La récompense

Down on his luck pilot Max Von Sydow crashes into a water tower in Mexico and the damage is considerable. But when he spots wanted fugitive Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. with girlfriend Yvette Mimieux headed out of town he reports same to police chief Gilbert Roland. That $50,000.00 muerto o vive will more than take care of his debts. Roland also sees a way out of this backwater he's been assigned to as a federale.

Roland puts together a posse which takes them into the desert before they catch up with Zimbalist and Mimieux. Made up of some of Alfonso Bedoya's bunch from Treasure Of The Sierra Madre by the look of them. Roland and Von Sydow don't tell them about the big reward and Mimieux along for the ride is also lots of distraction.

This could have been a much better film, but the pace is excruciatingly dull. A little too much philosophizing by the main characters as well, more action was required.

For fans of the principal players only.

In my reassessment process for my early movies at last reaches in so awaited The Reward which I'd watched in TV on middle of 1995 according my records, while looking on IMDB's database I'm baffled over a meager 4.9 medium rating, unfortunately after this first watching it disappears from the sight, likely we have all-weather friend Youtube, there I'd found an average print that allowed a close caption, so I could understood the spoken English language between Spanish as well due it's near with Portuguese for an easy understanding of the whole plot whereof I didn't remembered a thing nowadays.

Well I've willing re-watch it again aiming for assure by myself if my early feelings have some mistaken or something missing, watching it carefully with a keen eyes the whole journey at Mexican desert by a posse track down a killer Efrem Zimbalist Jr. And his gorgeous girlfriend Ivette Mimieux for pulpy reward of 50.000 bucks, as expected the human greedy enters in game for worst, thus it is a matter of time a deadly disagreement among them, an American pilot Max Von Sydow, the Mexican Captain Gilbert Roland struck at deadly place aiming for breath new air outside, meanwhile his underling Sgt. Emilio Fernandez thinks otherwise, also an allied Indian Henry Silva has the foreboding of bad luck outcome.

In an overview it at least for me remains in same patten before, fine areal shooting on those driest landscape, on an overlong harder returning as their adrift at desert, at night they split in campfire on treacherous atmosphere or on a storm night exposing the sexy Mimieux, all this upon a vexer guitar playing by sneaky Emilio Fernandez on warmonger persona, I'm wondering it in a fully restored version, it certainly will improves it too much, sorry by the bitter reviewers!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1995 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 7.

I have seen two different versions of this "Mexican" film on the Fox Movie Channel (or its on demand version). The first time was the 1.33 version with no subtitles. While it's true that most of the Norte Americano characters (which in this case includes Von Sydow whose accent is very slight--he was reputed to have intentionally learned a mid-Atlantic version of English) have a limited or non-existent command of Spanish, you can't really understand what is going on without subtitles. The novel on which it is based notes that the Americans do not always understand what is going on but the dialog is in "English" anyway. A kind of stilted way of talking which suggests a translation. Also the Mexicans are really Indians except for the police chief who has been exiled from the big city and wants to get back. Even he might not understand what the Indians are saying among themselves. The second time I saw this film (on Fox Film channel, May 2016) it now had English subs and was letterboxed at 1.85 (though the opening title sequence clearly shows that this was a full Cinemascope frame originally!). I'd like to see this in HD (we don't get that for the Fox movie channel here) and a proper Cinemascope ratio. (TCM please) I would also recommend Michael Barrett's novel for richer detail which is hinted at in the film.

Another reviewer compared this film to "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". You could say that it falls into a certain subgenre which I call "a Mexican" like the Wild Bunch and other westerns or several film noirs that take place mostly in Mexico or a goodly number of other films and books which highlight our neighbor south as a place of danger, corruption, illicit behavior, serious crime, poverty, untold wealth, a place of refuge for those fleeing the law, etc. Mexico itself has had a first-class film industry which has had its ups and downs. Mexican noirs of the 40s and 50s are every bit as good as the Hollywood versions and laden with less censorship to boot!

I agree with another reviewer that there may have been more footage that didn't make it into the final cut which would have made elements of the story clearer. Certainly the ending is very abrupt. In any case this is a film that should be given the restoration treatment. Were it to happen it would probably have a much greater reputation. Perhaps the person who was in charge of production at the studio during the film who contributed some information in another review could tell us more about the process that led to its release. Maybe Von Sydow remembers something as well.

Worth seeing!

This is a great movie. Part of it was filmed at Old Tucson Studios in Tucson, AZ. I note that it wasn't mentioned. I was the Executive Production Manager for Old Tucson during the making of this film. I still have a picture I took of E. G. Marshal and Kathleen Quinlan. It was the first time (I believe) that Max Von Sydow worked in the USA. I assisted them in their Locations, hotels, etc. while they were here. We had a great time making this film. They allowed the tourist's to come on set as long as we built a line for them to be behind. They enjoyed the shooting with all the stars working right in front of them. I'm looking forward to seeing this movie again once I find it online. I just happened to think about it tonight which is why I'm writing here. Good action film that most all should enjoy.

"The Reward" was a big money loser and after seeing it, I can understand why...the pacing is glacially slow. And, this isn't helped by having so much of the film set in a desert.

When the story begins, a guy (Max von Sydow) crashes his plane in Mexico. But when he sees a man wanted in the States (Efram Zimbalest Jr.), he realizes the $50,000 reward, dead or alive, will more than take care of the plane. Soon he meets up with some Mexicans who help and eventually greed takes its toll on these new-found partners.

The problem, as I mentioned above, is the pacing. Also it just felt weird to have von Sydow, ZImbalest and Yvette Mimieux in the Mexican desert. Additionally, at least on the copy I saw, it was odd not to have the Mexicans captioned as they spoke. While my Spanish is quite rusty, I was able to follow along...but how many others will just give up? A strange film that just doesn't work.