Bandolero! (1968)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Let's be realistic.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Contrary to the opinions of some reviewers, amateur and professional, Mace Bishop (Jimmy Stewart) does not murder the hangman Ossie Grimes (Guy Raymond) in order to steal his garb and take his place. A check of James Lee Barret's movie script clears this up, revealing a scene unfortunately cut from the film.At the end of their seemingly convivial trailside meeting, Mace suddenly draws his gun.Mace: "I'm afraid I'm going to have to impose a little more on your hospitality, Mr. Grimes, but I imagine a man who loves life as much as you do will get over it."Ossie Grimes: "I don't understand."Mace: "You don't have to. I'm taking your ropes, your horse and your clothes."Ossie Grimes: "That don't leave me much, does it, friend?"Mace: "It leaves you naked and afoot. There'll be a stage by here in two days. Now, let's get 'em off."(As the camera fades into the next scene.)...and Ossie Grimes went on to have a wonderful life as a farmhand on the cast of "Green Acres".

If you're Catholic and you grew up in Spokane, Washington in the 60s and 70s, then there is a chance you used to read the Spokane Diocese's newspaper, The Inland Register. In it, movies would be reviewed not on their stories or acting but on their moral content. If a movie received an "M.O.", morally-objectionable, you were not to see the movie.For a future "fallen" Catholic like myself, the worse the rating in the IR, the better! I don't know for sure, but I'm betting Andrew V. McLaglen's Bandolero received the kiss of moral death by the folks at Lourdes Cathedral. What would have been exciting and appealing to a 17 year old is now viewed as repulsive trash, with two Old West recidivists (Jimmy Stewart and Dean Martin) running from the law (George Kennedy) with hostage Raquel Welch (Dow Corning) in tow.As Judith Crist used to say "the blood flows like Chianti" in Bandolero. There are no good guys except for Kennedy and his deputy Andrew Prine, and they're almost-but-not-quite cognitively impaired. Martin is too far gone for redemption as he slaughters his way across the desert while falling in love with non-actress Welch. His crew oozes with rapists and murderers, but we're supposed to cut Dino some slack because at least he feels a twinge of remorse for his deeds.Then there's Martin's brother, Stewart, who we are expected to believe is the better of the two brothers. That's a little hard to accomplish when he meets up with a hangman-for-hire and, offscreen, ices the poor shlub without so much as a sigh.By the end of movie, the bad guys and the good guys have teamed up to kill other badder guys, and the sand of a Mexican town is fairly spongy with blood.Bandolero is a nauseating mess, better left at the nearest distribution center of Netflix, unless you're hooked on Chianti.

The word "Bandolero!" rolls off the tongue so nicely you would think the film would have a more upbeat feel to it, especially with that exclamation point as part of the title. However the word in Spanish means bandit, and as the film heads into the second half the action gets pretty grim. Dean Martin and Jimmy Stewart are unusually cast as brothers who meet up in the town of Val Verde, Texas. Stewart's character assumes the guise of a hangman called upon to dispatch outlaw Dee Bishop (Martin) and his renegade bunch after a botched bank holdup that left a prominent citizen dead, shot by Dee. I was hoping to see more of Jock Mahoney when I saw his name in the credits, but he was that unfortunate victim, leaving behind a Mexican bride. I had almost forgotten how gorgeous Raquel Welch was, but this film showcases her looks to maximum appeal, without resorting to various stages of undress. Although there is one time during a battle with Mexican bandits where her blouse is ripped from the back, but the scene is played out more for it's savagery than for titillation.George Kennedy provides a competent but heavily understated portrayal of July Johnson, the Val Verde sheriff who puts together a posse to track down the Bishop gang after they flee from the gallows with Mace Bishop's (Stewart) intervention. I thought it was a clever idea for Mace to provide the weapon, but if you think about it, someone would probably have noticed the exchange of the gun in real life, so the way that's handled is prominently done off screen. That actually surprised me somewhat, as I was wondering how the 'break' would occur, and suddenly there it was.The other thing I wondered about throughout the picture was how Raquel maintained her makeup and wardrobe while trekking through the desert with the bad guys. I know you're not supposed to think about those things with escapist entertainment, but the way current films go for reality, the difference is easily noticed. Never a hair or eyelash out of place, even in those extreme close ups.Probably the biggest surprise by the end of the picture is the idea that Dino and Raquel fall in love (remember, Dee Bishop killed her husband), but it took some prodding from big brother Mace to insist that he talk to her. So in the end, Dino gets the girl, but he dies!, leaving a bittersweet feel at the closing credits.

I don't think this is a typical western at all. For the first half-hour it keeps viewers in the dark about situations and at points its twists seem more like those of a film noir. It also has an odd shift in tone. The first 1/3 is pretty light and it gets progressively grimmer and darker as the characters head south into Mexico. I think the key to its excellence is that there is a moral drama going on here between James Stewart and Dean Martin and they are both excellent and very moving. The fact that they are two of my favorite actors obviously has something to do with my opinion. In particular, Dean is much better then his reputation would suggest. The film has a very exciting climax, good supporting cast, some good dialog and is nicely shot, in Panavision, by western specialist William Clothier and has a Morricone-inspired score by the great Jerry Goldsmith.