The conclusion amounts to something of a letdown, but everything up till then is pretty good. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. After killing an innocent man in self defence, Mexican-American lawman Bob Valdez(BURT LANCASTER)asks gunrunning rancher Frank Tanner(JON CYPHER),who instigated the chaos, to pay the dead man's wife compensation. "My momma taught me to remove my hat and my cigar in the presence of a lady. Ive never been able to read Leonards crime fiction, but Ive not tried his westerns. Probably. I havent read the Leonard novel, but Zachs comments reinforce the impression I got from your description that, while an idea of justice may be the initial motivation, the plot eventually turns into a story of revenge. Elmore Leonard's crackerjack western novel "Valdez Is Coming" served as the inspiration for this lively western lensed on location in scenic Spain with Lancaster in top agile form for a 58-year old guy. The experience of a man may be hidden by time, but time cannot hide the experienced man. Unfortunately for Tanner, he has picked on the wrong man: Valdez is a wily, experienced Indian fighter and a marksman with a rifle. Valdez shoots one of Tanners men and sends him back with a message. But, of course, Leonard isnt REALLY a pulp author, any more than Portis is. Hot off of reading the Elmore Leonard novel last night, I decided to give the film adaptation a watch since it's still fresh in my memory. After taking out one rider with his shotgun, he tells him to send the message to Tanner "Valdez is coming". [2], When director Sydney Pollack was attached to the property, Lancaster was originally slated to play Frank Tanner with Marlon Brando as Valdez. Screen legend Burt Lancaster plays Bob Valdez, an ageing Mexican-American lawman who is called upon to assist in the apprehension of a supposed murderer. It seems odd that the alien race chose to save Caleb and Abby and raise two strange human children, but it was so the human race could start again. Regardless, the film is several notches above the usual Western. He automatically looked at him as a weak peasant instead of a great gunfighter and that theme works greatly here in this short and satisfying western. After he survives a jaunt through the desert, the old Valdez digs into his trunk and dresses up like the sage cavalry scout that he once was and comes to collect. Ive suppressed the plot of Wuthering Heights and havent yet read Collins, but I did consider and reject the other two. It is not as unrealistic as the former, nor is it as dour as the latter. I am not 100% sure revenge accurately sums up what he wants, though: that sounds petty, but what he wants seems almost grand. What was wonderful was how well these writers captured the essence of Elmore Leonard: the clarity, the boiled-down-to-its-primary-ingredient precision, the humor to be found in the worst possible circumstances, the ability to flip a familiar phrase around to make it new and better. Dom (Vin Diesel) and his familia are back to save the world again in Fast & Furious 9, although this time the threat is closer to home. His lumbering presence, dead pan line delivery, and domineering stature all speak to a type of man that doesnt exist in movies much. Towards the end Valdez and the lady ride at each other, the horses clashing and falling. I think maybe part of the shame of liking Poe (there is some shame, I think) is the possibility that one does perhaps identify, or at least sympathize, with his narrators. Made by fans in Aotearoa New Zealand. All right, you pay for the man and you get your woman.. Wuthering Heights does not fit your definition. Today, Elmore Leonard is primarily known for his crime fiction. Show All, 91mins That Leonard grew up in Detroit and not Santa Fe or Laramie or Yuma is a bit disconcerting, because it seems impossible that he could write so well of those people without having been one of them his whole life. Gay's lover is Frank Tanner(Jon Cypher), the leader of a band of cutthroats who lead the crusade to take out the black man who was mistaken for being the one who killed Gay's husband. The film opens with a town gathering in the desert led by local Frank Tanner (John Cypher) to which the stage coach carrying Valdez arrives. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. In the early 1970s Burt Lancaster would have been in his late fifties, but (unlike some of his contemporaries who had opted for more sedentary roles) was still keeping himself fit and active in action roles. Tanner rebuffs and humiliates Valdez twice, and the second time results in the latter being tortured. "The Tall T," "3:10 to Yuma," "Hombre," "Valdez is Coming," that I came to know and love Leonard's writing. Adapted from the famous novel by Elmore Leonard. Valdez a former Apache fighter, is a dead shot, choosing to fight with a long range buffalo rifle, shotgun and a revolver. Although I already feel as if these two might beenough Westerns for me, I thoroughly enjoyedValdez Is Coming, partly because it is so sincere, not to mention suspenseful. Clearly, actors in talking pictures can't reveal character very well without dialog. Its most certainly at the center of nearly everything in the genre whether characters are willingly giving themselves over to the gory release of it (e.g. Clint Eastwood certainly portrayed the brutal, enigmatic hero as well as it could be done but the purity of Leone's form could probably have carried almost any actor with a similar type of charisma through the story. But when Hendrix burst onto the '60s pop music scene, nobody even remotely resembled him, stylistically or otherwise. By what name was Valdez Is Coming (1971) officially released in India in English? But even the greatest of copyists, of Leonard as with Van Gogh, surely find that it's easy to make the copy look like the original from across the room, but on close inspection, there is a not so readily achieved magic imbedded in the ridges and hollows. I just get the impression that he knew deep in his soul how hard-bark people sound. Easygoing, but crafty and resourceful Mexican constable Bob Valdez (a typically sturdy performance by the always reliable Burt Lancaster) must resort to violence in order to collect one hundred dollars from evil and corrupt rancher Frank Tanner (nicely played to the hateful hilt by Jon Cypher) as compensation for the pregnant Native American widow of a black man Valdez wrongly killed. He delivers it and then lies dying, and we spend nearly two pages with him as he reflects on Valdez, and on his own life and immanent death: He should have thought more about the way the man stood at the wall and watched them shoot at him. I do think he has limited range, but he knew how to pick roles that played to his strengths. The central pole is so long that Valdez must walk bent over. Valdez tried to smooth things over by consulting with the black man, but hothead RL Davis(Richard Jordan..a bucketful of energy and spunk)open fires before the constable to get the honest proof of the victim's innocence. Drama A Mexican-American lawman seeks revenge against a rancher who tricked him into shooting an innocent man and then left him in the desert to die alone. Please consider upgrading to a Pro accountfor less than a couple bucks a month, youll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages (example), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads! Valdez Is Coming is a 1971 American Western film directed by Edwin Sherin and starring Burt Lancaster, Susan Clark, Richard Jordan and Jon Cypher. Burt Lancaster gives a great, artistic and very reserved performance as a very tired, lonely man who looks unassuming but should just not be messed with. Copyright 2023 - Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews. In Valdez is Coming, adapted from the co-titled Elmore Leonard novel, Leone's moralistically stark paradigm acquires a conscience and characters that, while as vividly drawn as the Master's, are discernibly more real. He imbues natural dialog with rhythms that aren't found in nature, but which speak louder and more powerfully than nature. Required fields are marked *. The resulting confrontation was instigated by thoroughly nasty land baron Frank Tanner (Jon Cypher), who turns out to be a very bad guy indeed. That leaves Tanner to do his own dirty workif he can. For some reason, friends that are fans of both Burt Lancaster and/or westerns have not seen this movie. Jakob . Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. The dead manwho was black, which also entered into the issueleft an Indian woman, and Valdez wants $200 to get her back to the reservation. The town turns him down; too much money. The Secretary The Secretary, who calls. Valdez is Coming? The play's ending reveals that Sancho himself, rather than the Mexican stereotypes, is the true robot -- a comment on the soulless nature of his enterprise. This 10-digit number is your confirmation number. Cinemark Moby-Dick. Auch das Schauspiel ist eben nur solide, die wahren Schauwerte liegen definitiv in den Schusswechseln. It is Heathcliff who seeks revenge, and his victims are more or less innocent. the Terms and Policies, and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. Valdez recovers and summons up his days in the U.S. Cavalry in order to fight them. . Aging town constable Bob Valdez (Burt Lancaster) is tricked into killing an innocent African-American man by powerful rancher Frank Tanner (Jon Cypher), whose hired gun R.L. The money is to go to the black man's pregnant Apache woman. Same as it ever was. The supporting cast is very good. I havent seen a Western section in a new-book bookstore for some time, though they do occasionally show up in used book stores and sales. A payback film that attempts, sometimes successfully, to be in the Euro-Western Sergio Leone mold. this book), balancing it and/or disguising it with idealized notions of justice and fair play (e.g. Valdez is the missing link between the wild frontier and the civilized west. Sometimes he must kill. He is not of the people; he is alone. Just confirm how you got your ticket. Tanner helplessly snarls at Valdez, "I should have had you killed three days ago." ", When the film was released to video, Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly wrote that, "Slow and choppy, Valdez manages an astounding feat: It drains Lancaster of personality."[5]. "It's my life's goal. Watch Charlton Heston Burt Lancaster play a Mexican? The one man apocalypse that is Bob Valdez kidnaps Tanner's fiance Gay Erin(SUSAN CLARK)and escapes deep into the mountains. [1] Plot [ edit] The movie gets better and better as I age into an old man. That Mr. Leonard seemed so pleased with how his style was translated to the screen is a great credit to those writers. This is true: just a few weeks back, I happened to pick up another novel from Elmore Leonard called 'Valdez is coming'. Not sure this would happen today. western, outlaw, cowboy, shootout or gunfight western, cowboy, outlaw, wild or frontier violence, action, guns, cops or killing historical, epic, battle, historic or fought racism, african american, powerful, hatred or slavery Still Frank will continue to underestimate Valdez who knows the entire country all too well. Perhaps it's because I've been more devoted to Westerns (as films) than any other genre for much of my adult life, or perhaps it's because (I find) his Westerns have been generally more successfully adapted to films. More than that, I hoped his involvement with the show meant I might get to meet him. Inside, she was wild as mountain scenery.". Similarly, in their respective big-screen debuts, Hector Elizondo is good as Tanner's second-in-command, and Richard Jordan of "Raise the Titanic" has a supporting role. Despite Gay Erin's help, Valdez is finally surrounded and captured. Valdez tries to negotiate a peaceful settlement, as the hunted man says hes innocent. First of all, Crook, in 1883, was the head of the Department Of Arizona, not the 7th Cavalry. May 19It might have been the 2007 fight between Georges St-Pierre and Matt Serra, won by Serra in a monumental upset, that lit the fire. Indeed, the African-American had been trapped in a small cabin at the foot of a rise, and several rifleman had kept him pinned down in the structure. Valdez (/ v l d i z, v l d z /; Alutiiq: Suacit) is a city in the Chugach Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska.According to the 2010 US Census, the population of the city is 3,976, down from 4,036 in 2000. "I don't know. But, then, its not as though you should actually have to *buy* a copy of the book, anyway. It walks the line between the tone of Spaghetti westerns and American revisionist westerns while setting its own pace. I suppose you could argue that it leaves a dangling ending - what happens to Tanner, etc - but the main conflict is over. but honor was always priceless. Even if his books look calm as Sunday on the outside, inside they're wild as mountain scenery. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. This is a great movie, one that deserves watching by anyone interested in the Western, and any Elmore Leonard fan. Your email address will not be published. The film concerns about the upright Bob Valdez(Burt Lancaster),an older Mexican-American constable,he accidentally murders someone accused by Tanner(Jon Cypher) of being a killer of the husband from his lover(Susan Clark).Then Valdez asks Tanner one hundred dollars for his spouse,it ignites the violence ,passions and ultimately deadly taking on with the local landowner baron and his henchmen(Hector Helizondo,Richard Jordan).A respectable Valdez recovers his uniform and weapons his days in the US cavalry and he goes killing one by one enemies.He's only helped by an old Mexican(Frank Silvera). <p>(It may be a personal prejudice, but I always found the old circus artiste more convincing in roles like this one than in those in Visconti's frescoes.) Exciting formulaic revenge Western (made in Spain) as directed by Edwin Sherin (helmed The Great White Hope on Broadway) in his debut feature film that is adapted from a novel by Elmore Leonard. Kudos are also in order for Gabor Pogany's crisp widescreen cinematography and the rousing dramatic score by Charles Gross. Hombre? I like this idea about the similarity between detective fiction and western fiction. Thinking further in the 19th century, Poes Hop-Frog and The Cask of Amontillado largely fit my idea of the revenge plot. False Positive offers a different ending: Lucy refuses to mother the twin . "The Tall T" is a Budd Boetticher film starring Randolph Scott with a screenplay by Burt Kennedy. Afterward, Bob Valdez (Burt Lancaster of "Lawman") goes around trying to take up a collection for the African-American's widow. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), There Was More To It: Elmore Leonard, Valdez Is Coming. Bob Valdez kidnaps tanner 's fiance Gay Erin 's help, Valdez is Coming ( 1971 ) officially released India... 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