The year is 1842 and the Mexican government has sent a force of 300 troops north under Gen. Micheltorena to enforce its rule and quell notions of California becoming part of the United States.
Don Pablo Hernandez, the largest landowner in the region, is working to unite the ranchers to oppose Micheltorena and maintain their independence.
But he’s poisoned by his power-hungry son Don Francisco (Michael Pate), who plans to work with the Mexican general in hopes of being appointed governor of California.
In that conflict rides Don Michael O’Casey (Jock Mahoney), a half-Irishman whose mother was part of the Hernandez family, but was ostracized because she dared follow her heart rather than her family obligation when it came time to marry.
He soon meets two women, including Carlotta Torres (Faith Domergue), a saloon girl who’s carrying on a not-so-secret affair with Don Francisco, fully aware her feelings are stronger than his.
Then there’s Marianna De La Rosa, who has agreed to marry Don Francisco to solidify her family’s land holdings, though she despises the man, his friends and his politics.
O’Casey figures he has a score to settle with Don Francisco, who forbids as much as a marker on the grave of O’Casey’s mother.
Will his quest for vengeance free the two women in the process?
Jock Mahoney as Don Michael O’Casey in California (1963)
Michael Pate as Don Francisco Hernandez in California (1963)
Review:
An old-fashioned looking Western with a mature plot twist. In his quest for power, Don Francisco makes a key miscalculation: offering his lover Carlotta to the general for “his entertainment.”
It’s a decision that helps set up a final showdown between the characters played by Pate and Mahoney.
This was the last in a string of low-budget American-made Westerns starring Mahoney from the mid-1950s on, and it’s far from the best.
Part of the problem is a script filled with purple prose.
And while Faith Domergue is the top-billed female, the starring role really goes to Susan Seaforth Hayes, who would soon begin six decades of playing a character named Julie Williams on the daytime soap opera, “Days of Our Lives.”
The next year, Mahoney would head to the Phillipines to make a movie called “Cimarron,” billed as the first Western made there.
padre. Has anyone seen it?
Susan Seaforth Hayes as Marianna De La Rosa in California (1963)
Faith Domergue as Carlotta Torres in California (1963)
Directed by:
Hamil Petroff
Cast:
Jock Mahoney … Don Michael O’Casey
Faith Domergue … Carlotta Torres
Michael Pate … Don Francisco Hernandez
Susan Seaforth Hayes … Marianna De La Rosa
Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. … Padre Soler
Penny Santon … Dona Ana Sofia Hicenta
Jimmy Murphy … Jacinto
Nestor Pavia … Gen. Micheltorena
Roberto Contreras … Lt. Sanchez
Felix Locher … Don Pablo Hernandez
Charles Horvath … Manuel
Runtime: 76 min.
Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. as Padre Solar in California (1963)
Penny Santon as Dona Ana Sofia Hicenta in California (1963)
Memorable lines:
Gen. Micheltorena: “In Mexico, the girls dance until they drop.”
Marianna De La Rosa, with heavy sarcasm: “That must be charming.”
Gen. Micheltorena: “We will find this wolf in sheep’s clothing, even if we have to slaughter the lambs.”
Don Michael O’Casey, as a sword fight begins: “I don’t know your rules.”
Don Francisco Hernandez: “You don’t have to know my rules to die.”
Nestor Pavia as Gen. Micheltorena in California (1963)
Jimmy Murphy as Jacinto in California (1963)
Faith Domergue as Carlotta Torres with her lover, Don Francisco Hernandez (Michael Pate) in California (1963)
Jock Mahoney as Don Michael O’Casey, ready for a showdown in California (1963)
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