University of Virginia Library

CINEMA

Lancaster Makes Good As Peon

By Steve Grimwood
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Burt Lancaster once said that
he did "Airport" strictly for the
money. That can be easily believed.
Though I haven't heard any
remarks as to why he starred in
"Valdez Is Coming," money may
have been only a secondary
interest.

Bob Valdez is a
Mexican-American deputy sheriff in
the "greaser" section of town on
the weekends, spending the
remainder of his time riding
shotgun for the stagecoach.

Thus immediately the movie
takes on a different attitude than
most of the "rah for the
underprivileged Mexican peon"
flicks that have been glutting the
market since it became fashionable
for the Indians to win.
Dirt-scratching peons have certainly
been glorified before, but none
have been cast into the role of a
man with a badge who is still
known as "greaser."

Lancaster makes a fine
Mexican-American. Brown-skinned,
shabbily dressed, soft-spoken, the
camera continually cuts to his
steely-blue eyes, thus betraying his
heritage. Of course, he has a
conscience as big as the prairie. And,
of course, this eventually
determines the events of the film.

Suffice it to say that Valdez's
stubbornness and conscience put
him on the bad side of a man with
lots of money and lots of gunmen.
He is humiliated by the gunmen, he
comes back again and is roped to a
wooden cross in a somewhat hokey
scene. Next he takes more direct
action and kidnaps the bad guy's
wife.

The standard chase through
'beautiful mountain country
occupies the rest of the film.
Valdez leads them in and out the
hills and valleys, and does some
spectacular shooting, knocking off
five guys at a thousand yards with a
Sharps buffalo rifle. The ending,
well, the ending definitely takes the
prize as the weakest part of the
film. Many people would say that a
bad ending blows the whole deal,
but I must disagree in the case of
"Valdez."

Lancaster does a very
commendable job in the leading
role. The supporting cast is
adequate, but with no one
outstanding enough to rate special
attention.

The direction, by Edwin Sherin,
is fast-paced, with little lagging in
the entire film. It is also
surprisingly tasteful when it comes
to the inevitable "shoot 'em in the
head" scenes, letting you know that
someone has been shot but not
dwelling upon the fact as in the
Clint Eastwood tradition.

Overall, you come away with
the impression that nearly everyone
involved in the making of this film
actually tried to do the best job
they could. "Valdez Is Coming" is
certainly not the sleeper of the
year, but its also not just another
Hollywood shoot 'em - up.

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