Judgment of the Coyote (1956)

The scheming Capt. Potts has died at the hands of The Coyote, but native Californios are facing a new threat.

Col. Clark (Miguel Pastor Mata) has taken over as military commander of the area, and he’s ordering them off their land in 10 days if they can’t produce titles for their property.

It’s an unjust, greedy land grab sure to bring The Coyote out of retirement, government representative Edmund Greene warns Clark.

Sure enough, that’s just what happens. And, this time around, The Coyote is going to face plenty of challenges.

Col. Clark promises to take it easy on Senor Acevedo, if his pretty daughter Lenor (Gloria Marin) plays nice with him.

Instead, her father winds up dead and she winds up on trial for murder, facing a possible death penalty.

And that will not do.

Lenor is the woman Cesar de Echague (Abel Salazar) loves. Though no one knows it, he’s The Coyote, donning a mask to avenge wrongs done to the Californios.

Meanwhile, those Californios have been pushed about as far as they’re going to be pushed. They’re planning an armed revolt.

So The Coyote will have to move quickly to avoid more bloodshed.

Abel Salazar as The Coyote, setting his six-gun aside for a duel with swords in Judgment of Coyote (1956)

Abel Salazar as Cesar de Echague, trying to prevent a confrontation with Col. Clark in Judgment of Coyote (1956)

Review:

This movie was filmed back-to-back with 1955’s “The Coyote,” and the actors playing members of the de Echague and de Acevedo families in that film reprise their roles here.

This is the better of the two films if only because we’ve already been introduced to Abel Salazar’s character, a dandy by day who frets over paintings of hummingbirds, but turns into a very deadly masked avenger when a friend has been wronged.

This time around, Cesar uses his cleverness to bail Leonor out of a couple of jams, though she’s still more intrigued by his masked counterpart.

And The Coyote — oh, so similar to the Zorro character — discards his six gun at a climatic moment for a more Zorro-like showdown with swords.

Viewers are treated to a less predictable plot as well.

The big question: Will the Coyote reveal his true identity of anyone? Even the woman he loves?

Gloria Marin as Leonor de Acevedo, a woman who will soon find herself on trial for murder in Judgment for Coyota (1956)

Miguel Pastor Mata as the greedy Col. Clark, realizing he’s been cornered by his dreaded adversary in Judgment of Coyote (1956)

Directed by:
Joaquin Luis Romero Marchent

Cast:
Abel Salazar … Cesar de Echague, aka The Coyote
Gloria Marin … Leonor de Acevedo
Manual Monroy … Edmund Greene
Rafael Bardem … Don Cesar de Echague Sr.
Migel Pastor Mata … Col. Clark
Mario Moreno … Sheriff
Carlos Otero … Ricardo
Manuel San Roman … Yanguas
Emilio Rodriguez … Gunman
Antonio Garcia Quijada … Gunman

Runtime: 71 min.

aka:
La justicia del Coyote
The Coyote’s Justice
Justice for Coyote

Manuel Monroy as Edmund Greene with the daughter of Don Ceasar de Echague, startled at a party in Judgment of Coyote (1956)

Rafael Bardem as Don Cesar de Echague Sr., reacting to an unexpected gunshot during a party at his home in Judgment of Coyote (1956)

Memorable lines:

Sorry, I watched a Spanish language version of this film.

Manuel San Roman as Yanguas, one of the Californios, facing the wrath of Col. Clark’s henchmen in Judgment for The Coyote (1956)

Carlos Otero as Ricardo, doing his best to make sure Leonor’s prosecutor shows up drunk at her trial in Judgment of Coyote (1956)

Trivia:

This film and El Coyote (1955) were two of the first Westerns made in Spain, paving the way for many others emulating traditional American Westerns, a trend that eventually led to the Spaghetti Western craze.

Co-stars Abel Salazar and Gloria Marin were married in 1958. They remained husband and wife for two years before divorcing in the 1960s. Marin racked up more than 100 screen credits in a career than stretched from the late 1930s o the early 1980s.

The Coyote character would return in 1963’s “Sign of the Coyote,” directed by Mario Caiano and starring Fernando Casanova and Maria Luz Galacia.

Two of Col. Clark’s henchmen harass Cesar de Echague (Abel Salazar) on a visit to a local tavern in Judgment of Coyote (1956)

Julio Goróstegui as Señor Acevedo, standing up to Col. Clark over his daughter’s honor in Judgment of Coyote (1956)

Gloria Marin as Leonor de Acevedo, a woman with revenge on her mind in Judgment of Coyote (1956)

Miguel Pastor Mata as Col. Clark makes plans with the sheriff (Mario Moreno) in Judgment of Coyote (1956)

Abel Salazar as Cesar de Echague, enlisting the help of Ricardo to help Lenor at her trial in Judgement of Coyote (1956)

Manuel Monroy as Edmund Green and Abel Salazar as The Coyote, trying to figure out a way to stop Col. Clark without spilling lots of blood in Judgment of the Coyote (1956)