A meal for the vultures

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Movie
German title A meal for the vultures
Original title Two Mules for Sister Sara
Country of production United States ,
Mexico
original language English
Publishing year 1970
length 109 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Don Siegel
script Budd Boetticher (story)
Albert Maltz
production Carroll Case
Martin Rackin
music Ennio Morricone
camera Gabriel Figueroa
cut Juan José Marino
Robert F. Shugrue
occupation

A food for the vultures is a western by the American director Don Siegel .

action

Mexico in 1865: Hogan, a taciturn American mercenary , is on his horse alone in the desert. He saves the nun Sara from three men who want to rape her . A friendship develops between Hogan and Sara. Hogan finds Sara attractive, but respects her calling as a nun and refrains from advances. Both are interested in the destruction of the French garrison in Chihuahua . But while Sara has the freedom of the Mexicans in mind, Hogan is only interested in the gold of the French. When the two arrive in the garrison town, Hogan learns that Sara is actually working in the horizontal trade , which causes him a brief fit of anger. Both then fight on the side of the Mexican independence fighters against the French. The Mexicans enter the garrison through an underground tunnel with Hogan and Sara. Since Sara is wanted by the French because of her Juarista sympathies, Hogan gives her a sham to the commanding officer, so that both of them end up in the garrison. Hogan can support the rebels from within with dynamite and free prisoners. The fort is eventually captured. Hogan steals the pot of gold and has sex with Sara in the bathtub. In the final scene, the two of them ride away together, Sara in a striking red dress on a little mule , and this indicates the beginning of a not unproblematic relationship.

Remarks

Boetticher had actually written the story for his own film, which he wanted to realize with John Wayne and Silvia Pinal in the 1960s. When Boetticher got into a crisis, he was forced to sell the material.

Although the film was a US-Mexican co-production , borrowings from the Spaghetti Western cannot be overlooked. The cynicism as well as the special humor, the equipment and the story itself are clear evidence of this.

Leading actress Shirley MacLaine could n't do anything with her partner Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel, so she avoided contact with both of them outside of the shoot. With Siegel, she is said to have fought several open verbal battles.

Elizabeth Taylor originally wanted to play the role of Sara. She showed the script to Eastwood when he was shooting the film Agents Die Lonely in Austria in 1968 with her (then) husband Richard Burton . However, Paramount found the fee demanded by Taylor to be too high.

The film contains several anachronisms : The term "dynamite" used in the film was first invented in 1867 by Alfred Nobel . He applied for his patents on May 7, 1867 in England and on October 19, 1867 in Sweden. However, the film is set during the French intervention in Mexico , which took place between 1861 and 1866. In addition, all firearms shown in the film (Colt Single Action Army Revolver, Winchester 1873 Saddle Ring Carbine, Remington / Berthier Mle. 1907-15 Rifle, Gras Mle. 1874 Rifle, Springfield 1903 Rifle, Colt New Service Revolver, Remington Rolling Block Rifle and the Gatling Gun machine gun) only developed after 1866.

Two excerpts from Ennio Morricone's film music - The Braying Mule and Sister Sara's Theme - were later used in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained .

The film cost around $ 4 million and grossed about $ 4.7 million.

The film was shot near Tlayacapan in the Mexican state of Morelos .

Reviews

Joe Hembus wrote that the MacLaine-Eastwood partnership was "the only thing delightful about the film," with MacLaine clearly having the better role. Phil Hardy ruled the film was "a mistake", "a misstep" by both Eastwood and Siegel. The acting performance of MacLaine is "the biggest failure of the film". The evangelical film observer does not judge that badly : “The thin story is enriched with a number of imaginatively staged adventures, but then ends in the usual, non-binding, routinely filmed mass butchery. In spite of nice sequences, only moderately interesting on the whole. "

Awards

  • 1971: Laurel Award for Clint Eastwood for Best Action Performance
  • 1971: nominated for the Laurel Award for best female comedy performance (Shirley MacLaine)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Eliot, Marc American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood. Harmony Books 2009, ISBN 978-0-307-33688-0 . Pages 117-118
  2. Joe Hembus: Western Lexicon - 1272 films from 1894-1975. Carl Hanser Verlag Munich Vienna 2nd edition 1977. ISBN 3-446-12189-7 . P. 150
  3. ^ Phil Hardy: The Encyclopedia of Western Movies. Woodbury Press Minneapolis 1984. ISBN 0-8300-0405-X . P. 328
  4. Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 72/1970