Viva Villa!
| Viva Villa! | |
|---|---|
Film poster
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| Directed by |
Jack Conway Uncredited: Howard Hawks William Wellman |
| Produced by | David O. Selznick |
| Written by |
Ben Hecht Uncredited: Howard Hawks James Kevin McGuinness Howard Emmett Rogers |
| Based on |
Viva Villa! (book) by Edgecumb Pinchon O.B. Stade |
| Starring |
Wallace Beery Fay Wray Leo Carrillo |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart |
| Cinematography | Charles G. Clarke James Wong Howe Gabriel Figueroa |
| Edited by | George Amy |
| Distributed by | MGM |
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Release date
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Running time
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115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,022,000 |
| Box office | $1,875,000 |
Viva Villa! is a 1934 American Pre-Code film starring Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa and was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from the book Viva Villa!. The film was shot on location in Mexico and directed by Jack Conway. There was uncredited assistance with the script by Howard Hawks, James Kevin McGuinness, and Howard Emmett Rogers. Hawks and William A. Wellman were also uncredited directors on the film.
The film is a fictionalized biography of Pancho Villa starring Beery, Leo Carrillo and Fay Wray. The supporting cast features Donald Cook, Stuart Erwin, Henry B. Walthall, Joseph Schildkraut and Katherine DeMille.
After seeing his poor father lose his land and be whipped to death for protesting, young Pancho Villa stabs one of the killers, then heads off into the hills of Chihuahua, Mexico during the 1880s. As a grown man, Villa and a band of rebel bandits, including his trusted ally Sierra, kill wealthy landowners and become heroes to their fellow "peons."
A wealthy aristocrat, Don Felipe, arranges an introduction for Villa to the distinguished and eloquent Francisco Madero, who resents what has become of Mexico under the rule of president Porfirio Díaz and persuades Villa to help him fight for liberty, not just for personal gain. The coarse and illiterate Villa is humbled in the presence of Madero and agrees to fight for his cause. He also is attracted to Don Felipe's beautiful sister Teresa, although there are many women in Villa's life, including one he is married to, Rosita.
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Wikipedia