Allá en el Rancho Grande

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Movie
Original title Allá en el Rancho Grande
Country of production Mexico
original language Spanish
Publishing year 1936
length 95 minutes
Rod
Director Fernando de Fuentes
script Fernando de Fuentes (screenplay)
Antonio Guzmán Aguilera (story and screenplay)
Luz Guzmán de Arellano (story)
production Fernando de Fuentes
Alfonso Rivas Bustamante
music Lorenzo Barcelata
camera Gabriel Figueroa
cut Fernando de Fuentes
occupation

Allá en el Rancho Grande is a drama by the Mexican director Fernando de Fuentes from 1936. The film, shot in the style of a western, tells of relationship problems, with the owner of a ranch, his friend who acts as a guardian and an attractive orphan at the center. The surprise hit of 1936 takes place in a rural setting and captures typically Mexican images. What is specific to the country is also evident in the fact that it is not cowboys as shown in American westerns, but Mexican charros . The film is also characterized by a multitude of musical interludes, of which the folk song Allá en el Rancho Grande , sung by Tito Guízar , has achieved great fame. Allá en el Rancho Grande was the first Mexican film to be successful abroad. It is one of the most popular works by de Fuentes and founded the subgenre of Comedia ranchera .

action

The action takes place to a large extent on a "Rancho Grande" in the vicinity of San Onofre (no exact localization - there are four municipalities with this name in Mexico, although San Onofre in the northern state of Chihuahua can be assumed as the stake for a horse duel is to be paid in dollars according to a poster, which would make little sense deep inland). At the local hacienda , owner Don Rosendo (Noriega) learns that the widowed mother Marcelina Ruelas (Camarillo) is seriously ill on the neighboring "Rancho Chico". In fact, she is dying and entrusts her three children - José Francisco (Alemán), Eulalia and the orphan "Cruz" (Ávila) - their godmother Ángela (Roldán). She lives with the drunkard Florentino (López) more badly than right, but as an employee of the "Rancho Grande" has a decent income. Don Rosendo encourages his son Felipe (Núñez) to become friends with José Francisco. When the two grew up, this solidarity led to Don Felipe (Cardona) - now running the ranch for his deceased father - making José Francisco (Guízar) the overseer ("caporal") and thus the most important employee.

Eulalia (Cortés) and "Cruz" (Fernández) have also grown into beautiful young women; however, Ángela treats the latter less like a family than a kind of maid. At first things go their halfway orderly course. Don Nabor Peña ( Alfonso Sánchez Tello ) manages the "Rancho Chico" and also takes care of Eulalia. Florentino still drinks, and especially likes, in the general store (serving alcohol) owned by Don Venancio ( Hernán Vera ), but also shows a heart for the somewhat neglected "Cruz". And with all their work, the ranch superiors also have time for the local amusements; so will u. a. scheduled a cockfight with the rival animal of a "Real Minero". But before it can finally start after a long musical "prelude", a representative of the opponent senses fraud and insults Don Felipe, who then strikes offended. As he falls, Don Nicho ( David Valle González ) pulls a pistol and José Francisco, who rushes at him, receives the bullet. His life can only be saved with a blood transfusion, which Felipe takes for granted.

José Francisco has been secretly in love with "Cruz" for a long time, but the amorous things develop a little differently. So Ángela wants to remove the orphan from Florentino's influence and would like to see her as Felipe's wife. Although he has a relaxed relationship with the equally attractive Margarita, he tries to get closer to him while his supervisor is absent - who is at the "Rancho Chico" for the horse duel mentioned above. This fails, but two security guards from the ranch watch the mess and draw wrong conclusions, which almost leads to disaster. Because when José Francisco returns as the celebrated winner and proudly announces in the Venancios pub his soon to be union with "Cruz", he gets astonished looks, and a charro named Martín (Barcelata), who previously expressed an interest in the orphan, particularly teases in the context of a singing duel violently; Only now does José Francisco realize that there could actually be something to the rumor about "Cruz" and Don Felipe, and is determined to clarify the matter - with the weapon if necessary. The alarmed Don Felipe goes to meet his supervisor, who actually points a revolver at him ... only the begging "Cruz" can smooth things over, and the "Rancho Grande" owner treats the friend to the beautiful bride. The film ends with a quadruple wedding: In addition to the protagonist couple, Don Nabor and Eulalia, Don Felipe and Margarita as well as Florentino and Ángela are married.

background

Tito Guízar sang Allá en el Rancho Grande in the film of the same name in 1936. It is a well-known folk song that was sung by various performers and was very popular.

Fernando de Fuentes published the film Allá en el Rancho Grande as a follow-up to his revolutionary trilogy, in which he had published Vámonos con Pancho Villa , El compadre Mendoza and El prisionero trece . Despite their high artistic standards, these films were not particularly successful with audiences. Vámonos con Pancho Villa in 1935 even turned into a financial fiasco, so that the state had to step in with the financing. The love triangle told in Allá en el Rancho Grande was not entirely new to Mexican film, but it became special in the story written by Antonio Guzmán Aguilera and Luz Guzmán de Arellano , scripted by Guzmán Aguillera and de Fuentes humorously adapted. In Allá en el Rancho Grande , de Fuentes referred to the Hollywood westerns , but captured typical Mexican images and moods in his film. In addition, he did not copy the American cowboy , but referred to the Mexican charros . In doing so, he took account of the differences between cowboys and charro, who played completely different roles. The American cowboy was more associated with the conquest of the West, his own independence and standing up for the law, while the Charro was located in a hierarchical society and corresponded strongly to the role model of a macho . With this reference to Mexico, Fernando de Fuentes also showed other Mexican filmmakers the way to emancipate themselves from the adaptations of foreign films and topics and to make original Mexican films. With this film he also founded the Comedia ranchera genre , in which many more films on this subject were to follow. The following year, of the 37 films made in Mexico, over half were stories with local and rural elements.

Allá el en Rancho Grande was Fernando de Fuente's most successful film and also the first internationally successful film from Mexico. It was the director's most popular film and marked a turning point in the orientation of the Mexican film industry. De Fuentes, however, could no longer build on the quality of his earlier works. For leading actor Tito Guízar , the film meant the breakthrough and he also became known in the USA.

literature

  • Carl J. Mora, "Mexican Cinema: Reflections of a Society, 1896-2004: Reflections of a Society, 1896-2004." Mcfarland & Co Inc, 2005. ISBN 978-0786420834
  • David R. Maciel, Joanne Hershfield: "Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers." Sr Books, 1999. ISBN 978-0842026826
  • Andrea Noble: "Mexican National Cinema." Taylor & Francis, 2005. ISBN 978-0415230100

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carl J. Mora: "Mexican Cinema: Reflections of a Society, 1896-2004" Mcfarland & Co Inc, 2005. Page 43.
  2. ^ Carl J. Mora: "Mexican Cinema: Reflections of a Society, 1896-2004." Mcfarland & Co Inc, 2005. Page 45.
  3. ^ Carl J. Mora: "Mexican Cinema: Reflections of a Society, 1896-2004." Mcfarland & Co Inc, 2005. page 46.
  4. ^ Carl J. Mora: "Mexican Cinema: Reflections of a Society, 1896-2004." Mcfarland & Co Inc, 2005. Page 47.
  5. ^ Andrea Noble, "Mexican National Cinema." Taylor & Francis, 2005. pp. 14.