit of misfits take a beautiful woman(Raquel Welch)in tow as they try to get to the Mexican border before Sheriff George Kennedy and his posse. The sheriff is not overly concerned about the bad guys being on the run as much as his woman being their hostage. There is some great Utah scenery and a slew of talented supporting stars...the likes of: Will Geer, Andrew Prine, Denver Pyle and Harry Carey Jr. Wayne never shows up for this one and Martin doesn't sing. But there is one hell of a shootout to make BANDOLERO! a watchable western.

Contrary to the opinions of some reviewers, amateur and professional, Mace Bishop (Jimmy Stewart) does not murder the hangman Ossie Grimes (Guy Raymond) in order to steal his garb and take his place. A check of James Lee Barret's movie script clears this up, revealing a scene unfortunately cut from the film. At the end of their seemingly convivial trailside meeting, Mace suddenly draws his gun. Mace: "I'm afraid I'm going to have to impose a little more on your hospitality, Mr. Grimes, but I imagine a man who loves life as much as you do will get over it." Ossie Grimes: "I don't understand." Mace: "You don't have to. I'm taking your ropes, your horse and your clothes." Ossie Grimes: "That don't leave me much, does it, friend?" Mace: "It leaves you naked and afoot. There'll be a stage by here in two days. Now, let's get 'em off." (As the camera fades into the next scene.) ...and Ossie Grimes went on to have a wonderful life as a farmhand on the cast of "Green Acres".