''Bandolero!'' is a 1968 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring James Stewart,

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

Raquel Welch Jo Raquel Welch ( Tejada; September 5, 1940) is an American actress. She first won attention for her role in ''Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer ...

and

George Kennedy George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academ ...

. The story centers on two brothers on the run from a posse, led by a local sheriff who wants to arrest the runaways and free a hostage that they took along the way. They head into the wrong territory, which is controlled by "Bandoleros".

Plot

Posing as a hangman, Mace Bishop arrives in the Texas town of Val Verde with the intention of freeing his brother Dee from the gallows. Dee and his gang have been arrested for a bank robbery in which Maria Stoner's husband was killed by gang member Babe Jenkins. After freeing his brother, Mace successfully robs the bank on his own after the gang has fled with the posse in pursuit. Dee has taken Maria as a hostage after they come across her wagon, during which gang member Pop Chaney shoots and kills the man escorting Maria. The posse, led by local sheriff July Johnson and deputy Roscoe Bookbinder, chases the fugitives across the Mexican border into territory policed by bandoleros, whom Maria describes as men out to kill any

gringo ''Gringo'' (, , ) (masculine) (or ''gringa'' (feminine)) is a term in Spanish and Portuguese for a foreigner, usually an English-speaking Anglo-American. There are differences in meaning depending on region and country. In Latin America, it is ...

s (foreigners) that they can find. Maria further warns Dee that the sheriff will follow, because they have taken the one thing that he has always wanted: her. Despite initial protestations, Maria falls for Dee after he protects her from the others, and finds herself in a quandary. She had never felt anything for the sheriff, nor for her husband, who had purchased her from her family. The posse tracks them to an abandoned town and captures the gang. The bandoleros also arrive, shooting and killing Roscoe, so the sheriff releases the outlaws so that the men can fight back in defense. In this final showdown, almost everyone is killed. Dee is fatally stabbed by the leader of the bandits, El Jefe, after Dee savagely beats him when he attempts to rape Maria. Then Mace is shot by another. Babe and gang member Robbie O'Hare die after killing several bandoleros. Pop Chaney is killed while going after the money Mace stole, and his son Joe dies after trying to rescue him. Maria grabs Dee's pistol and shoots El Jefe dead, sending the now leaderless bandoleros into full retreat. Maria professes her love to Dee and finally kisses him before he dies. Mace returns the money to sheriff Johnson, and then falls dead due to his wound. Maria and the sheriff, with little left of the posse, bury the Bishop brothers and dead posse members, after which Maria remarks that no one will know who was there. They then begin the ride back to Texas.

Cast

* James Stewart as Mace Bishop *

as Dee Bishop *

as Maria Stoner *

as Sheriff July Johnson * Andrew Prine as Deputy Sheriff Roscoe Bookbinder * Will Geer as Pop Chaney * Clint Ritchie as Babe Jenkins *

Denver Pyle Denver Dell Pyle (May 11, 1920 – December 25, 1997) was an American film and television actor and director. He was well known for a number of TV roles from the 1960s through the 1980s, including his portrayal of Briscoe Darling Jr. in s ...

as Muncie Carter * Tom Heaton as Joe Chaney * Rudy Diaz as Angel * Sean McClory as Robbie O'Hare * Harry Carey, Jr. as Cort Hayjack (as Harry Carey) * Don "Red" Barry as Jack Hawkins (as Donald Barry) * Guy Raymond as Ossie Grimes * Perry Lopez as Frisco * Jock Mahoney as Stoner *

Dub Taylor Walter Clarence "Dub" Taylor Jr. (February 26, 1907 – October 3, 1994),Dub Taylor, 87, Actor in Westerns, The New York Times, October 5, 1994, Section B, Page 12 was an American character actor who from the 1940s into the 1990s worked extens ...

as Attendant * Big John Hamilton as Bank Customer * Robert Adler as Ross Harper (as Bob Adler) *

John Mitchum John Mitchum (September 6, 1919 – November 29, 2001) was an American actor from the 1940s to the 1970s in film and television. The younger brother of the actor Robert Mitchum, he was credited as Jack Mitchum early in his career. Early years ...

as Bath House Customer * Patrick Cranshaw as Bank Clerk (as Joseph Patrick Cranshaw) *

Roy Barcroft Roy Barcroft (born Howard Harold Ravenscroft; September 7, 1902 – November 28, 1969) was an American character actor famous for playing villains in B-Westerns and other genres. From 1937 to 1957, he appeared in more than 300 films for R ...

as Bartender

Production

The film was originally known as ''Mace''. The film was shot at the Alamo Village, the movie set originally created for John Wayne's ''

The Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Anto ...

''. The Alamo Village is located north of Brackettville, Texas. The location closed in 2009 after remaining open to movie companies and the public since 1960. Parts of the film were also shot at

Kanab Kanab ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Utah, United States.Find a County
". ''N ...

Canyon and Glen Canyon in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

Larry McMurtry Larry Jeff McMurtry (June 3, 1936March 25, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas.

, the author of the novel '' Lonesome Dove'', reportedly paid homage to ''Bandolero!'' by using similar names for the characters in his book. Both tales begin near the

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

border and involve bandoleros. Both have a sheriff named July Johnson and a deputy Roscoe who travel a great distance in search of a wanted criminal and the woman who has rejected the sheriff's love. Both stories have a charismatic outlaw named Dee, who is about to be hanged and who wins the love of the woman before he dies. In the ''Lonesome Dove'' miniseries, the main characters twice pass directly in front of the Alamo—or at least a set built to replicate the Alamo. Raquel Welch later said of her performance, "No one is going to shout, 'Wow it's Anne Bancroft all over again', but at least I'm not Miss Sexpot running around half naked all the time." "I think she's going to stack up all right", Stewart said of Welch.

Reception

''Bandolero!'' earned North American rentals of $5.5 million in 1968. According to Fox records the film required $10,200,000 in rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $8,800,000 so it was a loss for the studio. (Though, as usual, subsequent revenues from TV airings and home video sales eventually pushed it in the black.) Jerry Goldsmith's score was released as an LP by Project 3 Records, and years later multiple times on CD. Because of Martin's exclusive contract with

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

, all traces of him were removed from the cover, even the artwork; given that the album was strictly instrumental and his voice was never heard, this puzzled some people and struck those in the know as a rather extreme reaction.

References

External links