Una noche en el viejo México

Spanish/US co-production well played , magnificently set in Mexico , stunningly directed and it pays tribute to the great American actor Robert Duvall . About to lose the property that's been in his family for generations, Texas rancher Red Bovie (Robert Duvall) is contemplating suicide , as forced to sell his family ranch to developers, a financially strapped but proud senior citizen, finally meets his grandson (Jeremy Irvine) and gets involved with drug dealers (Luis Tosar) .

This is an exciting as well as thought-provoking story about sympathetic human beings and how they cope with an relentless chase who carry out some drug dealers . It is an extreme situation and this is conveyed pretty well by Emilio Aragon ; as a trio of unfortunate characters -perfectly played by Robert Duval , Jeremy Irvine and Angie Cepeda- are mercilessly pursued and they have to flee with a loot that have found . The flick is dedicated in loving memory of Christopher Bates , executive producer of the film and dead at 2013 . The main discernible reason to watch Spanish director Emilio Aragon's English language debut , A Night in Old Mexico, results to be to see star Robert Duvall in front of a nice cast and center dancing circles around the cringe worthy supporting players . To be fair , his interpretation is fabulous , he is the first character , granting a special kind of depth . Intelligent and interesting script written by screenwriter William D. Wittliff, reteaming with Duvall for the first time since the memorable 1989 television miniseries, "Lonesome Dove" . It's a project that's reputed to be nearly 35 years in the making , but the end product can't quite justify the means with this reunion that feels akin to Duvall's last stint as director , 2002's ¨Assassination Tango¨ . And Duvall has recently directed ¨Wild Horses¨, he stars as an old rancher who once kicked his son off his property for being gay and now finds himself at the center of a missing person investigation ; in addition to starring , Robert directed a cast that includes James Franco and Josh Hartnett.

Thrilling as well as evocative musical score by the same filmmaker , Emilio Aragon , including Mexican sounds . Colorful and evocative cinematography by David Omedes . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Emilio Aragon , an effort that feels far superior in comparison his first film : ¨Paper birds¨ . The production and directing of his Opera Prima "Pájaros De Papel" (paper birds), a lifelong dream, seems he has been dedicating his whole life to , being nominated for Best First Director Award at 2011 Goyas (Spanish Oscars) .

The story begins with an old Texan having to leave the ranch he has lived in his whole life, at the same moment he is suddenly introduced to a grandson he has never met before. They go off on a jaunt to Mexico where they end up hooking up with another lost soul, a singing stripper. Complicating matters considerably is the fact that they have inadvertently come into possession of a bag containing $150,000 - some violent criminals pursue them for this.

The chief draw of A Night in Old Mexico is the presence of veteran actor Robert Duvall. He certainly shows here that he still remains a very capable actor. It's a pity then that this film doesn't have a stronger storyline for Duvall to work off. It's effectively an odd couple movie, with a crime strand underpinning it. The first part works to a certain extent – Duvall's acting is good and the dialogue is often well written – but the dynamics between the three characters often seem a little forced, in particular it's quite hard really believing in the motivations of the Latina stripper character. The crime story, while fairly generic, does offer some potential excitement but it doesn't necessarily play out in such a way as to actually provide too much. Perhaps this is a good thing in some respects as it means that the film is maybe taking a different course to what you might typically expect. Whatever the case, the criminals operate in the background of the story and bump one and other off and they never really seem to pose that much of a threat to our heroes, which does dissipate the potential tension this could have created.

The location used by the story was pretty interesting though. The story takes place during the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday celebration. The purpose of which is to gather people together to pray for and remember friends and family who have died. This of course parallels the storyline of the film itself really well. Not only this but the strange skull-like masks worn by the townspeople as part of this celebration make for a somewhat memorable backdrop to proceedings, giving the film a nice distinctive feeling in this area. It's the specifically Mexican flavours that for the most part offer the best things about this flick.

Let me start off by saying I love Robert Duvall, but this is not one of his better efforts (no fault of his, lousy writing and lousy co-stars). It's his typical "tough old guy" routine on steroids.

The movie starts slow and gets slower. From there it becomes boring and increasingly predictable.

I found myself fast forwarding to get to a point where there was something going on.....and then suddenly I was at the end, thank God.

Skip this one, and keep your love and appreciation of Mr Duvall intact!

In true Hollywood form, viewers are supposed to not know that Joshua trees and mountains do not exist in south Texas but that those driving scenes were shot in the high desert of California. The film jumped from Texas to California and back in the same scene.

When Duvall tries to shoot himself the hammer is seen on half-cock where the cylinder can be spun (he actually spins it but does not full-cock it) but not shot from. But a split-second later he sends a bullet through the barn door.

The Mexico signs upon entering Mexico are hilarious. The first one says ESTADO DE Mexico (Mexico is in all caps on the sign too)(the state next to Mexico City) and the following one says MORELOS, which is also in central Mexico. Neither is on the border.

Lotsa laughs but gimme a break with insulting our knowledge of geography.

I doubt I've ever seen a Robert Duvall movie that was not worth watching and the same can be said of this one. Duvall plays a cranky old coot not ready to take up the rocking chair and I hope he isn't ready for a long time. A decent premise to the movie and several places that make you smile. If you like crotchety hard-headed old folks this is the movie for you. While in all respects a slow movie I didn't regret a minute. I wish IMDb didn't require ten lines for a review because I doubt I've had ten lines to say about any movie.But it's nice to be able to give one a good review, one that isn't cr*p found footage and one where the acting enabled the suspension of disbelief for a couple hours.