An Exercise In Nonsense

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

Valdez is Coming is directed by Edward Sherin and adapted for the screen by Roland Kibbee and David Rayfiel from the novel of the same name written by Elmore Leonard. It stars Burt Lancaster, Susan Clark, Jon Cypher and Frank Silvera. Music is by Charles Gross and photography by Gábor Pogány. It's out of United Artists and shot in DeLuxe colour. Plot finds Lancaster as ageing town constable Bob Valdez, who after being forced into killing an innocent man, attempts to get compensation for the dead man's widow out of the townsfolk responsible for the events leading up to the shooting. This is met with a less than favourable response, particularly from crooked rancher Frank Tanner (Cypher), who although he is the most guilty party, takes umbrage to the suggestion and has Bob tied to a wooden cross and hounded out of town. But Bob will be back, he may be old and gentile in nature, but he's an experienced Indian fighter and a crack shot marksman. Watch out, Valdez is Coming.Solid if a little too ponderous at times, Valdez is Coming is sort of like an amalgamation of an American Oater and a Spaghetti Western. Filmed in southern Spain, at locations where master Italian director Sergio Leone shot many of his European Westerns, the film is the silver screen directing debut of Edward Sherin, who made his name as a director in American theatre and television. Whilst the direction is competent and the acting from Lancaster adds a complexity to the story, the picture almost seems to be trying too hard to make Leonard's source material work. The bigotry of men card is played very early on and from then on in everything is just too predictable, in fact were it not for Lancaster's screen presence the piece would fall well under average. The Christ-come-avenging angel motif is subtlety played by Lancaster, but tension is in short supply and action sequences few and far between. Somewhere in the cramped mix is a good film, one with something to say, a film desperately trying to make a dramatic thrust courtesy of a decent man on a mission narrative. Sadly it doesn't all come together, but thanks to Lancaster and a neat ending, it's not one to dismiss completely. 6/10Footnote: British cuts of the film offer a version missing some violent moments, suffice to say that if seeking the film out one should choose carefully.

While traveling protecting a stagecoach back to his town, the middle-aged Mexican-American Constable Bob Valdez (Burt Lancaster) witnesses a group of locals shooting on a cabin where a black man is trapped with his Indian pregnant wife, accused by the powerful Frank Tanner (Jon Cypher) of being the killer of the local Jim Erin. Valdez decides to talk to the man, and when he opens the door, the henchman R.L. Davis (Richard Jordan) shoots; the man believes it is a setup and shoots on Valdez, forcing the peace officer to kill him. Sooner they find that the victim was innocent and Valdez asks for one hundred dollars to Tanner to give to the widow. However, he is humiliated and nailed to a cross by Tanner's henchmen and sent back to the desert. He is miraculous saved by his Mexican friend Luis Diego (Frank Silvera) but recovers his health. Valdez retrieves his outfits and weapons from the time he was a professional shooter killing Apaches for the U.S. Cavalry and rides to Tanner's land. He hits one of his henchmen (Hector Elizondo) and sends him back to Tanner's farm with the advice that "Valdez is coming"."Valdez Is Coming" is an overrated western, with a good story of guilt and revenge, supported by magnificent performances. Unfortunately the last fifteen minutes and the open conclusion are absolutely disappointing, specially considering that R.L. Davis and El Segundo have burnt Luis Diego's house and hands and abused of his daughter. The make-up of American actors with blue eyes to become a cliché of Mexican people is quite ridiculous. The disrespect with the Catholic religion is quite out of the context of the plot. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Retorno de Valdez" ("The Return of Valdez")

At the summary states, this film truly made an unusual casting decision by casting Burt Lancaster as a Hispanic man. At first, this made me groan, but after a short time I realized that he did a pretty good job with the accent and there are many light-skinned Mexicans, so it wasn't too hard to believe this. The only negative about this is that the film is in many ways about race prejudice and you wonder if maybe casting an Anglo in such a role that it might be undermining the central message. Regardless, the film is several notches above the usual Western.It begins in the Old West with sheriff Lancaster being called in to arrest a man holed up in a shack with his odd woman. The man inside is killed by Lancaster and then it's discovered that the man was NOT the wanted man, but totally innocent. Lancaster feels bad about this and tries to take up a collection to help the lady but no one seems to care. In particular, the rich land owner who insisted the guy in the shack WAS guilty felt no compunction to help at all. This angered Lancaster, but the rich guy said that he could care less since the dead man was Black.The rest of the film consists of Lancaster spending the rest of the movie trying to force the rich guy to contribute his share. However, the rich guy responds by having Lancaster beaten and humiliated--and in the process unleashing retribution from Lancaster, who begins killing off the land owner's posse as they chase him across the Southwest.Despite the simplicity of the plot, the film never got dull nor did it seem overly preachy. Also, the film ended very well, though I don't want to spoil anything by saying more about it. An intelligently written script, good acting and direction make this film a winner.