Valdez Is Coming (1971)

Director:

Edwin Sherin

Writers:

Roland Kibbee (screenplay) and
David Rayfiel (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 April 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Honor is Always Worth Fighting For.

Plot:

A Mexican-American sheriff must resort to violence against a powerful rancher in order to get just compensation for the pregnant Indian widow of a wrongly killed black man.

Plot Keywords:

Widow | Evil Landowner | Stagecoach | Mexican | Intimidation

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Valdez
Susan Clark	...	Gay Erin
Frank Silvera	...	Diego
Jon Cypher	...	Frank Tanner
Richard Jordan	...	R.L. Davis
Barton Heyman	...	El Segundo
Hector Elizondo	...	Mexican Rider
Phil Brown	...	Malson
Ralph Brown	...	Beaudry
Werner Hasselmann	...	Sheriff (as Werner Hassleman)
Lex Monson	...	Rincon
Sylvia Poggioli	...	Segundo's Girl (as Sylvia Paggioli)
José García García	...	Carlos (as Jose Garcia Garcia)
María Montez	...	Anita (as Maria Montez)
Juanita Penaloza	...	Indian Woman

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, brief nudity and some language.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | West Germany:16 (f) | UK:15 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG-13 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Estudios Roma, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Ira Steiner Productions

Quotes:

El Segundo: [about Gay] She never smiles. If she were my woman, I would make her smile.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)

Topflight cast in offbeat western tale

I usually avoid Westerns like the plague, but the pedigree on this film (debut of theater director Sherin, starring Lancaster, Cypher, & Clark and featuring Jordan & Elizondo in their first movie roles) kept me interested til the, well, offbeat ending. Beautiful location scenery and smart writing helps this story of a Mexican sheriff (Lancaster) betrayed and humiliated in a most blasphemous way by a vile land baron (Cypher) over the honor of a widowed Apache woman. Clark plays the baron's kindhearted lover who admires the sheriff for his decency and bravery. Jordan is especially smarmy here as a cowardly would-be gunslinger. Because of brief but bloody violence, a few "S" words, and a threatened rape, this film isn't suitable for kids under 14, but it would make a good object lesson in morality for teenagers. A nice companion piece to Henry Fonda in "The Ox-Bow Incident".