Bandido! *** (1956, Robert Mitchum, Ursula Thiess, Gilbert Roland) – Classic Movie Review 10,297

Director Richard Fleischer’s handsome, action-filled 1916 Mexican revolutionary adventure film Bandido! (1956 ) stars Robert Mitchum as arms trader Wilson, who supplies weapons to rebel colonel José Escobar (Roland) and outsmarts rival gunrunner Kennedy (Zachary Scott).

A routine, all-too-familiar plot by Earl Felton (story and screenplay) is given complexity and depth by a handful of strong performances, while sturdy direction, eye-catching Mexican scenery, plush DeLuxe colour Cinemascope photography by Ernest Laszlo and a stirring score by Max Steiner offer important incidental pleasures that raise the film’s game.

Also in the cast are Ursula Thiess, Rodolfo Acosta, Henry Brandon, José Torvay, Douglas Fowley, Victor Junco, Margarito Luna, Alfonso Sânchez Tello, Alberto Pedret and Miguel Inclân.

It is shot on many of the battle sites of the 1916 Mexican revolution. Many extras were Pancho Villa’s former soldiers and others were ex-government troops.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,297

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