Charro
by Charles Marquis Warren
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DVD details
Actor: Elvis Presley, Ina Balin, Victor FrenchDirector: Charles Marquis Warren
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Mono; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Restored, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Widescreen, 2.40:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-08-07
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 114820
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Jess Wade is innocently accused of having stolen a cannon from the Mexican revolutionary forces. He tries to find the real culprits, a gang of criminals.Running Time: 98 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN Rating: PG Age: 085391148203 UPC: 085391148203 Manufacturer No: 114820
DVD Reviews of Charro
DVD Review: OK Elvis western notable mostly for Hugo Montenegro's music
Summary: 3 Stars
This middling Elvis western is the first of three films he made that were released in 1969 - the last three films he appeared in as an actor. The only previous film I've seen him in so far is HARUM SCARUM, and while both the film itself and his acting are a notch higher in this case, I can't say that so far I'm surprised that Elvis' film career isn't generally as fondly remembered as his music. It's said that his controlling manager, Col. Tom Parker, kept him from getting better roles, but while that may have something to do with things Elvis himself has to take some of the blame, and he does himself few favors in this dull, typical glossy well-scrubbed and preposterous oater. He's not terrible - certainly not the glazed sleepwalker that he was in the earlier film I'd seen - but he does seem unsure of himself at times, and he strikes few sparks with his leading lady Ina Balin.
Charles Marquis Warren is the director, producer and writer here, and he probably deserves as much of the blame as the star; it's also the second of his films that I've seen, and like Elvis this was at the end of his film career. His first film, 1951's Little Big Horn, is a great example of a good script and directorial flair and the right casting making up for a low budget; 18 years and over 2 dozen films and TV episodes (mostly westerns) later, he seems to have forgotten all of what he knew in that first film. Or maybe it's the whole Elvis vehicle thing that lets him down, I don't know. In any case, our story here concerns Jess Wade (Elvis), an outlaw trying to go straight, and the gangleader who won't forgive him running out, Vince Hackett (Victor French) essentially in a battle of wits and threats over a gold-plated "victory cannon", which Hackett has stolen from the Mexican government, intending to sell it to the highest bidder - and pin the thievery on Wade. Also along for the ride are Hackett's younger, wild and unstable brother Billy Roy (Solomon Sturges) and a group of bandits including most notably the excitable Gunner (James Sikking). Most of the action revolves around a town where Wade is friends with the sheriff (James Almanzar) who wants to help him - and in love with Tracy (Ina Balin), formerly Vince Hackett's girl.
So we've got jealousy, we've got the vengeful older bandit and his reckless younger brother, the bad guy trying to go straight, and also plenty of sheeplike townsfolk who seemingly can be convinced in every other scene that Wade's a good guy - no, a bad guy - no, a good guy. Etc. Whatever the script demands. This actually isn't all that bad up until the last quarter or so when the cannon is aimed at the town, where Wade is now the deputized sheriff after young Billy Roy has shot and wounded his friend the regular lawman - as the town is blown to pieces, what semblance of intelligence the script had is thrown out the window too. Don't say you weren't warned.
But all isn't lost, and the film does have some worthwhile bits. Victor French is pretty darn solid as the lead bad guy - he kept reminding me of Gene Hackman here, but I don't think Hackman would have done any better in the role. The rest of his gang are pretty good as well, and Ina Balin has an interesting exotic appeal though her role isn't terribly exciting. The best thing about the film though is Hugo Montenegro's rousing, over-the-top score which plays like some kind of combination between Morricone and a more conventional Hollywood score, like something from Dmitri Tiomkin maybe. A propulsive main title and variations alternate with some cool lower-key stuff like delicate parts dominated by the harp. Elvis sings the title song, which isn't bad, but that's it for his musical contribution. OK Cinemascope photography by Ellsworth Fredericks.
All in all, weak but not terrible, and worth a watch for Elvis fans, or Hugo Montenegro fans. As a western, it's pretty iffy - there are at least half a dozen better American examples just from '69, one of the last highwater marks for the genre in its birthplace. The DVD transfer is fine, the 2.35: 1 image looks about right, though the color strikes me as being a little soft. No extras except for the trailer.
Description of Charro
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