Rijndri Load of rubbish!!
ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Spikeopath Four years before he would be known as the master of the gimmick, William Castle directed this South of the border Western starring Glenn Ford, Cesar Romero, Abby Lane and Frank Lovejoy. In true William Castle style, tho let it be known it wasn't always his fault, The Americano was met with a number of problems. Not least that after being afforded a considerable budget by RKO standards, they ran out of money half way thru. With most of the shoot being in the Matto Grosso jungle in Brazil, where it's believed that Budd Boetticher took control of the shoot, they had to hop tail it back to Hollywood where the project sat in limbo for months. By the time of the reconvene, original choice for the role of Teresa, Sara Montiel, had moved onto Warner Bros and was no longer available after having her RKO contract cancelled for the film. In came Abby Lane and all the scenes with Teresa in had to be re-shot.The plot sees Ford as Texas cowboy Sam Dent who agrees to take on a job of delivering prize Bulls to a mysterious buyer down near the Amazon in Brazil. However, when he gets there he finds that the man he was meant to meet has been murdered. Quickly making friends with Manuel (Romero), Dent finds that there is a range war going on and that bandits run rife in the area. Trying to stay neutral he finds that he may have to pick a side after all. Does he trust Manuel, a well known bandit by all s, be loyal to Bento Hermanny (Lovejoy) who has given him a roof over his head, or pitch in with the lovely Marianna Figuerido (Ursula Thiess) who he is starting to get sweet on? Either way it possibly spells trouble for him.Amiable, if over used, story that becomes watchable due to the efforts of Ford (as cool as ever) and Romero (who walks away with the movie), The Americano is clearly not the movie the makers set out to make. It was a bold move to make a Western down by the Amazon, not least because the locale should have made for rich pickings. But the problems off screen are up there on the screen. It's photographed by William E. Snyder (Creature from the Black Lagoon/Flying Leathernecks) and the locale is not utilised at all. Shot in Technicolor, the jungle sadly looks grey and almost ashen. There's a little bit of good lens work for a fire sequence, but the majority of it is very poor. They may as well have just built a cheap jungle set at the California base where the rest of the film was shot. The editing is bad and some scenes are blighted by basic errors, watch as Ford is hand tied on his horse one minute then rides an escape in free hand the next! Then there is the awful performance of Thiess, so bad it's obvious why she didn't go on to have a career in Hollywood. This in spite of Howard Hughes manfully fighting her corner.However, this is a film I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to my Western loving friends on proviso they don't expect too much. Ford and Romero are worth it, as is a couple of scenes such as a pitch fork fight and a dandy piranha dangle sequence. While for the boys Lane warbles and wobbles in a very engaging way. So a big case of not what it should have been, but not without its merits either, and certainly fun enough to adequately fill a couple of hours of undemanding time. 5.5/10
classicsoncall I've seen Westerns set in Mexico and Australia, but this is the first one I've seen set in Brazil. Which wouldn't have been so bad, but this was so far south of the border that it turned into an extended siesta. Considering the principals, especially the reliable Glenn Ford (I'd say always reliable, but not after seeing this one), one would expect a far more interesting story to complement the South American geography. Much more could have been done to define the rivalry between Bento Hermany (Frank Lovejoy) and the opposing homestead ranchers, among them the lovely landowner Marianna (Ursula Theiss). It's probably only the appearance of Manuel 'El Gato' (Cesar Romero) and the shimmy shimmy Teresa (Abbe Lane) that gives the picture any life at all. The truly unusual touch here would have to be all the Amazonian wildlife on display - alligators, anacondas, toucans, macaws, cockatiels, even a South American tapir. The early tease with the piranhas actually gets wasted later in the film when riders are shown crossing the river without resorting to the same ruse required earlier to distract the little buggers. I'd really like to be more positive about the film, but ultimately, I don't think I've ever seen a film before where there's so much going on that when it's over, you feel like nothing happened at all.
dean t After delivering his prize bulls from Texas to a mysterious buyer in the Amazon, Glen Ford is reluctantly drawn into a dispute between a wealthy rancher, a beautiful women, homesteaders and Brazilian bandits. A vintage performance by Ford is complemented by Cesar Romero, as the bandit "El Gato." The sexy Abbe Lane pulls off a song in the middle of the movie that showcases her then husband, Xavier Cugat's, Latin score. Americans in the 1950's were fascinated with the Amazon, one of North America's last frontiers. With some great second unit wildlife shots, this is not Monument Valley. If you can enjoy an old time western, with its stoic hero and sharp moral choices, set in 1950's Brazil, then this one is for you.
neobowler This was not a very good movie. It was so corny and lame. I did not like watching it. Glenn Ford is at his worst and his performance is rather sad. I really would not recommend this movie! There was not really anything good about it. But I have seen worse movies. I give it a 1 1/2 out of 5.
