Le gaucho

"Way of a Gaucho" was filmed in the wild Argentina of 1950. The beauty of the locations is fantastic and alone makes the movie worth a view. Not only the endless Pampas and the awesome Andes are breathtaking, also the towns and farms, with their ancient, decadent, cracking Spanish-style buildings and churches are incredibly evocative.

The photography is accurate, the colors are magnificent. The story is quick and entertaining, but perhaps too melodramatic. The dialogue is somewhat declamatory. The characters of Martin - Rory Calhoun and Salinas - Richard Boone are not fully realistic: one is too sullen and gruffy to be a youngster, the other is over-bad.

Then, of course, there is Gene Tierney, as Teresa. Her unparalleled splendor wins the beauty of Argentine landscapes (I admit I'm not a fair judge in this matter). At first we see a dishevelled Gene with her shirt torn on a shoulder (she has just been abducted by an Indio, you know). How I like these old-fashioned, good-taste erotic touches! Martin has the incomparable luck to save her. Follows a long ride together in the Pampas, with a pair of my most favorite romantic scenes: Gene sleeping on the high grass, close to a pond with exotic birds, then waking up and looking for her rescuer, with a dreaming look; later, at sunset, Gene resting in the shade of one of those lonely, huge, marvellous trees of the Pampas, silently contemplating Miguel. Love is sprouting: how beautifully romantic.

Let me remark a theme of the movie, much creditable in rendering the climate of the 19th century. Teresa is pregnant, and Miguel repeatedly endangers his life to get to a church, trying to marry her, in order that the coming child could have a "real, legitimate father". The necessity to face death, to get a legal wedding, for both Teresa and Miguel is utter matter-of-factness: another option is inconceivable. This was the actual way people were in the 19th century! By contrast, how preposterous is the show of anachronistic feelings (such as feminist ideology, dislike for religion etc.) in many current movies placed at that epoch.

"Way of a Gaucho" is a good way of spending 90 minutes for everybody, and, of course, a must-see for Gene Tierney's fans.

Twentieth-Century Fox put together this unusual little adventure story, filmed almost entirely on location on the Argentinian Pampas. It's the tale of a proud young Gaucho and his long struggle against injustice. Rory Calhoun never quite made it as a big star, but he carries this one ably enough, though I found his unrelenting surliness a little wearying. It is worth noting that he does his own stunt riding.

A young Richard Boone is excellent as (what else?) the villain. His character, Major Salinas, bullies Martin (Calhoun) when the latter is forced to join the Argentinian Army. Martin deserts and becomes Val Verde, the brigand king. Salinas quits the Army and becomes chief of police, and is thus able to continue his vendetta against the Gaucho. What puzzled me is, if Calhoun can change names so easily, how come Boone has to wear the same uniform in two different jobs?

Gene Tierney, Fox's specialist film noir love interest, appears in this one as Teresa, the respectable woman who falls for the Gaucho outlaw. Tierney is great, affecting a softer, more natural look than in her urban crime movies and (unusually for her) hitting the screen in colour.

Jacques Tourneur directs with proficiency, capturing both the glorious freedom of the Pampas and the imposing beauty of the Andes. It is just a pity that Philip Dunne's screenplay is so artificial and wordy. Is it really necessary to put in stuff like, "Our knives are thirsty, but we will not give them drink yet"?

Val Verde knows that the Gauchos, the semi-wild ethnic group of the Pampas, are heading for oblivion. He chooses to defy destiny and fight against hopeless odds. His elemental heroism, and the urbane malice of Salinas, make this little picture worth watching.

A different kind of western, on Argentine's Pampas, an ill-tempered Gaucho Martin (Rory Calhoun) killed on a knife's fight a man who insulted is "brother" (Hugh Marlowe) his was sentenced to serve the Army, there he meets a tough Major Salinas (Pat Boone) the clash between them is matter of time, due the nature of both, he deserts and becomes an outlaw as Valverde, he gathered a bunch of all sort of the men, including his former inmates at prison, meanwhile he falling in love by the beauty Teresa (Gene Tierney), Major Salinas wounded on right hand was a crippled on fight on Martin's escape pursued him on the edge of the Pampas, however the sudden pregnancy of Teresa will change their destiny, it seems odd at first look, therefore has something magic on this unusual western, mainly by the priceless direction of the master Jacques Tourneur and the beautiful Argentine's landscape, compelling story with religious oriented!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5

Gorgeous location photography of Argentina and the subtle, lyrical direction of Jacques Tourneur are the main reasons for watching this story of a gaucho who becomes first outlaw and then revolutionary, in an attempt to preserve his way of life from encroaching foreign influences and money. The acting is somewhat uneven - Calhoun and especially Tierney are somewhat miscast, though Richard Boone and others in smaller roles come off as more authentic.

Tyrone Power was probably right to bow out of doing Way Of A Gaucho. This would have been a great part for him ten years earlier, but by 1952 Power was 38 years old would not have been all that convincing any more as one wild and woolly gaucho who prizes freedom above all things.

So 30 year old Rory Calhoun got the part and he looked even younger than that. Calhoun plays a young man who was taken in by a large estancia owner and raised as a stepson along with his real son Hugh Marlowe. The film opens with Marlowe returning from getting a European education in Spain and Marlowe has adopted European ways.

Civilization is coming to the Pampas, a fact that a lot of the gauchos resent, none more so than Calhoun. When he kills a man in a brawl, he's arrested, but Marlowe goes to bat for him and he gets army service with Richard Boone trying to make a soldier out of him. Naturally Calhoun doesn't take to that kind of discipline and he deserts and becomes the notorious bandit leader Valverde. Along the way he meets Gene Tierney and the two of them get something going.

20th Century Fox starting in the early Forties did a whole slew of films with a Latin American setting, the idea being to promote a Good Neighbor policy with Latin American countries who all declared war on the Axis powers after December 7. In fact Argentina was the only country not to declare war, at least until 1945. Because of that the Juan Peron government had few post war friends outside of Franco's Spain.

So with that in mind they no doubt welcomed 20th Century Fox to do a film with a real Latin American location. The cinematography of the Pampas is first rate and the American players who also included Everett Sloane as Calhoun's sidekick blend nicely in with the Argentine cast. The first lady of Argentina Eva Peron who was a film star before she married Juan took a personal interest in this project even though she was dying during the shooting of Way Of A Gaucho.

For its exotic location and good performances Way Of A Gaucho is definitely worth your time for a look.