The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez ***½ (1982, Edward James Olmos, James Gammon, Tom Bower) – Classic Movie Review 10,292

Edward James Olmos stars as Mexican-American farmer Gregorio Cortez, who kills a sheriff, evades capture and becomes a folk hero, in Robert M Young’s impressive, stirring 1982 Western film The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez. 

Director Robert M Young’s 1982 The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez is a highly impressive, stirring Western, originally made for TV but screened in cinemas, based on Américo Paredes’s novel With a Pistol in His Hand.

In the screenplay by Robert M Young and Victor Villaseñor, the powers-that-be (James Gammon as Sheriff Frank Fly, Brion James as Captain Rogers, Alan Vint as Mike Trimmell and Timothy Scott as Sheriff Morris, Michael McGuire as Sheriff Glover) form a huge posse to try to hunt down the sympathetic Mexican-American farmer cowboy-turned-outlaw Gregorio Cortez (Edward James Olmos) as part of their campaign to bring law to the troubled Tex-Mex border in the very early 1900s. He has been accused of murdering a lawman in 1901 Texas.

The estimable Olmos gives a notable lead performance, Gammon is also excellent, and this good-looking film is full of powerful moments, commandingly handled by Young. Bruce McGill plays Reporter Blakely, a reporter following the posse, and Barry Corbin plays B R Abernathy, the lawyer who takes on Cortez’s case.

The special music is composed and adapted by Edward James Olmos. It is beautifully shot by Reynaldo Villalobos.

The fine cast also include Tom Bower, Bruce McGill, Brion James, Alan Vint, Barry Corbin, Timothy Scott, Pepe Serna, Michael McGuire, William Sanderson, Jack Kehoe, Rosanna DeSoto and Ned Beatty.

It has a limited release in 1982, followed by screening at the USA Film Festival on May 4, 1983 and a release in the US 0n August 19, 1983.

The film was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016 and was selected in 2022 for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez is directed by Robert M Young, runs 106 minutes, is made by American Playhouse Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Filmhaus Productions, Moctesuma Esparza Productions, NCLR and National Endowment for the Humanities, is distributed by Embassy Pictures, is written by Victor Villaseñor and Robert M Young, based on With His Pistol in His Hand by Américo Paredes, is shot by Reynaldo Villalobos, is produced by Moctesuma Esparza and Michael Hausman, and is scored by W Michael Lewis and Edward James Olmos.

The cast are Edward James Olmos as Gregorio Cortez, Victoria Plata as Carmen Cortez, James Gammon as Frank Fly, Tom Bower as Boone Choate, Bruce McGill as Reporter Blakely, Brion James as Captain Rogers, Alan Vint as Mike Trimmell, Timothy Scott as Sheriff Morris, Pepe Serna as Romaldo Cortez, Michael McGuire as Sheriff Glover, William Sanderson as Cowboy, Barry Corbin as B R Abernathy, Jack Kehoe as Prosecutor Pierson, Rosanna DeSoto as Carlota Muñoz and Ned Beatty as Lynch Mob Leader.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,292

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