Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

Clint Eastwood is Hogan, a mercenary who fought two years in the Civil War and now has one cause, to make himself rich.

He figures he can do that by helping Mexican rebels capture a French garrison, especially since there’s a trunk full of gold there.

En route, he rescues a woman who’s about to be raped by three bandits. Sara (Shirley MacLaine) turns out to be a nun.

She also turns out to be an able ally, albeit with some annoying habits.

Among those habits, her reliance on God to provide whatever she needs, her insistence on stopping to pray every time she passes a shrine and her determination to remain chaste, even though she’s so good looking.

But when Hogan catches an Indian arrow, Sara proves capable of helping mend the wound.

And when he’s still drunk from having to undergo that operation, she helps him blow up a train destined to resupply the French garrison.

She’s also an ally with a secret. Hogan will learn that secret when he discovers that all of her best friends back at the garrison just happen to work in what she proudly proclaims to be “the best whorehouse in town.”

Review:

Entertaining and more light-hearted than most of of Eastwood’s post-Leone Westerns. Even before Sara’s true identity is revealed, she’s a nun with spunk, slipping off to sneak a cigarette and taking belts of liquor from Hogan’s supply after each tense situation.

There’s also a well-done assault on the French garrison that takes up the last 20 minutes of so of the film, but the focus here is squarely on the relationship between Hogan and Sara. In fact, MacLaine got top billing in the film.

The movie actually stems from a screenplay written by Budd Boetticher. He was to direct, with Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr in the lead roles. Only in his screenplay, Kerr is being taken north back to the U.S. through dangerous Mexican territory.

As it turned out, MacLaine wound up cast in her first Western since sparring with Glenn Ford in the excellent 1958 film “The Sheepman.”

Ennio Morricone provides one of his more memorable scores.

Directed by:
Don Siegel

Cast:
Clint Eastwood … Hogan
Shirley MacLaine … Sara
Manuel Fabregas … Col. Beltran
Alberto Morin … Gen LeClaire
Armando Silvestre … Bandit #1
John Kelly … Bandit #2
Enrique Lucero … Bandit #3
David Povall … Juan
Ada Carrasco … Juan’s mother
Pancho Cordoya … Juan’s father

Runtime: 116 min.

Memorable lines:

Hogan to Sister Sara: “What the hell is a nun doing out here?”

Hogan, when Sara the nun asks him to bury the three men who were about to rape her: “Sister, I don’t mind shooting them for you, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to sweat over them for you.”

Sara: “Do you belong to one of them (Mexican guerilla bands)?”
Hogan: “‘Til I get paid, yeah.”
Sara: “You mean in gold?”
Hogan: “Well, let’s put it this way. If they pay me off in tortillas, I’m gonna shoot them right in the eye.”

Sara, stopping along the way: “It’s a sin to pass a shrine without praying.”
Hogan: “Not if you close your eyes, it isn’t.
Sara: “Please, Mr. Hogan.”
Hogan: “All right. It’s a small shrine. Let’s make it a small prayer.”

Hogan, explaining to Sara why he never wanted a wife: “It’s a great life. Women when I want ’em and none with the name of Hogan.”

Col. Beltran, following a dispute with Hogan: “This is better than killing one another, no?”
Hogan: “I only figured there was going to be one funeral — Catholic.”
Beltrain: “Oh? I didn’t know you were Catholic.”

Sara, offering to be turned in as a prisoner, and repeating Hogan’s excuse for fighting in the Civil War: “Listen, Hogan, everyone has a right to be a sucker once.”

Hogan, after stealing a long-awaited first kiss from Sara: “Bad time for a war.”

Shirley MacLaine as Sister Sara, praticing the skill she’ll need to remove an arrow from Hogan’s shoulder in Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

Clint Eastwood as Hogan, learning he’s been fooled by a pretty woman pretending to be a nun in Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)