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Rating:
When a prison guard is killed during a breakout organized by the outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer is asked to hunt them down. The script works hard to show that Bonnie Parker was a trigger-happy, murderous psychotic in order to justify her death during the ambush at the end of the movie, which requires stretching and mutilating the facts. A personal project for screenwriter John Fusco, his determination to rehabilitate the image of Frank Hamer drives him to ignore the vital contribution made by many small-town sheriffs and FBI agents in order to transform Hamer into an super investigator. Read More…

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Robin of Locksley, a crusader, returns to England with a Muslim companion and finds himself leading a band of outlaws against a villainous sheriff who is scheming to take the throne. I think that the screenwriters did the least amount of historical research among all of the Robin Hood movies I have seen so far, which is saying a lot. Despite my many complaints, the film is mostly pleasant, if occasionally stupid, but too long. Regardless, Alan Rickman’s performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham is a must-see. Read More…

A podcast on The Devil’s Brood: Part I-The Anarchy. Read More…

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The soundtrack is good. The locations and period cars are great. Unfortunately, the dialogue is dull, and is not helped by the performance of the actors. Basically, I enjoyed the movie whenever no one was talking. Um, the best that I can say is that it is not horrible. At least, its weaknesses can be blamed on a low budget and a cast of amateurs, unlike far too many big-budget spectacles that are hard viewing. Read More…

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Sir Robert, earl of Huntington, a Saxon noble, offends a more powerful Norman noble and loses his lands, so he finds refuge in Sherwood Forest with a band of outlaws, adopting the name Robin. To his surprise, he finds himself leading a revolt against the Norman occupiers. A moderately accurate look at the period, it is an entertaining film with a number of strange but beautiful scenes. Read More…

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When the United States enters WWI, the son of a rich man enlists and his unit is based on a French farm where he falls for the farmer’s daughter. While the movie certainly does not glorify war, it is not a fast-paced story, and will probably only appeal to film buffs. Read More…

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Unlike the majority of movies about Robin Hood, Robin and Marian is basically a romance. With a lot of action. Director Richard Lester was comfortable with swashbucklers, having made The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974) and Royal Flash (1975), but while he kept the action and humor, he added more mature scenes, providing an honest portrayal of men who try to relive their glory days, unwilling to admit that their best days are behind them. Read More…

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Made the same year as Juarez with Bette Davis and Paul Muni, this version of Archduke Maximilian’s doomed reign as a French-supported emperor of Mexico is far inferior. The acting is stiff, even for 1939. Honestly, there is little reason for anyone to watch this movie, unless they feel compelled to see every movie on the Franco-Mexican War. Read More…

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Robin Hood gets drawn into a complex plot to assassinate the chancellor of England. There is not a lot of historical content, but it is a fun movie. Surprisingly for a Hammer film, there is almost no horror, aside from a creepy scene where the nuns recite the Lord’s Prayer. Read More…

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Gone To Texas is an astonishing faithful presentation of Sam Houston’s life, although the fictional version is a more dynamic individual than the real man. Sadly, while the script is surprisingly accurate, the acting is mediocre. Still, the miniseries is worth watching as a moderately entertaining history lesson, which is more than can be said about most of the movies on the Texan Revolution. Read More…

A podcast on the Texan Revolution (1835-1836)-Part II. Read More…

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Learning that King Richard was captured by Duke Leopold of Austria on his way home from the crusade, his brother John seizes the throne of England. However, his tyrannical rule is opposed by a revolt led by the astonishingly merry Robin of Locksley. While Errol Flynn was born to play the role of Robin Hood, the decision to switch directors during filming resulted in an uneven movie. Read More…

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The miniseries presents the history of Texas from the establishment of Stephen Austin’s first colony in 1823 to the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1846. Lacking the budget required to receate the battle of the Alamo, the producers simply re-used footage from John Wayne’s movie The Alamo. While the script deserves credit for showing the reaction of the native Tejanos to the American colonists, the acting makes the miniseries hard viewing. Read More…

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A British company commences a six-day rotation at the front in March 1918. The company’s section of the line has not seen any action for a year, but an attack is expected in the next few days, and a sense of dread builds among the officers and soldiers as they hear the German troop trains every night. Based on a play and filmed shortly after the introduction of sound, the original version was extremely talky, and focused almost entirely on the efforts of the company commander to cope with terror through copious consumption of whiskey. While keeping the basic story, this version has benefited greatly from the addition of many new scenes, making it one of the better movies on WWI. Read More…

A page listing all of the essays and movie reviews on the Texan Revolution (1835-1836). Read More…

A podcast on the Texan Revolution (1835-1836)-Part I. Read More…

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As the title says, the film examines the thirteen-day-long siege of the Alamo during the Texan Revolution. The best thing that I can say is that Raul Julia clearly had fun playing Santa Anna, more fun than I had watching the movie. At least, this version dreamed up some new inaccuracies. Honestly, it is better than several versions in the 1940 and 50s. Please do not misunderstand, I am not saying that it is good but there are worse. Read More…

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Prince John seizes control of England while King Richard is absent on crusade. Aware that the king would abandon the crusade if he knew, the earl of Huntington returns to England and becomes the robber chief Robin Hood to oppose John’s harsh rule. Although the movie was a grueling experience, the stunts are wicked, and worthy of Jackie Chan. To be fair, there is some history, but this is for silent film buffs only. Read More…

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The recent death of his heir forces King Henry II of England to re-arrange his succession plans, so he invites his two eldest sons Richard and Geoffrey, and his captive queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, as well as King Philip II of France, to spend Christmas with him, his youngest son John and his ward Alice, Philip’s half-sister. Compressing years of plotting into a single weekend, the movie is a correct description of the countless plots and revolts that produced numerous burned farms and dead peasants simply to improve the relative position of one family member. Read More…

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Even though it is called Robin Hood, I honestly have the impression that director Ridley Scott wanted to make a movie about England during WWII, since all of the men are away fighting in France, and everyone fears invasion. The story of an archer who convinces King John to sign a charter granting equal rights to all Englishmen, but becomes too popular and is declared an outlaw, the film is filled with an astonishing number of historical inaccuracies. In particular, the decision to transform a nasty squabble between two rival families over territory in Europe into a conflict between the English and the French produces a movie that has little to do with history. Read More…

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Focusing on the officers of a single British company on the front line line near the end of WWI, the script makes no effort to explain the overall strategic situation, choosing instead to present the officers’ struggle to remain sane. Based on a play, over-talkiness is to be expected, especially since sound was a recent addition to films, even so the actors’ delivery was hard to take. Although the film is noteworthy as an early look at the grinding effect that the nightmarish experience in the trenches had on soldiers, it is hard to watch, and suitable only for fans of early sound films and WWI buffs. Read More…

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Initially, three episodes that were shown as the Disney television miniseries Davy Crockett, the movie presents Crockett as a frontiersman, congressman and one of the defenders of the Alamo. Honestly, I was surprised, it’s not bad. Better than most movies on the Alamo, and it shows the full scope of Crockett’s eventful life. Read More…

A podcast on the Public Enemy Era (1933-1934). Read More…

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Six villagers join Pancho Villa’s army, and are named the Lions of La Plata. Initially bursting with optimism, the endless battles take a toll on them, both physically and emotionally. Villa’s army wins a number of battles, but each battle costs the life of a Lion until only one remains. Read More…

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The portrayal of the evacuation of more than three hundred thousand British soldiers from Dunkirk, France across the Channel back to England, Dunkirk is a disappointment, despite an excellent start. Essentially forty minutes of story shown three times from different perspectives, the film’s main weakness is that it takes a script suitable for a television episode and transforms it into a movie by simply showing the same scenes over and over. Director Christopher Nolan had a vision of a waking nightmare, a mix of terror and confusion. Since he wrote the screenplay and directed the film, he succeeded in transferring his vision from his mind to the screen. As a work of art, that is an admirable achievement. As a portrayal of a key moment in WWII, it is less successful. Read More…

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Don Rosalio Mendoza prospers during the Mexican Revolution by remaining friends with both the Zapatistas and the federal forces. Although he has no interest in either side, and is determined to ensure the continued existence of his hacienda by lavishly entertaining both sides, he becomes close friends with a Zapatista general, who serves as his son’s godfather. As the fighting continues, Mendoza fears for the safety of his wife and son, and plans to move to Mexico City, but finds himself faced with a horrible choice. Read More…

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A film about a corrupt military officer, who accepts a bribe to release a revolutionary, but unknowingly arranges for his long-lost son to to take the prisoner’s place, Prisoner 13 is essentially a morality play due to the twist ending. While the film does not say much about the Mexican Revolution, it is interesting and must have been quite daring for the time. Given the grim atmosphere, it is recommended for fans of Pre-code film and film buffs but not the average viewer. Read More…

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Viewers of Ironclad may believe that the film is about the fight between King John, who wished to reclaim the absolute power that had been taken from him when he had been forced to sign the Magna Carta, and the barons, who were fighting to preserve the rights of the common people and the nation itself. Cynics may complain that the barons were simply concerned with their own rights, not the rights of the smelly peasants. However, the film is really the struggle of the sex-starved young wife of the castle’s lord to persuade a Templar knight to break his vow of celibacy and satisfy her carnal needs. The story of a leader who gathers a group of disillusioned warriors, preferably seven, to defend a place against huge odds is not new in film history, and Ironclad is not a notable addition to the record. Filled with a cast of solid character actors who have all done better work, the film needed a better script. Still, it is relatively enjoyable and relatively accurate. Read More…

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Maria Dolores, a wealthy young woman, is preparing for her wedding when the town is occupied by rebels. A chance encounter with Maria Dolores causes the rebel general to fall in love with her, attracted equally by her beauty and her temper. A mix between Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew and Morocco, viewers won’t learn much about the Mexican Revolution but it is entertaining. Read More…

Rating:
Forced to buy weapons on the black market by President Woodrow Wilson’s embargo, Pancho Villa (Antonio Banderas) sells exclusive rights to film his battles against President Victoriano Huerta to Mutual Studios. Although the movie may seem the feverish idea of a screenwriter who is a fan of both early Hollywood and the Mexican Revolution, and tried to jam two unrelated scripts together, it is based on real events. As a loving tribute to the silent film era, it is a success. While the portrayal of Pancho Villa at the height of his power is effective, the film limits itself to Villa, ignoring the rest of the Mexican Revolution.
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