To me, this movie is perfection.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This one deals with an one man army at a mighty adventure . A yankee soldier of fortune , Robert Mitchum , playing both sides in a blazing war of revolt , as he does a spot of smuggling in 1916 revolutionary Mexico , the period during which this film is set , as war swept Mexico . As the Gringo mercenary crossing the river , as he runs into problem with Mexican people and being nicknamed ¨Alacran¨, at the same time relentlessly chased by the Regulars . The rebel revolutionaries and continuous treason reflect different aspects of his situation . Then , Mitchum falls for the gun-running's unhappy wife , Úrsula Thiess ; crossing swords with her husband , the wealthy weapon dealer , Zachary Scott . The cry that rooked the world'd hottest strip the hell ¡. A Western drama with noisy action , shootouts , crosses , and doublé crosses . Bursting with attractive characters, interesting themes , sub-plots , symbols , and with very decent filmmaking and interpretation. Photographically with portentous images and musically , it's a continuous treat . The picture centers on Mitchum , a gringo mercenary operating South of Border , in a gun-running mission , as he finds out the blessings , belonging and the burderns of the Mexican revolution . This flick bears a certain resemblance to ¨The wonderful country¨1959 by Robert Parish with Robert Mitchum , Julie London , Garry Merrill , Albert Dekker . Robert Mitchum grapples rather unsteadly with his role as a gunrrunner who ends with his heart in the right place . Robert gives a lively as well as easy acting as an extremely ambitious dealer to get his objectives . The gorgeous eye-candy Úrsula Thiess , who married Robert Taylor , is pretty good as the wife with a thunderous life , though she attempts to take a honest way. Úrsula began her professional career as a model, landing small movie roles and eventually relocating to California, where her Hollywood career bloomed . Her film credits include Monsoon , Bengal Brigade, which co-starred Rock Hudson. She also appeared with Glenn Ford in The Americano and The Iron glove alongside Robert Stack . His husband is finely performed by usually nasty Zachary Scott , as he often plays bad guys . Gilbert Roland also takes advantage from a villain but good character . Satisfying support cast plenty of prestigious secondaries such as : Zachary Scott , Douglas Fowley , Henry Brandon , and the Mexican : Rodolfo Acosta, Jose Torvay , Victor Junco , and the latin lover Gilbert Roland . And a cast of thousands , including a lot of extras , as the older Mexicans hired as extras in the film were former soldiers of Pancho Villa and others were former government troops who fought them. Interesting and well structured screenplay by Earl Fenton , based on a successful story . It contains a colorful cinematography in Cinemascope , Color De Luxe by Ernest Laszlo , including wonderful landscapes from Iguala, Guerrero , Torreon , Yaltupec , Durango , Cuernavaca , Taxo , Acapulco , Guerero , Bavisne and Churubasco studios , Mexico ; in fact , it was shot on many of the actual battle sites of the 1916 Mexican revolution . And a sensitive and rousing musical score by the classy composer Max Steiner , adding marvelous Mexican sounds and songs .This modest drama/action/Western picture was professionally and firmly directed by Richard Fleischer , assisted by a Mexico production unit ; though slowly filmed, as I miss more action and shots, but it also has explosion, pursuits and impressive battles . The movie was a collaboration between Robert Mitchum's independent production company DRM Productions and Robert L. Jacks Productions , supported by the prestigious fimmaker Richard Fleischer . Richard was a prolific craftsman who made a lot of films in all kinds of genres throughout a long career in which he was able to endow with a wealth of personal detail . As he directed adventures: Vikings , 20000 leagues under the sea , Red Sonja , Conan the destroyer , Mandingo , Ashanti , Doctor Dolittle , The prince and the pauper ; Thrillers: Mr Majestick , The Don is dead , The new Centurions , Million dollar mystery ; Historical : Barabbas ; Terror : Amityvile 3 the Demon ; Musical : The jazz singer ; Wartime : Tora tora tora ; Sci-Fi : Soilent Green ; Crime : 10 Rillington Place , The Boston strangler , Compulsion , See no evil ; Noir film : The narrow margin , The clay pigeon , Armored car robbery , Follow me quietly , Trapped . Rating : 6.5/10 acceptable and passable . Well worth watching .

For not completely understandable reasons, the soldier-of-fortune Wilson (Robert Mitchum) is sentenced to be shot by his ex-friends, the Mexican revolutionaries. However, he escapes from jail using two hand grenades he has in his pockets! This is just the highlight of the many absurdities of the story of "Bandido". As a matter of fact, the Mexican revolutionaries look so incredibly stupid to suggest some racial prejudice against them. Fortunately, this is manifestly impossible, since the film-maker keeps showing himself totally sympathetic with the revolution, even too much.Some other outstanding examples of dumbness. The beautiful hostage Mrs. Kennedy has a gun in her purse, since nobody has searched her. The revolutionaries instantly trust the slimy arm dealer Kennedy (by the way, perhaps the nicest character in the movie), that tells them the weapons are hidden in a false place, where the federals are fixing an ambush. Later, the revolutionaries decide to whimsically shoot Wilson, the only one who can help them. However, in spite of the film-maker intentions, Wilson doesn't seem much smarter, either. He gets that Kennedy lies and is planning some trick. Why doesn't Wilson openly explain the situation to his friend Escobar? This little omission will cost him a death sentence. Later, when Wilson and Escobar make it up, they immediately ride to the hidden arsenal. Only, they are closely chased by a battalion of federals! Wouldn't it be better to leave behind the enemy, in the first place?Other major flaws of the movie are concerned with the action scenes. The revolutionaries on horse-back attack a train, defended by federals with machine guns. I say, isn't a train faster than horses? Don't the machine guns easily exterminate the chargers (it is well-known that these weapons caused the disappearance of the cavalry charges). And why the engine-driver suddenly stops the train? (To be pedantic, the horses should be exhausted and unable to charge, since they have run all the preceding night long.) At the end, Wilson and Escobar destroy in one shot the battalion of federals, making a boat full of dynamite explode. That is totally unrealistic. At the very best, the explosion would have killed Wilson and Escobar, as well. I'm sorry for my negative comments, since the director Fleischer is a solid professional, that made a number of very good noir-films in the early 1950s. Well, "Bandido" actually has a remarkable merit, the stunning beauty of the Mexican locations, enhanced by an accurate and stylish photography. There is some good wise-cracking dialog, as well.Unfortunately, the beauties of Mexico are not enough to make "Bandido" a recommendable movie.

In a distinguished career spanning over four decades, film director Richard Fleisher called the shots on a number of memorable, well-made movies. In the 1950s, he gained acclaim with his hard-nosed crime thrillers, among them "Armored Car Robbery" (1950), "The Narrow Margin" (1952), and "Violent Saturday" (1955). Later, he would turn to true-life crime with "Compulsion" (1959), "The Boston Strangler" (1968), and "10 Rillington Place" (1971). Many remember him for his ground-breaking sci-fi films, among them "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1954), "Fantastic Voyage" (1966), and "Soylent Green" (1973). Fleisher also ventured with serviceable results into the realm of fantasy with the seminal Kirk Douglas & Tony Curtis saga "The Vikings" and then later teamed up with Arnold Schwarzenegger to helm "Conan the Destroyer" (1984) and "Red Sonja" (1985). Fleischer directed the Darryl F. Zanuck-produced World War II epic "Tora, Tora, Tora" (1970) long before Michael Bay's turgid, soap operatic "Pearl Harbor," and he directed one of the more controversial biographies of the 1960s: "Che!" (1969) with Omar Sharif as the legendary Argentinian Communist revolutionary and guerrilla fighter Che Guevara and Jack Palance as Fidel Castro. Mind you, he has also made his share of turkeys: "Doctor Doolittle" (1967) with Rex Harrison and "Mandingo' (1975) with James Mason. During those 40 years, Fleisher experimented with virtually every genre. He made one Biblical epic "Barabbas" (1961) and "Amityville 3-D" (1983). Interestingly, he is least remembered for his three westerns: "Bandido" (1956), "These Thousand Hills" (1959) and the Lee Marvin outlaw epic "The Spikes Gang." Robert Mitchum plays Wilson, an American adventurer in a white linen beneath the Mexican border trying to arrange an arms deal between a trigger-happy Hispanic bandit colonel (Gilbert Roland of "The Torch") and another well-heeled gringo merchant Kennedy (Zachary Scott of "Mildred Pierce") who initially plans to sell his ordinance to the Mexican Army. Director Richard Fleisher helmed this atmospheric, 1916-circuit shoot'em up on actual Mexican revolutionary battle sites with extras who had served on both sides of the fracas and swapped lead with each other. Scenarist Earl Felton penned the exciting but occasionally contrived screenplay. Interestingly enough, "Bandido" qualified as the fourth collaboration between Fleischer and Felton. Earlier, they had worked together on Fleischer's hard-boiled crime thrillers. Compared with the westerns of the 1960s and the 1970s, "Bandido" is more noisy than bloodthirsty. Indeed, thousands of rounds of ammunition are expended, but you don't see blood-splattered bodies tumbling every which way as they would later in the films of Sam Peckinpah. Nevertheless, when this Mexican revolutionary melodrama came out in the 1950s, there weren't that many westerns of its kind being released. Indeed, Italian writer & director Sergio Corbucci drew inspiration from "Bandido" to make a couple of trendy Franco Nero spaghetti westerns: "A Professional Gun" (1968) and "Companeros" (1970). This type of spaghetti western became a sub-genre of its own during the 1960s and the 1970s. (Not only did Fleischer's "Bandido" inspire these Euro westerns, "The Vikings" had given rise to the short-lived Viking peplum movies such as "Erik the Conqueror" and "Knives of the Avenger.") Anyway, our money-hungry mercenary hero shows Escobar the bandit colonel how he can obtain the arms that he so desperately needs. Escobar and his peasant army commandeer the train that the Mexican government has provided Kennedy. At the same time, the villainous Gunther (gimlet-eyed Henry Brandon, best known for his treacherous Indian in the John Wayne epic "The Searchers"), the go-between Kennedy and the Mexican generals, suggests to Kennedy before the train falls into Escobar's hands, to send the Mexican revolutionaries on a wild goose chase to a sea-side villa where Gunther will arrange to have the soldiers rescue him. Gunther then escapes capture and heads off to warn the Mexican General about this turn of events. Instead, a wily Wilson convinces Escobar to hold Kennedy captive and send Kennedy's beautiful wife Lisa (German actress Ursula Thiess) with an escort to where the guns are stashed. Escobar is the kind of character who doesn't let people lie to him more than once. At the last minute, Wilson suspects that Kennedy has dispatched his wife and the revolutionaries on the wrong trail, so he rides after them. Wilson saves Lisa from being gunned down, but he puts himself at odds with Escobar who is only too willing to kill him. Eventually, Escobar's resourceful men capture Wilson and throw him in jail with Kennedy who realizes the error of his ways. At this point, Felton's screenplay gets a little too cute. When the bandits decide to execute Wilson, they allow him to take his jacket with him. Earlier in the action, our hero made a big deal out of the hand grenades that he kept in his suitcase with his linen, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he uses a couple of hand grenades to break Kennedy and himself out of jail. They escape through a swamp and Kennedy grudgingly reveals the whereabouts of the ordinance. Predictably, when Kennedy bad mouths Wilson about his treachery, Escobar is nearby and learns what a nice guy that Wilson is and allows him to live. Kennedy dies in a blaze of gunfire and our heroes find the ordinance and save the day. The romantic subplot between amorous Wilson and Kennedy's unhappy wife generates few sparks and it's easy to see why Thiess' career foundered. Meanwhile, the camaraderie between Mitchum and Roland is first-rate, just the kind of stuff that Italian westerns who pay homage to. Later, Roland made several spaghetti westerns as a Mexican bandit type. If you can catch a letterboxed copy of "Bandido," you can see some truly gorgeous scenery and camera work. Mitchum would later encore in a similarly themed western from the same era entitled "The Wrath of God," where he would play another adventurer who lugged around a Thompson submachine gun in a suitcase rather than a pair of hand grenades.

You can usually count on Richard Fleisher to deliver the goods, and here he does not disappoint. Robert Mitchum as an American soldier-0f-fortune gives a good performance. However, the always reliable Zachary Scott virtually steals the movie in the heavy role. The film was shot on location and that certainly adds to the fun. I recommend this film.