La pampa sauvage

The curiosity here is that it is a western, which takes place in Argentina, in the pampas. There are soldiers, here led by Robert Taylor, Indians, deserters, and a highwayman type villain, who looks a bit like a spaghetti western (the film is from 1965).

The film is in CinemaScope format and spends much of its time filming characters who cut across the horizon with the sky, the ridge line, which makes for great cutaways, as they spend their time moving around: the subject matter concerns the escorting of a convoy of prostitutes to a garrison lost in the pampas to reduce the rate of desertion, as they haven't seen a woman in several years. Of course, this convoy is coveted by everyone.

Robert Taylor plays the chief officer who is constantly beaten, kicked, dragged in the dust, but also experienced and having no more illusions. And the character of the anarchist, who is finally the most interesting, invites a little humor and irony.

All in all, the film lasts, thanks to its visual qualities.

Savage Pampas is a film with an unusual setting for the English speaking world, the pampas plains of Argentina at the end of the 19th century. The film is based on a novel Pampa Barbera and was filmed in Argentina before.

Robert Taylor is a captain in command of a garrison on the frontier, a whole lot like the American West. But he's having some big troubles. Taylor has a morale problem at the fort, the men are deserting him bit by bit because outlaw chief Ron Randell gives them an outlet for their sexual frustration, women. It's strictly stag at Taylor's post no matter how much he tries to convince the high command in Buenos Aires that his men have needs. It's also to be remembered that most of the men aren't the best quality around. They're not king and country volunteers as Clark Gable put it in Mutiny on the Bounty. In fact a whole lot of them are criminals and were given the choice of the army or prison.

Finally he does convince higher ups that some women are essential for morale, so Taylor is given an assignment of escorting some prostitutes let out for that purpose. Of course all this leads up to the inevitable showdown between Taylor and Randell.

Taylor in his one and only appearance in a spaghetti western covers some familiar ground. In Westward the Women he escorts some brides to be across the American west. He's the stern and rugged Taylor we've come to know in his later films, tough, but compassionate.

The film was photographed in Spain and two other American actors appear in it with Taylor. Marc Lawrence is a sergeant in Taylor's command and Ty Hardin plays an anarchist newspaper editor who accompanies the prostitutes because he's been given a choice, army or jail. Hardin has some biting lines, some of the best in the film and he makes the most of them.

It must have been an interesting set on Savage Pampas. On one hand we have Robert Taylor who was a friendly witness at the House Un American Activities Committee. And also Marc Lawrence who's career suffered the effects of the blacklist. I imagine things must have been tense.

Other than knowing about Evita Peron and her husband, Argentina or for that matter Latin America in general, is not a history that most Americans are taught. It's still said that Argentina is a frontier country built around a capital city. This picture shows a slice of their frontier life you might not normally be exposed to.

For that reason I recommend seeing Savage Pampas. For that reason and because it's one of the last films of one of Hollywood's truly great stars who in his last years was somewhat at sea due to the decline of the studio system.

An Argentinian Western and Taylor's oddest film, Savage Pampas is a remake of the 1946 Argentinian film Pampa Barbera. Taylor is the guardian of a wagon train of women heading for a lonely outpost in the interior in 1870. The plot is reminiscent of his Westward the Women (1952) with the difference that this time the women are prostitutes, intended to be morale boosters to stop the men of the outpost from deserting. Shot by Hollywood veteran Fregonese who co-scripted it with a strong emphasis on realism, the film got lost in the flood of Spaghetti Westerns.

Phil Hardy

Tittilating and exciting describe this movie, which has a opiate effect of luring the viewer in and addicting the viewer. Its a South of the border Western with Robert Taylor portraying an anti hero in charge of a group soldiers who are drafted from the prisons and gallows. He has his hands full just trying to keep them all from deserting. Ty Hardin plays an anarchist who slowly wins over Taylor's confidence and possibly respect. They are among a handful of men who transport beautiful women to the fort to help keep the number of deserters down. Meanwhile, former deserters unite with local natives and try to steal the women. Taylor plays the sort of anti hero who is much more believable and identifiable than the clownish ones of later spaghetti Westerns. Taylor, like Eastwood, wasn't as gifted an actor as his fellow cast members in most cases, so his stoic look serves as that of observer-cynic. However, the writing of "Savage Pampas" is far superior to that of the spaghetti Westerns. The characters are well defined and written well enough that you don't need an Eli Wallach or Lee Van Cleef to pull them off. Still, Hardin was never a slouch in the acting department. His anti hero has more heart than Taylor's, but Taylor's character is still convincing. Like true anti heroes, they're not superhuman murderous machines, but much more in line with the old West. The ending is totally unpredictable, and as far as I know, an unusual fate for Robert Taylor, and Ty Hardin. The music has a fascination to it, and it helps lure you in. One of the great Westerns.

This was one of Robert Taylor's final films. It should be seen not so much for his stiff performance (that was his style) as the Argentine Army Captain who's posted in the pampas during the last century, but for the realistic setting and story line this movie displays. It's not a great film but it does have some merits. Probably the only other face that will be recognized is that of Ty Hardin from the 50's TV show. There's a video now but you can likely still catch this one the late show too. But, it's worth watching. Taylor made a couple of other films before dying in 1969 but they're really not worth mentioning. But, check this one out for some quite accurate portrayals of gauchos on the wild pampas.