100 Rifles
| 100 Rifles | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
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| Directed by | Tom Gries |
| Produced by | Marvin Schwartz |
| Written by |
Clair Huffaker Tom Gries |
| Based on | novel by Robert MacLeod |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Cecilio Paniagua |
| Edited by | Robert L. Simpson |
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Production
company |
Marvin Schwartz Productions
|
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,920,000 |
| Box office | $3.5 million (US/ Canada rentals) |
100 Rifles is a 1969 western directed by Tom Gries based on Robert MacLeod's 1966 novel The Californio, and stars Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch and Fernando Lamas. The film was shot in Spain. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.
In 1912 Sonora, Mexico, Lyedecker is an Arizona lawman who travels to a remote village to meet Yaqui Joe, a half-Yaqui Indian, half-white bank robber who has stolen $6,000 to buy 100 rifles for his Yaqui people who are being repressed by the government.
Lyedecker is not concerned with Joe's cause of helping his tribe, and all he cares about is getting the money returned to a Phoenix bank within his jurisdiction. The two men escape to the hills where they are joined by Sarita (Welch), a beautiful Indian revolutionary. They eventually become allies and fight for the Indians.
Taking over the leadership of the Yaquis, Lyedecker ambushes Verdugo's train while Sarita distracts the attention of the soldiers on board by taking a public shower. The train is later derailed in a town and the culmination had a fierce gun battle, which Joe and his people finally win.
The film was the first of a four-picture deal producer Martin Schwartz had with 20th Century Fox. It was based on a novel by Robert McLeod. The script was originally written by Clair Huffaker. Tom Gries signed to direct following his successful feature debut with Will Penny. Gries wrote two further drafts of the script himself. "He says he's not a carpenter," reported the Los Angeles Times. "He says he can't work with a script that he doesn't believe in himself." Huffaker later requested his name be taken off the credits and replaced with a pseudonym, "Cecil Hanson," because "the finished product... bears absolutely no resemblance to my original script."
The leads were given to Raquel Welch (Gries: "in some situations, this woman is just a piece of candy but I think she will prove in this film that she can act as well"), Jim Brown ("he's a great actor with a lot of appeal", said Gries), and Burt Reynolds.
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Wikipedia