The Wonderful Country (1959)

Robert Mitchum is Martin Brady, a man torn between two countries. As a teenager, he avenged his father’s killing and fled to Mexico, where he’s become a paid assassin for the Castros, helping run guns across the U.S. border.

But he breaks a leg on one of those trips and is forced to recuperate in Texas.

There, he makes friends with the doctor who treats him, gets a job offer from the Texas Rangers, and catches the eye of Helen Colton, a pretty young woman unhappily married to cavalry Maj. Stark Colton.

He’s thinking of settling down in the U.S. when he comes to the defense of another new friend and winds up gunning down a bully in a fair fight.

Instinctively, he flees back to Mexico and the safety of the Castro family.

But there have been changes in Mexico. One Castro is now governor; another leads the army, and the latter is jealous of the former’s power.

Brady soon realizes that no matter how fast he is with a gun, he’s perceived as little more than a servant — a gringo, no less — in his adopted land.

He helps Costas and Colton in a joint campaign against the Apache, only to find himself a wanted man again.

Robert Mitchum as Martin Brady, scouting the Indian war party in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Julie London as Helen Colton, challenging Martin Brady to set aside his violent ways in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Review:

Interesting concept, but way too tedious and short on action to be entirely successful. And, as a character study, it’d help if you cared about what happened to Mitchum’s Martin Brady. But you really don’t.

The film is rare in its depiction of the black buffalo soldiers. And this marked the only film role for Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige, who plays a sergeant serving in the cavalry in a south-of-the-border mission to fight the Apache.

Julie London plays the love interest, Gary Merrill is her hard-to-love husband and veteran actor Albert Dekker plays the Texas Ranger captain who tries to convince Brady his home is north of the border.

Pedro Armendariz as Cipriano Castro, Brady’s former employer who becomes a governor in Mexico in The Wonderful Country (1957)

Victor Manuel Mendoza as Gen. Marcos Castro, leader of the south-of-the-border forces in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Directed by:
Robert Parrish

Cast:
Robert Mitchum … Martin Brady
Julie London … Helen Colton
Gary Merrill … Maj. Stark Colton
Albert Dekker … Capt. Rucker
Jack Oakie … Travis Hyte
Charles McGraw … Dr. Stovall
Leroy “Satchel” Paige … Sgt. Sutton
Max Salten … Ludwig Sterner
Anthony Caruso … Santiago Santos
Mike Kellin … Pancho Gil
Victor Manuel Mendoza … Gen. Marcos Castro
Jay Novello … Diego Casas
John Banner … Ben Sterner
Max Slaten … Ludwig “Chico” Sterner

Charles McGraw as Doc Stovall, the man who helps put Martin Brady back together after a bad fall from a horse in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Gary Merrill as Maj. Stark Colton, trying to get information on the Indians from Martin Brady in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Memorable lines:

Dr. Stovall: “Do you speak English?”
Martin Brady: “Yes.”
Stovall, as he’s about to set Martin’s broken leg: “Drink a lot of this in English. You’re going to need it.”

Martin Brady: “Doc, look, how am I going to pay you?”
Dr. Stovall: “My other patients aren’t worrying. Why should you be a pioneer?”

Capt. Rucker of the Texas Rangers to Martin Brady: “You belong with us. You know that? As long as you stay out of trouble.”
Martin Brady: “What kind of trouble?”
Rucker: “Oh, there are all kinds of trouble. You know one kind. You’ve been living it all your life. Then there’s another kind of trouble that doesn’t look like trouble at all. Sometimes, it looks as pretty as a picture.”
Helen Colton, wife of Major Stark Colton walks up.
Rucker: “Mrs. Colton, you look as pretty as a picture.”

Gov. Castro: “Where will you go? Your Americans have a price on your head. They will put you in jail and let you rot. You belong here.”
Martin Brady: “No, senor, not anymore.”
Gov. Castro: “Then you belong nowhere.”

Albert Dekker as Texas Ranger Capt. Rucker, trying to convince Martin Brady to join the force in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Leroy ‘Satchel’ Paige as Sgt. Tobe Sutton, one of the buffalo soldier serving under Maj. Stark in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Anthony Caruso as Santiago Santos, patriarch of a family that provides Brady a place to stay as he runs from the law in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Jack Oakie as Travis Hyte, the man who lures Americans, including Mrs. Colton, to Mexico for a fiesta in The Wonderful Country (1959)

John Banner as Ben Sterner, partner in a gun-running scheme gone wrong because of Martin Brady’s accident in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Max Salten as Ludwig ‘Chico’ Sterner, a man Martin Brady gets in trouble for defending in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Jay Novello as Diego Casas, one of Martin Brady’s south-of-the-border friends in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Robert Mitchum as Martin Brady, recovering from a broken leg north of the border in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Julie London as Helen Colton, the unhappy wife with a roving eye that lands on Martin Brady in The Wonderful Country (1959)

Robert Mitchum as Martin Brady, trying on an American cowboy hat, and deciding a sombrero fits him better in The Wonderful Country (1959)