Behold a Pale Horse | |
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Original theatrical poster
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Directed by | Fred Zinnemann |
Produced by | Fred Zinnemann Gregory Peck |
Written by |
JP Miller Emeric Pressburger (novel) |
Based on |
Killing a Mouse on Sunday 1961 novel by Emeric Pressburger |
Starring |
Gregory Peck Anthony Quinn Omar Sharif |
Music by | Maurice Jarre |
Cinematography | Jean Badal |
Edited by | Walter Thompson |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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118 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3.9 million |
Box office | est. $3,000,000 (US/ Canada) |
Behold a Pale Horse is a 1964 film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif and Anthony Quinn. The film is based on the novel Killing a Mouse on Sunday by Emeric Pressburger, which loosely details the life of the Spanish anarchist guerrilla Francesc Sabaté Llopart.
The movie opens with shots from the Spanish Civil War, and a line of Spanish refugees crossing the border into France after defeat by the Francoists, Manuel Artiguez (Gregory Peck) turns away from the border and back towards Spain. His friends stop him, saying "Manuel, the war is over!".
The story returns twenty years later, to a young boy named Paco (Carlo Angeletti), who asks a man named Pedro (Paolo Stoppa) why Artiguez has stopped his guerrilla raids against the Francoists in Spain. Pedro sends Paco into France to find his uncle and Artiguez. When Paco finds Artiguez, he tells him he wants him to kill Viñolas (Anthony Quinn), a Guardia Civil officer, for killing his father. Paco lets Artiguez know that his father was killed because he wouldn't tell the police where to find Artiguez.
Meanwhile, Viñolas has learned that Artiguez's mother (Mildred Dunnock) is dying, and sets a trap at the hospital in San Martín to capture Artiguez, presuming that he will come to see his mother. In return for information about the layout of the hospital and surrounding area, Paco tells Artiguez to "bump into Viñolas" for him.
After Viñolas has laid his trap, Artiguez's mother dies (after asking a priest to warn her son not to come), but Viñolas sends a spy to convince Artiguez otherwise, and to come visit her. When the priest appears at Artiguez's house, he's gone, so the priest tells Paco to pass on the message that his mother is dead, and not to go to San Martín.