Bandolero!

I just saw this for the first time and loved every minute of it. The cinematography and sound are top notch. Raquel Welch is gorgeous and her Spanish accent believable. She is the wife of one of the richest men in town, considerably older than her, and he gets shot dead when they choose the wrong moment to visit the bank...during a robbery. The robbers are caught...the leader being Dean Martin...and sentenced to hang. It is obvious from the get-go that Dean is not truly a bad guy...just one of those ex-Civil War Johnny Rebs who turned to robbing for a living after the South lost. Some banker wants Raquel to sell her husband's vast ranch because a woman could not possibly handle the burden. She delivers the memorable line as she starts out the door then changes her mind and tells her detractor- who only knows her as the rich man's wife: "I was a whore when I was 13, and my family of 12 never went hungry!" Pretty strong stuff for when this was made. James Stewart shows up having heard his brother Dean was to be hanged and disguised as the hangman, sets Dean and his gang free...without anyone knowing he had done it. As the Sheriff and most of the men in town chase after Dean and his gang, Stewart walks into the empty bank and walks off with its money and rides off. Turns out he too had fought in the war, but for the Union, and up to now has been little more than a saddle tramp. Dean and his men take Raquel as a hostage as they escape town. George Kennedy is the very decent Sheriff, who for years has loved Raquel. Turns out that tho he treated her decently enough, she never loved her husband who had bought her from the back of her father's cantina for a few cows and a couple of guns. The posse catches up with them just after they cross into Mexico from Texas, a big shoot-out ensues but the gang is again saved by Dean's older brother Jimmy Stewart, who has gone up above them with a rifle. On into Mexico they ride. Dean and Raquel begin to fall in love when he keeps the other men fron raping her and she senses he is at heart a good person. Jimmy has a dream of he and Dean starting over with their own ranch in Montana...tho he keeps the stolen money a secret. George Kennedy keeps obsessively chasing them even tho they are going farther into Mexico and bandolero! territory, where the bandits only want to kill and rob gringos. His posse wants to return home but are being picked off by the bandits. Jimmy Stewart and Dean Martin connect well as actors and have several emotional scenes together. Raquel Welch is at her most lively and convincingly delivers her Spanish accented lines as she falls for Dean-o. Andrew Prine is great as Kennedy's young loyal deputy, and Will Geer is memorable as an old crusty amoral gangmember, along with his mentally challenged son. Other minor characters are well-played as well. Just when it seems Dean has accepted that he can deserve Raquel's love, which she lets him know is offered, and with Jimmy Stewart and his stolen money they can begin anew in Montana, first Kennedy's posse (what remains after several are killed by bandoleros!) surprises and takes custody of Dean and Jimmy and the gang, but when the bandoleros who have follwed the posse to the hide-out stage an all-out attack, George has to free the prisoners so they can all fight together. A violent confrontation ensues, with all the gang and most of the posse along with many of the bandoleros killed. The Jefe chief of the bandoleros stumbles upon Raquel and tries to violently rape her, Dean intervenes dodging bullets and fighting with his fistsvuntil he is mortally stabbed and dies in Raquel's tearful embrace. When she had seen that the Jefe stabbed Dean, she came out with a gun blazing while cursing the guy in Spanish...shooting him full of holes. The remaining bandoleros, seeing their Chief is dead...hightail it for the hills. Jimmy Stewart, who was also shot, walks toward where the deceased Dean lies in Raquel's arms, lamenting that they almost had made it to their chance at a new beginning...then he collapses and also dies. The place is littered everywhere with the dead. Practically only George Kennedy and Raquel have survived to return home. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this film, that could have seemed mediocre but wasn't.

The bluray I bought pauses as specific points, and the only way to get around it is to hit the next chapter, and then back track wo where it paused in order to get the full movie into your system.The film itself is mildly interesting, and it shows a young George Kennedy when he actually was a very young and extremely good actor, verse his somewhat "over the top" style in his later years, notably with the airport movies.To be honest, even though I've seen the movie several times, it just doesn't stick with me, and I can't remember much of it for whatever reason, other than Jimmy Stewart plays a bad guy helping his friends escape the hangman's noose, and in the end both law and desperados have to confront Mexican banditos as they fight for life and money.Kind of an interesting western that has a lot of tropes in it, even the mixture of some standards to give a new and unique twist on old story tropes.Give it a shot and see what you think.

well i really liked the fact that it did not play, and i could never view the movie. I have no idea what it's about cause i never saw it.. my money was wasted and there does not seem to be any option to get it back.

Westerns used to be written for 8-year-old boys to enjoy. As the television destroyed the use of the movie house as a baby-sitter, they started to make westerns for intelligent adults. This is no cheap oater. It has good writing, good actors, great photography, nice sound - everything except audiences that were getting tired of westerns.But the times are passed, and a good portion of the population thinks Noah Beery was Kames Garner's dad, "Rocky" on "The Rockford Files", if they're even old enough to remember that TV series at all. But that was Noah Beery, Junior. His father was an actor in westerns.So if yoou didn't know that, you'll probably enjoy this movie. And if you DID know that, you'll probably still enjoy this movie. Get yourself a box of Ju-Ju-Bes, pop yourself a big bowl of popcorn, topping it with REAL butter instead of that yellow crap they use at movie houses, and plop down on the sofa with your best girl. And it's OK for the kids to watch it with you, and even the dog!

Not bad or I can say very interesting Western. Main characters of this movie were actually anti-hero with bank robberies played by both James Stewart and Dean Martin. It was interesting to watch how imposter Hangman played by Stewart succeeded to free his young brother Dean Martin and others from hanging execution. There was a scene of public male bathing house (?) in the barrel at the field (not in the house) of several men resting in the barrel. This is the first movie I watched of this kind of action in the open field. Very interesting. Truly it shows the feeling of rough Western. I lived and traveled in the Southwest, so I feel sceneries looked familiar (although I never visited true Bracketville, Texas - famous John Wayne's Alamo set site). We can learn that job of posse was not a easy job in this movie. Anyway, every characters played well including Raquel Welch, George Kennedy and others. It was a good entertainment movie.

Saw this western as a 10 year old kid and was blown away by it. One of the first films I saw in which bad guys turned out not quite that bad after all. As the story progresses I felt more sympathetic to the brothers. It wasn't hard to like the brother played by James Stewart. Who would not come to help his brother, no matter what he has done. But as I got deeper and deeper into the story I could understand the other brother's (played by Dean Martin) motives as well. I'm glad it's available on DVD, so I could pick it up. Going to watch it with my sons, just like my parents watched it with me and my brother!

Have always admired James Stewart and Dean Martin. An unlikely pair but through the story not a run of the mill western, but complimated each other well. Really enjoyed this western.

A film worth watching

A very good film he give his all in the part he plays but I was disappointed that he died in the end but a really good film

Bought dvd for my dad he really enjoyed it.