Arthur Kennedy plays Santiago, an affable bandit whose partner is fatally shot while they are robbing a train. In his getaway, he stumbles upon the farm of Manuel Lopez (Eugene Iglesias) and his pretty young wife Maria (Betta St. John).
He convinces Manuel to drive him to town to meet the corrupt U.S. shipping agent behind the robbery. The agent wants to pay only half of the agreed upon sum for doing the job because only one bandit returned. With the help of Manuel and a noose, Santiago convinces him it would be wiser to pay the full price. Then he treats Manuel to a night on the town.
Once they return to the ranch, Santiago’s presence proves a temptation for both Manuel and Maria.
Watching Santiago throw his money away on women and booze, Manuel can only dream of what such riches would mean for his poor farm and begins to think about robbing the bandit.
Maria, who agreed to marry Manuel only to avoid a worse life with her former “patron,” dreams of the excitement she could enjoy with a man like Santiago, if only for a short time.
Review:
An interesting south-of-the border Western, though Betta St. John and Iglesias both overact badly at times and Kennedy is saddled with a Mexican accent.
The film is at its best when it’s focusing on the effect Santiago’s visit to the farm has on Maria and Manuel, both clearly beaten down by a life of drudgery and scraping for a living.
Manuel dreams of things as simple as a cow or two, a mechanical well and a field of green crops. Maria tends to dream in a bit more exciting fashion and is close to riding off with Santiago when his past comes to visit.
The film includes a saucy barroom performance by Charlita. As for St. John, she starred in one other Western — “The Law Versus Billy the Kid.” But her first film appearance was in a Western. At age 10, she was a girl singing “Little Joe” in a wagon at the end of “Destry Rides Again” (1939).
Directed by:
Edgar Ulmer
Cast:
Arthur Kennedy … Santiago
Betta St. John … Maria Lopez
Eugene Iglesias … Manuel Lopez
Charlita … Tita
Roy Engel … Guntz
Tony Martinez … Vicente
Francis McDonald … Railroad guard
Runtime: 83 min.
Memorable lines:
Santiago: “There is a joy in the world, and it comes from God. All of it. Flowers. Fiestas. Music. Dancing. Even the joy of a silk dress and a pair of high-heel shoes. That, too, is from God.”
Maria: “Or from the devil, who probably sent you here.”
Santiago, trying to get more money out of the shipping agent: “We’ll tie him like one of those bundles and ship him to the devil.”
Maria Lopez explaining her dull life to Santiago: “Sometimes I break things so that something happens. Maybe I get a beating. Even a beating is welcome. You can cry out your misery and feel better. The problem with beatings is you become used to them. They become like everything else — something to be gotten through — like a sack of dirty clothes.”
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