Bandolero! (1968)
Bandolero! (1968), directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.
First review
Entertaining but formulaic western. Everyone knows how to behave during a bank robbery and when escaping from a hanging. Many familiar faces and the same old sound effects. And where do they get all those little leather vests? It's supposed to be 1867: shouldn't there be more Civil War paraphernalia?
The late-60s twist is to make the good guys dullards and James Stewart a spur of the moment bank robber. A little anti-hero sentiment. This is when westerns had to have a little funky jaw-harp music for background whimsy. But the bandit leader treats his female hostage more or less decently and she has nice outfits.
It's startling how many 1960s westerns have Rat Pack crew. This is one of several with Dean Martin. Raquel Welch's problem was that she was a notorious beauty and the filmmakers didn't let her do anything else.
Jerry Goldsmith score.
Second review
A few additional notes and new thumbnails from the Blu-ray.
There is "tough" but "tough old man" -- as James Stewart plays here -- is something even harder. As it turns out he's actually a sweetie who uses comedy rather than meanness.
Inevitably we will compare this to the The Wild Bunch (1969) which came out the next year. We open with a bank robbery gone wrong and have a pursuit of the gang into Mexico. This film is brutal by the standards of the time, but Peckinpah's film goes to a whole new level.
Raquel Welch always looks like a million bucks, no matter how hard the riding or how harsh the desert conditions. Those cheekbones are always perfectly lit. The filmmakers can't help it in this case, although I note that Barbara Rush looks pretty stressed in Hombre (1967) made the year before.
In a early exchange with the banker, Welch says "I was a whore at 13 and my family of 12 never went hungry".
The movie reminds me of how much George Kennedy added to every film he was in. Here he is the shy small town sheriff hopelessly in love with the former prostitute, now a rich widow.
Doesn't anyone wonder how the condemned man got a gun on the gallows?
Hiding the saddlebags of bank loot in plain sight is a nice gimmick.
Jerry Goldsmith's main theme was given lyrics and became a minor pop tune as "There's Got to Be a Better Way".
Photographed by William H. Clothier -- The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Seven Men from Now (1956).
Available on Blu-ray from Twilight Time. The commentary track by western film scholars is more about the people than the story.
