slightlymad22 Two Mules For Sister Sara (1970)Plot In A Paragraph: Nun Sara (Shirley MacLaine) is saved from certain rape from cowboys by Hogan (Clint Eastwood) who is preparing for a future mission to capture a French fort. The pair become riding buddies and eventually friends.For some reason this doesn't seem to be remembered by many, and I'm not sure why!! Clint retreaming with Don Siegel in a western, with an Ennio Morricone's score. Maybe it's because it was sandwiched between bigger more memorable movies. It follows Where Eagles Dare and Paint Your Wagon and proceeds Kelly's Heroes and Dirty Harry, and is a more modest movie. Outside of Eastwood/western fans it's hard pressed to find anyone who remembers this.The movie is a treat from start to finish and despite the light hearted nature of the movie, Hogan is as deadly as any Eastwood cowboy. In fact I think it's his best performance at this point!! He is confident in his ability and it shows, he is more chatty than your usual Eastwood cowboy, and he exchanged some witty dialogue with MacLaine. Shirley MacLaine gets top billing in the film's credits (though my DVD and all the art work bills Clint top) This was the last time Clint Eastwood received second billing (or anything less than first) until A Perfect World, and the only time his leading lady was played by an A-list star until The Bridges of Madison County. Two Mules For Sister Sara grossed only $4 million at the domestic box office, but it did earn back its budget in the United States alone.

PimpinAinttEasy Ennio Morricone writes a letter to Don Siegel after watching Two Mules for Sister Sara:Dear Mr.Siegel,please understand that I worked very hard on the score for your movie. I consider it to be one of my best Western scores after the ones I composed for Sergio. I was very impressed by the way the title theme was used. In fact, the whole title sequence filled with the scenes from nature and its animals was wonderful. I was delighted by it and was expecting so much more.But what happened after that? I was confounded by your insistence on shooting in raw sunlight. Or did you actually use lights during the day? I thought I was on a beach in Arpino or something. There were no interesting camera angles either. Just a rigid camera recording wearisome and silly actions of these actors. I thought I would fall asleep.The rest of my score was wasted on utterly banal scenes. The use of the title theme during the final scene in the bathtub was ridiculous. I consider this to be an insult. And the beautiful "A time for miracles". What did you do with it, Mr.Seigel? It was such a melancholic tune with Christian chanting. You wasted it.You cast a beautiful woman like Shirley Mclaine in the role of a nun. And what for? I have still not understood. Why was she disguised as a nun? It was so disappointing. Were you trying to copy the wonderful Heaven Knows Mr.Allison?I was utterly disgusted by the use of the Mexican underclass as a mere embellishment in your film. The whole part where Sara and Hogan help the Mexican revolutionary so that they could rob the treasure was so fake. Why were they even required? The action scenes apart from the train bombing scene were so poorly executed.The film is an utter failure as a Western and an adventure film. Even the exchanges between atheist Hogan and Sister Sara were dull. You have wasted a wonderful setting with two great stars. And wasted my score which I worked very hard on.I think I will go home and drink some Tequila now.Ennio.(4/10)

ma-cortes Well crafted Western with interesting and engaging screenplay written by Albert Maltz from a story by Bud Boetticher . It deals with a nun called Sara (Shirley MacLaine) and two mules (second mule was actually a burro) , as she is attacked by three outlaws , being rescued by a drifter named Hogan (Clint Eastwood) , who is on his way across Mexican desert and becoming wary of her religious nature . Gringo Hogan arrives in Mexico do some reconnaissance, for a next mission to capture a French fort , so he decides to help her in return for information about the defences . Inevitably both of them become good friends but Sara has a twisted secret . At the end takes place a needlessly violent slaughter against Maximiliano army . Hogan is the deadliest man alive , he takes on a whole army with two guns and a fistful of dynamite! .This classic as well as diverting Western results to be a good fun that contains thrills , humor , slow and deliberating filming , elaborate shoot-outs , and portentous battles with bloodbaths included . It's a special following to original ¨Dollars trilogy¨ with Eastwood as ¨Man with no name¨ ; as this new role as Hogan bears remarkable resemblance . Clint returns his classic character of ¨The man with no name¨ and MacLaine is an unlikely nun in this amusing comedy Western . Shirley MacLaine did not get along during the shoot with director Don Siegel , with whom she openly fought . While in Austria filming ¨When eagles dare¨, Clint Eastwood was approached with the script by Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton's wife at the time, with the notion of starring together in the film ; however, Universal Pictures was unwilling to pay Taylor's high salary . Being a Mexico/USA co-production in the picture appears numerous Mexican secondary actors such as Manuel Fabregas , Enrique Lucero , Armando Silvestre , among others . Maestro Ennio Morricone composes a groundbreaking and streaking soundtrack , including some comic touches . Colorful and evocative cinematography in Panavision by excellent Mexican cameraman Gabriel Figueroa and uncredited Robert Surtees , being filmed in Cuaútla, Morelos, Jantetelco, Tlayacapan, Mexico .The motion picture was rightly produced by Martin Rackin and well directed by Donald Siegel . His first feature as a director was 1946's The Verdict (1946). He made his reputation in the early and mid-'50s with a series of tightly made, expertly crafted, tough but intelligent "B" pictures , among them : The Lineup (1958), Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954), Invasion of the body snatchers (1956)), then graduated to major "A" films in the 1960s and early 1970s. He made several "side trips" to television, mostly as a producer . Siegel directed what is generally considered to be Elvis Presley's best picture, Flamingo Star (1960). All of Eastwood's later Western and his ¨Dirty Harry¨ movies owe a considerable debt to Sergio Leone and Donald Siegel . As Donald directed Eastwood in various films , such as : Coogan's bluff , The beguiled , Dirty Harry , Escape from Alcatraz and , of course , this ¨ Two mules and sister Sara¨. He had a long professional relationship and personal friendship with Clint Eastwood, who has often said that everything he knows about filmmaking he learned from Don Siegel . ¨Two mules and sister Sara¨ is an enjoyable film for Clint Eastwood and Donald Siegel enthusiasts , including their usual trademarks , it's full of which made their films so memorable, others might find it a bit long but no one can deny its sense of style what achieved a great burst of world-wide popularity .

SixtusXLIV This movie Is a kind of Softened "Wild Bunch". Even if the references to the History of Mexico differ by a few decades, the main theme is the same. The Americans, more or less outlaws, side with the Native Mexicans, for a price, in Gold. Against the Mexican Spanish landlords and their corrupted politicians.I think that the Title is Bad, since Sister Sara owns only one Mule at the beginning and trades it for a quite small donkey. The nice beast never utters a Sound. Perhaps he was underage and virgin.This movie introduces a woman in the plot and it is perhaps its best aspect. She plays one role for almost the whole movie and changes roles at the end.A very unrealistic Western (or Tex-Mex), pleasant to watch, but it has nothing to do with Masterpieces like the Wild Bunch.