Bullfighter and the Lady

This is a great film showing the horrors of bullfighting with excellent photography and directed by a former bullfighter himself, Budd Boetticher. John Wayne produced this picture but did not appear in this film and presented a film that was originally cut into pieces but has been restored to its original print, which is seen today. Robert Stack, (Johnny Regan) plays the role as a U.S. Citizen who has connections with Hollywood and has become interested in becoming a bullfighter and so he travels to Mexico to met a real famous matador. Johnny meets up with Manolo Estgrada, (Gilbert Roland) at a famous eating place and forces his attentions to Manolo in order to become friendly with him and to break into his inner circles of life. It it not very long before Johnny makes an arrangement with Manolo to teach him how to shoot birds in exchange for Matador lessons. This film goes into great detail about how to fight a bull and the dangers of the sport in Mexico. Johnny also meets up with a woman he falls in love with at first sight and just can't get her out of his mind both day in and day out, this woman is Anita De La Vega, (Joy Page) who does keep a distance from Johnny, but things do warm up between these two couples. Great film and a wonderful Classic Bullfighting film with great realism. Enjoy.

I recently caught the 124 restored version of "Bullfighter and the Lady," and thought it was excellent. I believe the 87 minute version left out much of the actual bullfighting scenes which is a real tragedy. The bullfighting scenes are shockingly real--almost documentary-like and add quite a bit of texture and reality to the movie. Boetticher was a bullfighter and his knowledge and love of the sport shows through.

I was also quite impressed with the cast, including Robert Stack who, I must admit, I never had really thought was much of an actor. Gilbert Roland, as Stack's mentor, is tremendous as is Joy Page and, especially, the wonderful Katy Jurado.

There is an interesting use of sound also. Boetticher effectively uses thunder as an ominous counterpoint during two key scenes in the movie.

Highly recommended in the 124 minute, restored version.

I was surprised by this one. It is an excellent introduction to La Fiesta Brava, showing, for example, many versions of the Veronica as performed by the best Mexican matadors of the late 40s. Luis Procuna, Alfredo Leal, Silverio Perez and the great Carlos Arruza are absentees. Stack, apparently, mastered enough of the technique to perform ably with a heifer -- and that itself is not easy. The background of the corrida -- particularly the tienta (or testing) -- is well documented and the vast Plaza Mexico appears with dramatic effect -- both filled and totally empty. Some of the b/w sequences in the bullring are breathtaking. The problem with the film is Stack's character, who behaves very badly very consistently and really does not seem to learn from his vivid errors. Furthermore, he makes no effort to master even the rudiments of Spanish. Otherwise, the film is compelling. I also recommend the Azteca film of about the same period, "Torero," a documentary about Luis Procuna, starring Procuna. He does not need a stand-in. As an introduction to bullfighting that does not show much of the picing or the actual kill, I recommend "Bullfighter/Lady."

I enjoyed this film at a screening in LA a few years ago. I went because I had just been to a number of bullfights after first reading Hemingway's Death In The Afternoon--the ultimate primer on the sport.

Stack was great with more subtlety then I expected. The bulls were magnificent, specially picked for their size at a time when the breeders were trying to size them down. It was said the film brought "real" (i.e. large, brave bulls) back to Mexico for a while. They wanted the size because of the wide shots, and those boys were BIG.

Stack was a champion skeet shooter too, and in one of the stranger scenes in the film, he is shown in shooting form blowin 'em away. Wierd to work such an obscure sport into the movie.

This is a beautiful, compelling and honest film. It is imbued with the good kind of machismo--notions of honor, sacrifice, and the nobility of effort. Instead of cluttering up the film with lots of story and complications, Boetticher has delved inside the heart and mind of this (to us gringos) strange sport.

My only addition to the other comments is the photography is remarkable for its era, almost an outdoor film noir, a romantic realism in black and white. (And note that in a number of shots it is clearly Robert Stack doing his own bullfighting!) I note that the film was produced by John Wayne for Republic, obviously mostly in Mexico; just one year later Republic permitted John Ford to make THE QUIET MAN in Ireland; early examples of American filmmaking in an international context.

Don't hesitate to see this extraordinary film.