The Appaloosa (1966)

Director:

Sidney J. Furie

Writers:

Robert MacLeod (novel)
James Bridges (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 October 1966 (West Germany)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Southwest to Sonora rode the lustful, the lawless... to live on the edge of violence!

Plot:

Man tries to recover a horse stolen from him by a Mexican bandit.

Plot Keywords:

Deep Focus | Appaloosa | Bandit | Confession Booth | Horse Thief

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win

Cast

Marlon Brando	...	Matt Fletcher
Anjanette Comer	...	Trini
John Saxon	...	Chuy Medina
Emilio Fernández	...	Lazaro (as Emilio Fernandez)
Alex Montoya	...	Squint Eye
Miriam Colon	...	Ana
Rafael Campos	...	Paco
Frank Silvera	...	Ramos
Larry D. Mann	...	Priest

Also Known As:

Southwest to Sonora (UK)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

According to co-star John SaxonMarlon Brando's relationship with director 'Sidney Furie' got to the point where Brando when getting ready to do a close-up would be reading a book. He would only lower the book when it was action. When it was cut, he'd raise the book again.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Priest: Madam.
[enters confessional booth]
Matt Fletcher: I'm having a little trouble getting started, Father.
Priest: You are in the House of God now, my son. Speak from your heart.
Matt Fletcher: Well, I've done a lot of killin'. I've killed a lot of men and sinned a lot of women. But the men I killed needed killin' and the women wanted sinnin', and well, I never was one much to argue.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Enemy at the Gates (2001)

The Appaloosa of Our Eye

The Appaloosa is a film that was made at a time when Marlon Brando's career was in the doldrums. Either films were not money makers though critically good like Reflections in a Golden Eye or they were outright duds like this one.

It's not a horrible western, just not a terribly good one. Even Brando's One Eyed Jacks with a whole lot of posing was more interesting than this one.

Brando plays a Confederate veteran come home to his Texas border town and the Mexican family that took him in as an orphan. He's got himself a nice Appaloosa horse that he hopes to breed as the start of a horse ranch.

He also manages to come between bandit John Saxon and his woman Anajette Comer. Saxon gets his back up over it all so he steals the Appaloosa, leaving Brando to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico and track him down.

All this over a horse, seems hardly worth the effort, we're not exactly talking about Trigger here.

Brando and Saxon have a great old contest in trying to top each other in overacting. I leave it to your own judgment, but personally I think Saxon won the prize.

Not Brando at his finest by any means.