kenjha
A man poses as a hangman to rescue his brother, who has been condemned to hang. The decade of the 1960s was the last hurrah for the Western, culminating in such landmarks as "Once Upon a Time in the West" and "The Wild Bunch." This will never make the list of the great Westerns of the decade, but it's quite entertaining. Stewart and Martin are not necessarily believable as brothers, but each is OK in roles that are not very demanding. Welch is pretty as a Mexican hottie, although she displays no talent for acting at this stage of her career. Kennedy does well as a sheriff who is in pursuit of the brothers, but hopes to capture Raquel's heart.
inspectors71
If you're Catholic and you grew up in Spokane, Washington in the 60s and 70s, then there is a chance you used to read the Spokane Diocese's newspaper, The Inland Register. In it, movies would be reviewed not on their stories or acting but on their moral content. If a movie received an "M.O.", morally-objectionable, you were not to see the movie.For a future "fallen" Catholic like myself, the worse the rating in the IR, the better! I don't know for sure, but I'm betting Andrew V. McLaglen's Bandolero received the kiss of moral death by the folks at Lourdes Cathedral. What would have been exciting and appealing to a 17 year old is now viewed as repulsive trash, with two Old West recidivists (Jimmy Stewart and Dean Martin) running from the law (George Kennedy) with hostage Raquel Welch (Dow Corning) in tow.As Judith Crist used to say "the blood flows like Chianti" in Bandolero. There are no good guys except for Kennedy and his deputy Andrew Prine, and they're almost-but-not-quite cognitively impaired. Martin is too far gone for redemption as he slaughters his way across the desert while falling in love with non-actress Welch. His crew oozes with rapists and murderers, but we're supposed to cut Dino some slack because at least he feels a twinge of remorse for his deeds.Then there's Martin's brother, Stewart, who we are expected to believe is the better of the two brothers. That's a little hard to accomplish when he meets up with a hangman-for-hire and, offscreen, ices the poor shlub without so much as a sigh.By the end of movie, the bad guys and the good guys have teamed up to kill other badder guys, and the sand of a Mexican town is fairly spongy with blood.Bandolero is a nauseating mess, better left at the nearest distribution center of Netflix, unless you're hooked on Chianti.
therascalsarchives
I saw this film in the theater in 1971 on a co-bill with ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES (Central-Passaic,NJ) Loved it then and think it still holds up. Raquel Welch's performance never thrilled me in this film and her entire role was either looped by another actress, or she went in and looped all her own dialoge in post-production (I suspect the latter).Dean Martin trades in his tux for a leather holster, and although he's not playing the most convincing outlaw in the world, I always loved the way he portrayed his role here as the "bad egg" brother of Jimmy Stewart who longs to meet a fine woman and turn his life around.The trouble here is that he falls for a prostitute peasant girl (Raquel Welch) Some guys have all the luck!James Stewart is superb as usual, as is the great character actor Will Geer (they played opposite one another in another western classic, WINCHESTER '73) I love the scene between them in the cave where Stewart says "apologize, Mr.Chaney or I'll blow your head off" (words to that effect) Jerry Goldsmith also provides his usual excellent score. A great 20th Century-Fox widescreen film made in the days just before the Zanucks left the studio and the film industry started taking a gradual but steady morality nose-dive.
drystyx
This is what you might call a sprawling Western. It plays out a little too grandiose for the shallowness of the characters, but it is still a sprawling sort, with great scenery, costumes, and action.The plot is very formula, law abiding hard working older brother and carefree lawless younger brother, and much like Stewart's classic, "Night Passage", but without the magic. In fact, I call "Night Passage" the magic Western, with Stewart, Duryea, and Murphy all playing perfectly together. Kennedy equals Duryea in the legend category, and Martin is sort of a pretty boy as was Murphy, but Murphy had much more charisma. That may explain some of what is missing.But much of it is that the characters just aren't that likable. The circumstances become way too unbelievable, even for a sprawling Western. We often give literary license to an extent, but Bandolero clearly bypasses all credibility.So the film is basically played for the spectacle and for the bits of humor. It may be the "Pulp Fiction" of Westerns. There are funny little lines, when added to the spectacle and scenery, make it a touch better than the average Western. But don't expect a lot. It is just a fun ride, not to be taken seriously. From that perspective, it makes good entertainment.
AD
