Valdez (film)

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Movie
German title Valdez
Original title Valdez is coming
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1971
length 86 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Edwin Sherin
script Roland Kibbee
David Rayfiel
Elmore Leonard (novel)
production Ira Steiner
music Charles Gross
camera Gábor Pogány
cut James T. Heckert
George Rohrs
occupation

Valdez (Original title: Valdez Is Coming ) is an American film from 1971 based on a novel by Elmore Leonard . Directed by Edwin Sherin , the script was written by Roland Kibbee and David Rayfiel . Burt Lancaster played the lead role.

action

Bob Valdez, an aging Mexican and former scout in the US Army , is an auxiliary policeman and accompanies stagecoaches to ensure their safety. The carriage meets armed men who, under the command of the unscrupulous gun handler and landowner Frank Tanner, bombard a log cabin where Rincon, a black man, and his pregnant wife, an Apachin , are entrenched. Tanner accuses Rincon of murdering his lover's husband, Gay Erin. Bob tries to end the shooting. He goes to the log cabin to negotiate. Rincon exchanges words and claims that he is not the person he is looking for, that is evident from the papers on his car. When Bob is looking for the papers, Davis, one of Tanner's men, shoots at the open door of the log cabin. Rincon thinks Bob shot and fires at him. Bob has to defend himself, shoots back and kills Rincon, who, it turns out, is not the wanted killer.

Bob Valdez buries Rincon and brings the widow to his Mexican friend Diego. Then he rides into town, where he asks for financial support for the Apachin to make a living on the reservation. Some of Tanner's dependent businessmen offer him $ 100 on condition that Tanner also contribute $ 100. Bob visits Tanner in the midst of his gunslingers and asks for the sum for the widow of the wrongly killed black man. They chase him off the hacienda. When he calls a second time, they tie a cross on his back and drive him into the desert. Davis rides after him and mocks him. He will later claim to have freed Bob from his cross. Valdez manages to get through to Diego.

The pleading, humble and therefore underestimated Valdez turns into a man who demands and is now ready to enforce his demand by force. He puts on his old army uniform, arms himself, and rides to see Tanner a third time. He orders an outpost to report to Tanner that “Valdez is coming” (hence the original title). Although Tanner has been warned and is making preparations, Bob manages to get to him. He demands the return of $ 100. El Segundo (Tanner's foreman) notices the attack and helps his boss. Valdez only knows how to save himself by taking Gay hostage and fleeing. To find out Bob's whereabouts, the gang leader has Diego tortured and his house burned down. Bob sees the smoke from his hiding place. Although he expects an ambush, he approaches the burned-down property, kills three of those who should kill him, takes Davis prisoner and escapes with the two hostages into the mountains. At first he can shake off the pursuers because he is equipped with binoculars and a sniper rifle. He releases Davis and sends him a message to Tanner: $ 100 for gay life.

Bob is flanked in the mountains in heavy fog and faces Tanner's overwhelming power. Gay, who is now staying with Bob voluntarily (after admitting to having killed her husband herself), refuses to return to Tanner. Tanner orders El Segundo to shoot Bob. El Segundo, however, resigns Tanner with the remark "is not my wife" because he has learned to appreciate the courage of his opponent and has seen that Bob's claim for money is justified and - had it been met in time - would have spared eleven lives. Bob Valdez advises Tanner to pay $ 100 or shoot himself. In this undecided situation, the actual film plot ends and the credits follow. At the end of it, you can hear two more shots, the latter being louder and having a distinctive reverberation, which suggests the outcome of the duel between Tanner and Valdez.

background

  • 'Valdez' is the first feature film by Edwin Sherin, known as Broadway director
  • The film was shot in Spain
  • The action takes place in Arizona, County Santa Cruz, near the La Noria coaching inn, founded in 1880

Reviews

  • “In 'Valdez', Burt Lancaster impressively embodies an aging Mexican during the American pioneering days who is changing from a crouched deputy to a dogged fighter for justice. Director Edwin Sherin's plea for justice sometimes describes the clash of different mentalities quite blatantly. ”Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger
  • “The story actually offers ideal conditions to give a detailed description of the colorful mix of peoples in America at the end of the 19th century. The conflict between the races, however, only serves as a pretext to let a chain of brutalities in the style of the spaghetti westerns flow into the plot. ”TV-Spielfilm, Das Grosse Filmlexikon

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