Prismark10
Villa Rides has a screenplay written Sam Peckinpah and Robert Towne but a very workmanlike direction from Buzz Kulik.Yul Brynner with added hair stars as Pancho Villa the great Mexican revolutionary with fiery passion, cunning, pig headedness and some romance as well. Robert Mitchum is a soldier of fortune with a biplane, a pilot who supplies the Mexican army with weapons, but is gradually forced to join the rebellious side after he is caught up with Villa and a Mexican beauty. Mitchum is laconic and nonchalant but we do get to see him drop homemade bombs from the plane.More impressive is Charles Bronson as Villa's right hand enforcer who clearly enjoys slaughtering people with style and some humour. Even shoots three people with one bullet in order to be economical.Herbert Lom and Fernando Rey round up the Mexicans also bring political intrigue to the table.The film was shot in Spain and it starts out as intriguing but it is uneven. The film varies in tone with some comedy but then you have some villagers getting slaughtered, others being executed and women being raped. There are some good action sequences but the film is too messy as its does not have a coherent narrative.
Jeff (actionrating.com)
See it – Like all good Sam Peckinpah directed films, this one is exciting from start to finish. This movie came right before he did "Wild Bunch," and you can see the similarities in the fight scenes. Starting with "Wild Bunch," Peckinpah began pushing the envelope and trying to get away with more and more (violence, nudity, etc). I like "Villa Rides" because it's kind of his last normal, old-fashioned movie. He doesn't try to get all Tarantino on us; he just makes a great action movie. Yul Brynner (with hair) is pretty good as Villa, considering Brynner is actually Russian (not Mexican). A young Charles Bronson steals many of the scenes as Villa's tough, Bad-A right hand man. The movie also co-stars Robert Mitchum. This is a big epic full of sweeping battle scenes and a great cast. I'm surprised more people haven't heard of it. 4 action rating
gail924
I saw this movie back in 1968. Thought it was excellent then...and my opinion has not changed in all these decades. Charles Bronson and Robert Mitchum give wonderful character portrayals. The action keeps coming and coming, and what may seem like down time still has you wondering what is going to happen next. Those of you who are fans of Charles Bronson may (or may not) like his character in this movie, but being the wonderful actor he is..he plays the bad guy beautifully!The scenery is authentic and the sets are true to the story. And it was the first time I remember seeing Yul WITH hair!This is a must see in any year!
GenotheGreat2003
What could have been a great movie by a trio of excellent actors reduces to a travelogue of somebody's desert and some beautiful scenes of an otherwise obsolete WW I airplane. As far as I can gather, it is historically accurate, but for my money, the only redeeming feature is the unbelievably haunting theme, which recurs throughout the film. Essentially, it is this theme that propels the movie along. Some great cinematography, though.Yul Brenner, as Pancho Villa, is terrible miscast: Villa was a short, round faced Mexican taken to wearing serapes and large sombreros. Brenner seems to be recovering from his role in the King and I. Charles Bronson as usual, turns in a solid performance, but is overshadowed by Mitchum and Brenner. The other characters and roles are essentially cardboard cutouts of the stereotypical Mexicans. If it comes on TV, see it if you don't have anything else to do.
AD
