Joaquin Murrieta

This MGM short opens with the public auction of the head of Joaquin Murrieta. He is a 19th century Mexican bandit who terrorized California border region for many years. None in authority knows what he looks like. A company of Rangers is raised and sets off to hunt him down.

It is fortuitous that I recently saw Kevin Costner's the West. While I won't argue for Costner's accuracy, he is far better than this version. While this short allows that Murrieta may have survived, it does not allow that Murrieta may not have existed as such in the first place. In the end, he is the stuff of legend and this is simply another chapter of that legend.

This was just shown on TCM "one reel wonder" and it caught me off guard. It was completely dramatized, as if bits of scenes (often 2 seconds long) were clipped from an actual western movie and spliced together at the typical lightning speed of newsreels and "passing parade". It was, of course, accompanied by the deadpan, loud, authoritative newsreel announcer with no actors' voices heard.

What is strange is that I cannot cross-reference the director, writer, or actors to any original film on Murrieta. So I'm guessing a "B" western film was begun and not completed, and these snippets of scenes, instead of going to waste, were pulled together into this "historical short". If not, it might have been a training exercise to test new actors and crew with scenes shot on existing scenery and equipment. In either case, it was an interesting story and 10 minutes long.

My name is Don joaquin murrieta a direct descendant of joaquin there has been many stories told about joaquin murrieta in short California was just lost to America in the war against mexico .. joaquin was a youngster that wanted with his wife Carmelita wanted to try his luck with paning gold and he did well however the thing no one knows or cares to Piont out about his story is that back then it was anti mex .black .chines where in a white person can rob rap or kill any one of the poeples n not be penalized for it when joaqiins brother Jesus murrieta was wrongly acused of stealing a mule an hung with out judge or jury n his wife raped killed joaquin did seek help from ben marshall the local constable of the town wher he was turned down becuz of this law cival section 394 that states any none white person or people that have 1/4 Indian blood could not file charges or testify in court against a white person in a court of law so it wasn't a crime to kill or rape ur wife so the law could nothepl joaquin so he sought out his own justice in the process he was deemed an outlaw ..fast forward joaquin was not killed on 1853 july25 at the cantua shoot out joaquin was not decapitated joaquin is barried in corcupes sonora mexico died in 1908 lived to be 70./80 ...there were 2 joaquin murrietas that were first cuosinzs who was tall lite completion blue eyes joaqiin of the gold rush having black eyes blk hair. That laxative mentioned is wat got joaquin to react open the fact of his losses he could cceptthat no law was broken any white person could rob kill or rape any none white n this law says it was ok no law was broken .....now place ur self in his shoes it it ok for anyone to kill rob or rape ur wife where a law says its ok for then to do it cival section 394 of 1850... by the way joaquin did kill all those involved in the rape n hanging of his loved ones .. from murrieta verble history passed down murrieta family.

Joaquin Murietta like Billy the Kid, an outlaw whose legend far outlived the short recorded life he had in outlawry.

To the Mexicans who were left behind after the annexation of California after the Mexican War, Murietta was a champion. This short however does not take the Robin Hood point of view.

The main point of the short film is we're not sure Murietta really died when it was reported. All the alternative evidence is laid out for you to examine.

Interesting and speculative short subject.

Shepperd Strudwick takes the role, shot mostly wild and narrated by Carey Wilson, of Joaquim Murrieta. During a period when the United States' grasp on California was sill uncertain, Joaquim was a bandit who claimed to be a defender of the Mexicans. Of course, such claims depend on which side of the issue you come down on personally. Me, I'm against bandits, but I'm for a good story.

Carey Wilson was one of the longtime movie makers at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He had begun at Goldwyn in the 1910s, and easily survived the amalgamation in 1924. He was credited as one of the screenwriters on BEN-HUR and MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY.... and did uncredited work on more than a hundred movies until his retirement in 1952. He died in 1962, aged 72.