Macho Callahan

Plot synopsis:
Placed behind bars during the war, Diego Callahan (David Janssen), also known as "Macho," travels to Texas looking for the man responsible for his imprisonment.
He quarrels with a one-armed Confederate Army colonel named Mountford (David Carradine) over a bottle of champagne and kills him in front of Alexandra (Jean Seberg), the officer's wife. Vowing vengeance, she immediately puts a $1,000 bounty on Callahan's head. She entices Duffy (Lee J. Cobb) to help her seek out Callahan, who wears the yellow boots that Callahan remembers him by.
Traveling with Alexandra through Confederate Texas, Duffy locates Callahan and challenges him to a game of horseshoes for money, but when Alexandra seeks Duffy, she finds that Callahan has hanged him.
Alexandra goes to work at a casino run by Harry Wheeler (James Booth), writing letters for illiterate cowboys. Wheeler agrees to hire a team of bounty hunters and give chase. Alexandra spots Callahan at the casino, and befriends a young cowboy (Bo Hopkins). She convinces him that her honor has been insulted. The cowboy goes over to where Callahan is playing poker and a melee breaks out. He escapes in the confusion but she pursues Callahan on her own and meets up with him, and the two travel with Callahan's partner.
Later, in Callahan's cabin, Alexandra tries to kill him, but Callahan overpowers her and savagely beats her before raping her. Despite the savage beating leaving scars on her face, Alexandra decides to stay at the cabin, likely suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. After nearly being killed by a mother bear protecting her cub, she is saved by Callahan, who shoots the adult bear. He saves the cub because it won't survive on its own. She falls in love with Callahan.
Now in love with the man who has killed her husband, she travels with Callahan and his partner, but Wheeler's posse is in pursuit. Wheeler's men are determined to collect that reward, and Callahan finds that he can't kill them all.

Tags: revenge

Review:
Was impressed with the movie..
I thought David Janssen was excellent and made a really convincing cowboy/gunfighter/escaped POW from a Confederate prison.
After escaping, he goes after the man who got him sent to prison in a round about way and then lynches the hombre (Lee J.
Jean Seberg, who does an excellent job also of the bereaved wife whose husband has been killed by Janssen, is after Janssen and has posted a bounty for him.
She finally meets up with him, tries to kill him, and gets raped for her effort.
But the ending will surprise you.PS--I also loved the small bear.
He was cute and if you don't like the movie for any other reason, you have got to love that bear...LOL Hope you enjoy Macho Callahan as much as I did..
One of the darker examples within the American Western canon, MACHO stars David Janssen as a half White, half Mexican drifter gulled into enlisting with the Confederate States Army in 1863 by a con man (Lee J.
Cobb) and subsequently sentenced for desertion to a year's solitary confinement in a Texas stockade.
Ticketed for a substantial budget, the film lost some funding but endures as an example of a work influenced by Sergio Leone and other directors of "Spaghetti Westerns", most apposite in the opening scenes depicting an attempted widescale breakout from the wretched stockade by largely hapless prisoners.
Shot in northern Mexico's Guadiana Valley, the work chronicles Macho's eventual escape and reunion with his former partner in crime Juan (Pedro Armendariz, Jr.), his killing of a Confederate officer, and the pursuit of the outlaw pair by those hoping to benefit from a cash reward tendered by the slain officer's widow (Jean Seberg).
The lowered budget proves not to be a major burden, although there are some embarrassments,  notably a poorly edited scene wherein a charging black bear is obviously a man in an ursine costume, but very fine contributions from Gerry Fisher behind the camera and Ted Marshall's production and set designing more than balance the scales.
A lack of continuity results from confusing moments when motivation for actions seems to be lacking, but here also strong performances from most of the cast offset this to a large extent, and director Bernard Kowalski properly focusses upon the relationship between the characters portrayed by Janssen and Seberg.
A self-consciously moody affair, MACHO profits from ambiguity of motive in the performances of Janssen, Seberg, Almendariz and Bo Hopkins, with the efforts of all involved combining to create what well may be an anti-feminist classic, and one largely devoid of symbolic trappings..
Passable and slow-moving Western about a prisoner escaped from horrid Confederate prison.
Dirty Western concerns about Macho Callahan (David Janssen) , he is a Confederate inmate in horrible concentration camp called Hooks during American Civil War , 1864 .
Macho organizes a mutiny and gets the getaway .
As Macho reunites with his old colleague and sets out to murder the person who was responsible for his being in the hard camp .
After that , Callahan arrives a town , when in a discussion he murders a man (David Carradine) over a bottle of champagne , the man's wife (Jean Seberg) seeks vendetta .
Meanwhile Macho accompanied by his partner (Pedro Armendariz Jr) looks for the man (Lee J.
Cobb) who deceived him for killing .
Later on , they are pursued by a posse (James Booth , Bo Hopkins and several others) .This gritty Western produced by Joseph E.
The POWs breakout at the beginning result to be the best scenes , they're spectacular and impressively filmed .
Offbeat point of view of West , but dialog and situations are bit believable and badly paced with some flaws and gaps .
Good main cast as David Janssen plays a soldier hardened by his confinement and enjoyable Jean Seberg who is miscast as spouse seeking revenge against man killed his husband who turns out to be Callahan .
As with many of his co-stars throughout his career, Jean Seberg enjoyed working with David Janssen , she said in her book that he had proved very fun company .
Prestigious supporting cast though wasted , such as Lee J Cobb, David Carradine , James Booth , Bo Hopkins, and Richard Anderson as Confederate officer , among others .
Furthermore, it appears very secondary Diane Ladd as a prostitute , Matt Clark as a Confederate torturer , Anne Revere , James Gammon and the Mexican Hugo Stiglitz .
Shot in Durango and the Mexican state of Morelos had a major power outage during the filming of this movie .
The motion picture was middling directed by Bernard L.
The picture is only for Jean Seberg fans .
This is an unrelentingly grim movie set in 1864 in lawless Texas and New Mexico.
It's a movie about vengeance.
Macho Callahan wants to hunt down and kill the guy who tricked him into enlisting in the Confederate army, which led to him being thrown in Camp Hooks Military Prison for desertion because he wouldn't go to war.
Alexandra Mountford wants to hunt down and kill Macho for killing her husband over a bottle of champagne.I like David Janssen in westerns.
The word that comes to mind when I think back to his portrayal of the aptly named character Macho is unflinching.
It describes his demeanor as he stares down the barrel of a gun at the beginning of the movie.
It describes his interaction with David Carradine's character.
It describes how he looks at Lee J.
Cobb's character after they pitch a game of horseshoes.
And it's how he looks when Bo Hopkins' character calls him out for insulting a lady.
But David Janssen was able to imbue his character with a lot of sympathy, even though that character exhibited a lot of violence.The actor I really enjoyed watching was Pedro Armendariz Jr. though.
He plays Macho's friend Juan, the nicest person in the entire movie.
And with a friend like Juan, it helps to define Macho as a stand-up guy.
We don't get a lot from the sparse dialogue aside from Juan suggesting to Alexandra that she should use her heart in order to understand people.
So it's this friendship (and his care for a bear cub) that gives us insight into Macho's character.Jean Seberg as Alexandra is lovely, has a very direct gaze but could have been a little more expressive.
I liked her very much although she's the one that sets in motion the bounty hunters.
Diane Ladd has a tiny role and she gets to chew the scenery a bit in her one scene; it's one of the few times we get a break during this somber and dramatic movie.
The prison camp scenes are harrowing though well done.
The moment when Macho actually breaks out through the gates is great.
The fight scene when Alexandra tries to kill Macho with a poker and he fights back is quite brutal and tough to watch.It's a dark, tragic tale which I don't want to see again any time soon, even though I liked it.
" It isn't every day, one gets to meet a woman, bent of killing him ".
In the original novel by Richard Carr and later in the movie directed by Bernard L.
Kowaski, viewing audiences get to meet Diego Callahan played by David Janssen.
Cobb) tricks Callahan into signing an enlistment form to join the Confederate Army.
later, Callahan finds himself in solitary punishment box for attempting to escape.
Still, much later he manages to escape to hunt down the agent.
In the interim, he crosses a Confederate Office (David Carradine) over a bottle of Champane, killing him in the process.
The wife (Jean Seberg) of the dead man posts a large reward to anyone who will hunt down a kill Callahan.
On the run, the hunted man and his Mexican friend (Pedro Armendariz Jr.) traveling to Mexico find themselves pursued by friends of the wife, reward seekers and gun packing lawmen.
All in all, an interesting picture for Janssen, despite it being a bit dark.
Nevertheless, I would recommend it as a milestone for him and those who join him in the cast, which include, James Booth, Bo Hopkins and Richard Anderson.
Grim, savage Western balanced out by warmth and tenderness.
Released is 1970 and directed by Bernard L.
Kowalski, "Macho Callahan" stars David Janssen in the title role as a man who rebels after being duped into enlisting into the Confederate Army and is therefore locked in a hellish POW camp on desertion charges.
After getting out and reuniting with his old sidekick, Juan (Pedro Armendáriz Jr.), Callahan goes after the man responsible for his travails (Lee J.
An unfortunate honor duel with a Confederate officer (David Carradine) ends with Macho being pursued by the officer's vengeful widow (Jean Seberg) and a gang of steadfast bounty hunters (James Booth, Bo Hopkins, etc.).
Diane Ladd has a small part.The first act in the Confederate camp is dirty and brutal, ringing with authenticity; this is the furthest thing from those old Westerns where everyone has bright, clean clothes and courteousness abounds.
Callahan is a very hardened man after his harrowing prison sentence and thoroughly unwilling to allow a Confederate officer to dishonor him, particularly when Macho's fairly drunk.
The opening score is very austere and inspiring in a somber way, but it later morphs into more pleasant aural reveries.
For instance, one character apologizes and is forgiven because the recipient discerns it's sincere.
All this points to the "Stockholm syndrome" NOT being at play in the story, as some claim.
Watch the movie and see for yourself.
See the commentary below for details.The love and compassion that surface separates "Macho Callahan" from one-dimensional and juvenile Spag Westerns.
As such, it's puzzling to hear Brian Garfield lambaste the film as "strictly for sadists" and "revolting." This same critic said "the story defies reason everywhere and is impenetrable," but this simply isn't true.
The plot is simple and the characters' motivations are obvious.
If you want to see a Western that defies reason watch the original "The Magnificent Seven" (see my review for details).
Unfortunately, the ending leaves a bad taste in the mouth and I wish it went the route of "The Outlaw Josey Wales." Still, it's worth checking out if you like atypical realistic Westerns that are dark, brutal, ugly, warm and beautiful at the same time.The film runs 98 minutes and was shot in Durango, Mexico.
The script was written by Cliff Gould from Richard Carr's story.GRADE: BADDITIONAL COMMENTARY ***SPOILER ALERT***Generally speaking, Stockholm syndrome occurs when a strong emotional link develops between captor and captive where the former intermittently abuses the other in one way or another, whether beatings, threats, intimidation or harassment.
This is not what occurs in the movie: Alexandra hooks up with Callahan & Juan in order to kill Callahan (i.e. she's NOT a captive), and she almost succeeds when the opportunity presents itself.
Thus Callahan fights back savagely to survive, BUT he mercifully doesn't kill her; and is clearly concerned about her recovery later.After this violent episode, Alexandra gets to know Callahan & Juan and slowly discovers that they're not evil.
Macho saves her life at one point and even trusts her with a rifle.
She's NOT a captive and is free to leave when she wants.
Callahan even apologizes for what happened to her husband, and sincerely so, but implies that it was a matter of honor between the two men (and, really, it was the greedy bartender's fault).
A mutual attraction blossoms into love before the movie's over, ending with the touching sequence during the standoff at the climax..
Starts off Good....Ends Bad. This movie starts off really great, it shows Richard Kim...I mean, David Janssen in a Civil War Prisoner Camp.
I think they should have given Janssen more lines, he barely says a sentence throughout the movie.
I watched this movie to see David Janssen in a different light other than the Fugitive.
I don't know, I think his character could have been better developed.
There is this really freaky scene where he rapes this girl then the day after, she falls for him.
The premise of his character is a really rough draft of Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, I think.
Not a bad movie if your a David Janssen fan, but it could have been better..
Feels like spaghetti .......
Throw some "b" movie actors into a not fully developed revenge plot, and what you get is "Macho Callahan".
This filmed in Mexico western has David Janssen, Jean Seberg, Lee J.
Cobb, David Carradine, and Bo Hopkins trying their best to imitate the fast dying genre known as "spaghetti westerns".
It certainly has the feel of an Italian "oater", with little character development, choppy editing, and revenge as a motive.
The difference here is that the script starts out good in a revolting Confederate prison that Janssen escapes from, but then after Jean Seberg puts her bounty on Janssen for killing her husband, things get talky, and the film loses steam minute by minute.
Don't expect much more than a slightly above average "spaghetti" type western, and it's watchable, but just barely.
Interestingly the VHS box has the running time listed at 2 hours, 39 minutes.
Thankfully this is incorrect, because 99 minutes was more than enough of "Macho Callahan" - MERK.
Another "spaghetti" style Western, a victim of its time.It's pretty much just routine formula Hollywood.
"Spaghetti" was actually just the same Hollywood formula and set of clichés set to extremes.There are many problems with such movies, and this movie is a prime example.
We never care about any of the multitude of dull "demi god" characters thrown at us.
They're so self righteous and unmotivated in their "demi god" status that they just bore us.Don't bother trying to watch it in one sitting.
Mature people, educated people, people who aren't crack heads, all of these are totally alienated by the writing here, and that's because of the stereotypical characters that are impossible to relate to.It's like watching demi gods decide to make the world into crap, for no reason.And what in the world was Lee J Cobb thinking, being a part of this garbage?.
Weird is the word for this oddball western directed by Bernard L.
David Janssen is recently released from a federal penitentiary seeking revenge on the scoundrel who railroaded him.
While looking for Lee J.
Cobb, he shoots one armed army vet David Carradine (over a bottle of champagne).
Carradine's wife (Jean Seberg) pursues Janssen across Texas and New Mexico all the while upping the reward money.
After a very unlikely case of Stockholm syndrome, Seberg comes to regret putting a bounty on Janssen's head.
This is a strange movie with so-so acting (Janssen is not suited for the wild west) and the direction by Kowalski is all of the place; there's no pacing, a lot of bad editing and characters disappear without a trace (just WHAT did happen to Cobb?) The supporting cast is peppered with the likes of James Booth, Bo Hopkins, Hugo Stiglitz and, at least briefly, Diane Ladd as a good time girl..
Macho Macho Man!
I wanna be a Macho Man!.
***SPOILERS**** Somewhat mildly interesting western with a grizzly and bearded looking David Janssen as Diego "Macho" Callahan who's life has been royally screwed up since he joined the Union Army at the urging of enlistment agent Duffy, Lee J.
It was Duffy who promised Callahan it would pay for his collage education-Macho wants to be a CPA-when he fulfills his obligation to stay in it until the Civil War is finally over.
Callahan was instead caught by the rebel forces where he finally ended up breaking out of the confederate POW camp in Texas that he's a prisoner in.
While on the lamb Callahan gets involved in a shoot-out with one armed confederate officer Maj. David Mountford, David Carradine, over a cheap bottle of .champagne thus killing him.
It's now the late David's wife Alexandra, Jean Seaburg, who's determined to get her husband's killer whacked with a $1,000.00 bonus to anyone who can finish Callahan off.
This as were soon to find out isn't as easy as it looks.Callahan for his part want's nothing of the trouble that he gets himself into in the movie but it follows him wherever he goes and keeps sticking him in his behind.
It's finally at a Texas town saloon that Calallhan runs into Alexandera who incites the drunken patrons lead by hot blooded Yancy, Bo Hopkins, to work him over only for Callahan to escape during the carnage and take off into the wild with his Mexican friend Juan, Pedro Armendanz Jr. It's there where Callahan ends up saving Alexander's-who got herself lost- life from a wild and ferocious mama bear who's cub the kind loving and feeling Macho Callahan adopted as his pet.
The thanks the Callahan gets for saving Alexabndra from being a meal for the 400 pound she bear is her attempting to murder him where in return Callahan ends up busting her jaw and cracking her skull and then before he's finished raping her.****SPOILERS**** Alexandra who at first wanted nothing but to kill Callahan, for him killing her husband David, falls madly in love with him which creates a problem for her boyfriend back in town the bar owner Harry Wheeler, James Booth,who has rustled up a 15 man posse or lynch mob to track Callahan down and, after giving him a fair trial, hang him.
This despite Alexandra who started the ball rolling by inciting the mob on him now ends up changing her mind about doing Callahan in!
Trapped and surrounded Callahan sees the writing on the wall and faces the fate that's waiting for him knowing full well that death can't be any worse then what life or the movie he's staring in has in store for him!