Pancho Villa

This is a semi-fictional chronicle of the notorious bandit Pancho Villa (Telly Savalas) . It is a witless recounting of Villa's American campaign with broaden focus about action and irony . Villa (Dorotea Arango , 1878-1923) sends his gringo pal (Clint Walker) as gunrunner into US , but he is betrayed . As he encounters every obstacles with MacDermott (Luis Davila) ; besides , there meets his beautiful spouse (Anne Francis). Then , Villa leads his merry men in the famous raid over an American fort after being double-crossed in a weapons deal . Crossing the frontier attacking firstly the checkpoint and bombing the cartel captioning ¨You are entering in United States¨ . Later on , it begins an intense charge over the Columbus headquarter . A cocky and megalomaniac colonel (Chuck Connors) attempts to battle against him .

This Spanish/American co-production paints an ironic , cynic portrayal of the famous leader following the exploits of Villa and his men formed by a peasant army into USA territory . The picture ignores the wealth of the authentic history and becomes yet another action/adventure/humor Western and this failed production doesn't deliver what it should . It is an average Western with comedy , tongue-in-cheek , action and plenty of shootouts , gun-play and some moments results to be quite entertaining . This Paella/US Western was regularly directed by Eugenio Martin who made terror films (Horror Express) and more Spaghetti Western (Bounty killer , Requiem for a Gringo and Bad man's river) , among others .

This uneven rehash about Pancho villa exploits is partially based on real events , the authentic deeds are the following : For a time Villa,who seemed in line for leadership of Mexico , enjoyed the sympathetic interest of the US government who then dropped Villa and supported his rival , Carranza . Villa's resentment resulted in the vengeance raid on Columbus . Villa slapped the United States in the face by mounting a surprise raid on the town of Columbus,New Mexico,on 9 march 1916, killing eight American soldiers and ten civilians.In retaliation , President Woodrow Wilson sent General Pershing and a Punitive Expedition into Mexico in hot pursuit of Villa.General Pershing's column included the Seventh Cavalry and Apache scouts, chased Villa deep into Mexico , the Americans captured and killed several of Villa's lieutenants but failed to catch the guerrilla leader . Because of Mexican protests , Pershing's command returned to the US.Villa was assassinated in 1923 when gunman ambushed his car .

Somebody must have had the idea to make this actual historical event (1916 Raid on Columbus, NM, USA) into a farce of a film for the audience's pleasure.

It portrays both the American Army and Pancho Villa as bumbling, inept fools. I don't know what Telly Savalas (a huge star at the time) was thinking participating in this film.

With a comical, farcical sound track and ridiculous sound effects it is like watching a combination of MASH 4077, Three Stooges and horrible Chop-Sokey martial arts films of the day.

It's so bizarre, it's worth watching it to say that you did.

comedy, western,cartoon, music and Telly Savalas. in one film. a film about nothing except easy amusing. because each character is only caricature. few fight scenes are not worthy spice for this salad.and poor Pancho Villa is absent. his story is only subject for not very inspired party. is it a disappointment ? no way ! it is only slice from a time.small experiment for a kind of public, ironic piece about USA and different form of cartoon about a really Mexican hero.nothing more. after 40 years it can be a curiosity. but the purpose is entertainment, discover of a good actor as clown and few drops of comedy with French nuances.

This is an odd little film about infamous Pancho Villa featuring an all Spanish cast except for a quartet of "name" American actors. Savalas (attempting no sort of accent or strong characterization) slides through the film on his unique brand of charm. (He was at or near his height of fame at he time.) He's given a scene to explain why, in this version of the story, Villa is bald, yet in a clip that takes place prior to the shaving, he is bald then, too! He is only effective at all because so many of the rest of the cast are bad. Roman god come to life Walker co-stars as a gunrunner who works alongside Savalas. Sadly, he is covered up by a jaunty captain's hat and a double breasted coat much of the time, so his treasure of a chest is under wraps. Still, his innate charm and handsome face add a lot to this very slight movie. He manages to inject some humor and slyness into his part. Francis has very little to do in her role (and disappears without a trace at some point!), but is attractive. Conners (with his skeletal features and corpse-like lips) plays a mad, driven Army officer who's bent on cleanliness and order at the expense of efficiency. He has a notable scene in which a mess hall is virtually trashed in order to excise one fly. The film is impossible to take seriously and it doubtful that it was intended as such. It's a sort of parodic, satiric take on the genre. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the wit or the money to make much of an impression. The sets look like they wouldn't pass muster on "Bonanza" and the dubbing (in fact all of the sound) is horrible. The music in this film is almost it's worst aspect. There is a highly aggravating theme played by the Mexicans as they enter the U.S. and it is ceaseless in its torture of the viewers' ears. To top it off, there's a hellacious closing credit song sung by Savalas (!) and written by John Cacavas (who did music for "Kojak" and a horde of TV movies.) The film is not very good, but watchable once if little is expected of it.

Telly Savalas hams it up as the Mexican revolutionary (though he's matched by Chuck Connors as a military martinet) in this jokey yet rather boring pastiche on the famous historical figure's life and times. An earlier attempt, VILLA RIDES! (1968) with Yul Brynner in the role and co-starring Robert Mitchcum, dealt with these events more soberly and on a grander scale. As such, PANCHO VILLA is an all-too typical European venture and an undistinguished one at that, despite its credentials; the end result is more often silly rather than amusing - though a few moments, most notably the action set-pieces and a scene involving a brawl inside a church, offer some mild pleasure. Oh, and Savalas even gets to sing over the end titles!