L'aigle et le vautour

Americans love to make films about the Juarez and Maximilian conflict and a big reason is that we were on the popular side then against foreign imperialism. In this case that of the French who were putting an Austrian emperor on a newly created throne of Mexico which would have become a client state. In this case both the Union and Confederacy see the danger of Emperor Maximilian.

So in a move arranged by Governor Francis Lubbock of Texas played by Grandon Rhodes, Union Army spy Dennis O'Keefe and Texas Ranger John Payne are on a joint mission to talk to a would be Pancho Villa played by Thomas Gomez who is being suckered by Fred Clark who is an agent of Maximilian from attacking Texas. Gomez is dreaming big dreams of reconquering it for Mexico, but he doesn't know he's being played for a sucker and that neither the USA or the CSA is going to stand for that.

Payne indulges in a little romance with Rhonda Fleming who is unhappily married to Clark. And Clark who possessed one of the best slow burns this side of Edgar Kennedy and usually is a comic villain plays it straight and serious here.

Payne and O'Keefe later teamed for another western for Paramount B unit producers Pine-Thomas called Passage West are much better in a much better western with The Eagle And The Hawk.

Watchable Turn-of-the-Decade Western.

1950 Was a Sign-Post on the Dusty Trail of the Western Movie that Signaled a "New Direction" for the Popular Genre.

On the Horizon were Films with More on the Mind than "Cow-Boys and Indians".

More Adult

More Concerned with the Characteristics of the Characters.

Still Wearing Cowboy Hats of Course, but Not Always Announcing what was Beneath the Black & White Sun, Wind, and Dust Shields.

In other Words a Maturation.

A Place Where Horses Didn't Have Cute Kid-Friendly Nick-Names.

The Films from Directors like Anthony Mann and Budd Bottichier and Occasionally John Ford would Not Only Entertain Audiences,

but Layer the Movies with an Intent of Purpose that the First Wave of the Screen Western Lacked.

This Movie's Concern was Politics.

More Precisely, the Fate of National Territory.

The Title Symbolizes a Mexican "General", Following Juarez, and a Plan to Invade the United States Texan Border (while they were looking the other way fighting the Union in the Civil War).

It's Not a Deep-Dive into History but a Nod toward Delivering an Elementary Level History Lesson.

It has its Moments, but Overall a bit Flat and Pedestrian with the Cast the Most Glaring of Miss-Steps and Wasted Talent.

One of the Aforementioned Maturation and Next-Level Stuff, occurs Between John Payne and 2 Horses in a Violent Scene the Likes of Which were Previously Absent or Only Eluded.

Worth a Watch.

During the midst of the Civil War in 1863, a Texas Ranger (John Payne) and a Union agent (Dennis O'Keefe) team-up for a mission south of the border. Their focus is a town where a government agent had gone missing and the factions supporting Benito Juárez and, secretly, wannabe French-imposed emperor Maximilian. The beautiful Rhonda Fleming is on hand.

"The Eagle and the Hawk" (1950) is similar to the later "Vera Cruz" (1954), except that it takes place during the Civil War rather than immediately afterward. While it's not great like that movie, it's okay and has its highlights. The main problem is that, after a promising opening, it bogs down in the talky politics & intrigue of the Mexican town.

But the Technicolor and locations are to die for and the characters played by Payne and O'Keefe make for an entertaining duo while redhead Rhonda is stunning. The film impressively mixes magnificent location shooting with matte paintings and studio sets.

The film runs 1 hour, 44 minutes, and was shot in Sedona, Arizona, and Paramount Studios, Hollywood.

GRADE: B-/C+

I don't know if you have noticed, but in Paramount westerns, and also adventures films, you often had TWO lead male characters, for the good side, but two characters between whom there was nearly always a gal, and some elements that also made them fight one against the other; for instance one of them was not the Union during the Civil War, and the other for the Confederates.... But when both of those guys had to fight against the really villain of the plot, the ugly bad guy, this time both our guys fought together against the evil dude. This excellent but predictable western will make no exception to this scheme. And useless to say that one of our heroes will not make it in the end. But who? The torture cavalcade scene, between the two horses, is very impressive, shocking, I think it is even worse, more cruel, than when the "subject" is tied between FOUR horses. I did not know this "indian" torture.

Like for souper-1, this is a nostalgia film for me, the first ever seen in a cinema, in Sydney in 1950, when I was 7. Seen with my mother and 5yo brother. Could only recall the torture scene and re-watching it for the first time in 68 years makes me realise how much over the heads it would have been for 2 young boys. Not the easiest of films to follow, partly because it is rather a mishmash of genres and burns rather slowly and a bit mysteriously at times for the first hour or so. A reminder of how films used to promote smoking, something so pleasurable as to be engaged in with your dying breaths.