The Wonderful Country

Plot synopsis:
Martin Brady, at age 14, flees to Mexico from Texas after he kills the man who murdered his father. Now, fourteen years later, in 1880s Mexico, he is called Martin Bredi. He is a hired gun for a rich Mexican rancher and Chihuahuan warlord, Cipriano Castro. Brady starts to feel like he would like to return to Texas. Castro send him north to Puerto, Texas, to guard a load of silver ore, with the intention of smuggling arms.
When he gets to Texas he breaks his leg and has to stay put in the town while he heals. He is approached by the head of the Texas Rangers division in Puerto about joining after the Captain confirms his identity and lets Brady know that he will not be prosecuted for killing his father's murderer. He also is enamored by the ranger captain's daughter, Louisa Rucker.
After killing a man who injured a friend, he returns to Mexico and is sent on an impossible errand to deliver a load of gunpowder by General Marco Castro, the brother of Cipriano. The wagon blows up before it is delivered. After returning to Chihuahua, Cipriano Castro sends Brady to assassinate a rival Salcido; however, the Castros are suspicious of him and have him followed. During his sojourn in Chihuahua, he meets an acquaintance from Puerto and learns that the man he killed was a criminal with a reward for his death.
Wanted in the United States and now distrusted in Mexico, he makes his way back to Texas and on the way assists a lost column of Buffalo soldiers that is deep into Mexico fighting Apache Indians. Back in Texas, Brady joins the Texas Rangers, as part of a deal for his being a wanted man, and helps them fight the Apaches back in Mexico.
A crucial character to the story is Brady's horse, a black Andalusian stallion named Lágrimas ("tears").

Tags: murder

Review:
Based on a story by artist Tom Lea (who cameos as a barber), The Wonderful Country stars Robert Mitchum, Julie London, Gary Merrill, Charles McGraw & Pedro Armendáriz.
It's directed by Robert Parrish, the score is from Alex North with Floyd Crosby & Alex Phillips on cinematography around the Durango location shoot.A rich western that admirably crams in a lot of genre based themes and boasts a lead protagonist of high complex value.
Tightly directed by Parrish (Saddle The Wind), who is aware that this needs no action overkill, it's really with Mitchum and Robert Ardrey's script that the film owes its success.
He's playing Martin Brady, a man who finds himself being pulled emotionally on both sides of the Mexican/American border, the contrast between both lands, and Brady's persona too (he's effectively a man without a country), is very interesting.
There's a number of well drawn characters who file in and out of Brady's life, all serving purpose to the plot, with Julie London's love interest thankfully having a more darker edge than others that were often seen in the genre.
A fine film that rewards further on repeat viewings, especially for fans of the great Robert Mitchum.
I admit to a bias here as the great Robert Mitchum was and is my idol,but this film is another illustration of how a great actor can not only ennoble a role,but single-handed can lift a good-average story into a very credit worthy film.
The Wonderful Country finds Robert Mitchum as a gunslinger, a pistolero working for the local Mexican governor Pedro Armendariz.
While on the mend in that bordertown and after, Mitchum finds himself in a series of situations that call him to question what he's been doing and just where he can call home.One of those situations is Julie London, wife of army major Gary Merrill who's got a bit of a past herself.
She throws quite a few complications in Mitchum's past.The Wonderful Country is a nicely put together western shot on location in Durango.
He's the doctor who tends to Mitchum's broken leg and befriends him, but then gets one big pang of jealousy about Julie London that leads to tragedy.
In real life McGraw was as much the hellraiser as he is in the film.The Wonderful Country had the good fortune to be partially scripted by Tom Lea so his vision of the characters in his own novel remained pretty much intact.
This was the only one of two novels by that writer/artist to be filmed.That's as good a reason as any to see a very fine western..
This offbeat 1959 western stars the laconic Robert Mitchum as gunslinger Martin Brady, a Texas outlaw and outcast who fled to his adopted country Mexico as a youth.
He works for the corrupt Castro brothers of whom he finds out much too late that he's just a pawn they move about their chessboard (Northern Mexico) as they please.The film's major flaw is the narrative...it's a bit jumpy in spots but may have fallen victim studio intervention.
If you're expecting an action packed, shoot them up...this is not for you.There are elements here we see in later films...we get a taste of Mexican culture, which Brady identifies more with than America, that we see in The Magnificent Seven and The Wild Bunch.
The desert photography and imagery of frontier Texas and Old Mexico is almost overwhelming.With a few exceptions, I have never been a Robert Mitchum fan, but this role brings out those qualities in him that have always attracted the fans.
While in Texas he meets and falls for the wife of the military governor played by Julie London, in probably her only significant role.
As he recovers, he is involved in another shooting and finally escapes back to Mexico, where he is falls out of favor with his patrons for losing the guns.It isn't the story that makes this movie.
An American (Robert Mitchum), raised in Mexico, crosses back over the border.
One of the least remembered - though that's a shame - is director Robert Parrish's (from a fine novel by Tom Lea, himself a forgotten figure but a western novelist worth rediscovering by buffs) yarn about a rangy American (Robert Mitchum) who has been hiding out in Mexico, returns to U.S. soil, and discovers that he's virtually a man without a country - he doesn't really belong anywhere.
This had to be one of the films that influenced Sergio Leone, and his Man With No Name character played by Clint Eastwood, in that I'm not sure there was an anti-hero wrapped in a serape before Mitchum in this movie.
Julie London appears as the sexually frustrated wife of an army commander (Gary Merrill), and while she's certainly beautiful enough for the role, her acting is slightly more stilted and wooden than that of Kim Novak.
Nursed back to health from a broken leg by the residents of a small US town, an American-born illegal arms dealer becomes torn between whether to return to Mexico, where he has lived most of his life, or stay on in America in this Technicolor western starring Robert Mitchum.
London is pretty dull too, and then as a self-defense incident forces Mitchum to make up his mind between the US and Mexico, it feels a case of too much being thrown on the plate here.
Mitchum is an assassin in the employ of Mexican mafia/government, and London is the wife of an American major.
just caught this thoughtful film on TV again.not a particular Mitchum fan, but here he is gives a wonderful world weary performance as the "outside man" gradually learning kindness and companionship and friendship against the odds of his upbringing and circumstances and the hand that fate has dealt him.Not a particular shoot em up type western but a film about belonging and extricating yourself from a bad lot when down a blind alley.
Robert Mitchum gives a nice and sensitive acting as an uprooted mercenary operating south of the border.
The film centers on a mercenary Yankee , Martin Brady , well played by Robert Mitchum crossing Rio Grande - a recurring image- and he painfully rediscovers the burdens and blessings of home and belonging as well as pursuit , treason and love .
Brady was as proud as the mighty black stallion- called Tears- he rode...the man who hungered for the softness of a woman and the clean skies of "The Wonderful Country"!
A yankee soldier of fortune , Robert Mitchum , playing both sides in a blazing gunrunning , as he does a spot of weapon smuggling in Mexico .
Then , Mitchum falls for the commandant's unhappy wife (Julie London) ; crossing swords with her husband , an Army commander (Gary Merrill) .
The picture centers on Mitchum , a gringo mercenary operating South of Border in a gun-running mission , as he finds out the blessings and the distresses of the Mexican territory .
And a sensitive and rousing musical score by the classy composer Alex North, adding marvelous Mexican sounds and songs .Produced by DRM Production , Robert Mitchum ownership , along with Chester Erskine .
This modest drama/action/Western picture was professionally and firmly directed by Robert Parrish , though it has some flaws and gaps .It premiered on October 8 ,1959 and exhibited by United Artists .
Parrish initiated the movie by buying the novel copyright and he hired the notorious screenwriter Robert Ardrey and subsequently Robert Mitchum and Chester Erskine were interested in it .
Robert Parrish was an Academy Award-winning film editor who also realized and acted in movies .
This, unceremoniously, is what happens to craggy Martin Brady near the beginning of this marvellous Western, as his horse is humiliatingly felled by some breezy tumblewood, and the aging gunslinger breaks his leg, perhaps a punishment for disobeying his employers, the all-powerful Mexican brothers Castro (oh yes!), one governor of his province, the other a hot-headed, power-hungry general.As the 1950s drew to a close, the traditional Western was about to be eclipsed: the genre was full of these low-key, elegiac tributes to the traditional Western hero, the pioneer forever blocked by his murderous past from entering the community he helped forge; 'The Searchers' is only the most famous example.
The film takes place around the Rio Grande, the legendary border between the US and Mexico, and this is the border Brady must frequently cross, the dividing line in his identity.
It is ironic, therefore, that the failure of his Western-hero body allows Brady to fumble towards growth as a man.As I say, the 1950s was full of films like this, 'The Gunfighter' and the like.
The Mexican setting and atmosphere, and the murderous general also prefigure this film, while 'Country''s best scene, when Brady shoots his friend's murderer (a scene containing, incidentally, some of Mitchum's best acting) is full of the startling, new violence.
Mitchum reprises his Mexican gun-running, wife-stealing role from 'Bandido' (filmed just 3 years earlier) but this time as a pseudo-American-Mexican instead of just a mercenary American.
Robert Mitchum plays out the clash at the border between Mexico and the US.
I give this movie an E for effort - Mitchum plays an American who had escaped to Mexico in his youth after a violent episode and has grown up working for the local bandits controlling that part of the country.
Based on a novel by Tom Lea, a forgotten writer of westerns, and staring along with Robert Mitchum in the romantic triangle is Gary Merrill as the local cavalry boss and Julie London as his unhappy wife.
What makes it all interesting is the fact that the movie never quite "jells"- Mitchum tries his best against a cast of grade B actors and his performance mostly works.
The worst performance is from Julie London who not only is dressed incongruously but looks and acts like a robot.
Not a bad western, but not so wonderful either: the usual gun running/renegade indian/crooked Mexican bit.
Was surprised to view this Robert Mitchum film where he stars as a Mexican who was raised in Mexico named Martin Brady.
There are clear merits to this film and Mitchum gives his all to make his character solid ...
Good original cinematography was an asset along with a curious south-of-the border Mexican style score from Alex North, just before his Spartacus effort..
Hi. I remember watching this movie (The Wonderful Country) when I was a young man.
The movie was filmed in Mexico and the scenery was fantastic.
Robert Mitchum was one of the great actors who made many great movies.
Then, add Indians, Calvary, love interest, gun play, Mexico, drinking, fighting, horses and some history and we got a decent movie on our hands.
Robert Mitchum is Martin Brady an American who has grown up in Mexico but whom is now back.
I only stuck it out because Robert Mitchum produced the film himself, so I figured it would have some redeeming quality.
If any of you know what it is, let me know.Robert Mitchum stars as an American ex-patriate in Mexico, and for absolutely no reason, he spends the entire movie talking in a Mexican accent.
Enjoying the breezy Western Rachel and the Stranger a few months ago,I was pleased to find a Western starring "Big Bob" Mitchum had been added to the site,which led to getting set to find out how wonderful this country could be.The plot:After killing the murderer who killed his dad, Martin Brady has been living in exile in Mexico.
View on the film:Looking surprisingly fresh faced, Mitchum gives a charming performance as Brady,whose exiled state allows Mitchum to give Brady rugged heroics, which is lassoed with a troubling sense of doubt over Brady ever getting the chance to return to the wonderful country.
Riding into the sunset with Mitchum, Gary Merrill gives a great performance as Colton,who is given by Merrill a striking feeling of being unable to find light in the dark clouds above.Traveling the country from Tom Lea's (who has a cameo) novel,the screenplay by Robert Ardrey & Walter Bernstein leaves the barroom fights to draw a thoughtful Folk tale Western.
But it's the story and how the country and the conflict are presented that make the movie.Almost ten years later, in the WILD BUNCH, Peckinpah has his actors say about Mexico:"Ah, Mexico lindo (lovely)!" and "Don't look "lindo" to me; just looks like more of Texas." That's the other side and another story.
It is the story of a gringo with a past (Mitchum) who comes north over the Rio Grande to buy weapons illegally during Mexico's chaotic late nineteenth century for a warlord.
Up pops Julie London, smouldering trashy wife of the US Army major in charge of the area, and Mitchum becomes confused.
Yes, the film (Mitchum was Executive Producer) makes some heavy handed comment on US interventions in third world countries during the fifties, but it does not really satisfy either strand - Western or Satire.
For once at the westerns, I was interested in seeing a love story; but not much happens this way.
In this western, Mitchum is as interesting, in the same way I mean, as was Rourke in the '80s.What the film needed were action and a pace.But, notwithstanding, interesting western..
I watched it because Alex Phillips was its cinematographer, but I quickly found myself noticing other things, like the character played by Robert Mitchum whose allegiances are seriously divided between the country of his birth and Mexico.
Mitchum plays his role with absolute conviction, not at all like he's in between his usual film noir roles (even if he was).But the real star is the photography of Alex Phillips.
Phillips had worked in Mexican films since the early 1930s, and had collaborated with Fernando de Fuentes, Emilio Fernandez, and Luis Bunuel."The Wonderful Country" also features Julie London in one of her last screen appearances before she disappeared into television.
That Robert Mitchum doesn't ride off into the sunset with her (he actually WALKS away from the camera, without his gun) is a credit to the film..
An understated and underseen little character-driven western, The Wonderful Country has a touching melancholy soul, but has a serious, nagging nagging problem with pacing that leaves it feeling undercooked.The film deals with a man, Martin Brady (Robert Mitchum), who is a native Texan, but long ago fled to Mexico after killing his father's murderer.
There, his horse, Legrimas (Spanish for "tears") gets spooked by some tumbleweed and he ends up breaking his leg, not only losing his shipment but becoming stranded in Puerto, where he makes friends and enemies all around town: in the former, German apprentice "Chico" (Max Slaten) and the Major's wife (Julie London, who has a giant face).
But when the angry drunk town doctor (Charles McGraw) ends up fatally wounding Chico and Martin has to kill him in self defense, he and Legrimas must flee again, adrift in the emptiness, without a home.Much of the film's glories hang on the mug of Robert Mitchum, and his performance is virtuoso.
The rest of the supporting cast is a combination of random 'name' actors and forgettable role players, with Pedro Armendariz and Satchel Paige (!) showing up unexpectedly, and Julie London and Gary Merrill giving clipped, underfed performances for likewise roles.That ends up being the biggest problem with the film: everything feels clipped, rushed, undercooked.
In the opening third where he is forced to stay in town, he not only recovers from an apparently serious broken leg in about a dozen minutes of screen time, and when he begins some sort of vague "love affair" with Major Colton's wife, it ends up meaning almost nothing.
The summation of their 'relationship' ends up being a couple scenes where she makes eyes at him, then he leaves, then they meet again later, and lay this insane guilt trip on each other and talk about all these bad things that they "did", and...unless I passed out and missed several scenes, talk and glare is all that they did.The film also gives short shrift to pretty much every character supporting Mitchum.
Like Mitchum's acting, it is what it is, take it or leave it.But I think you will take it in the end.
After the last gunfight, you KNOW this chaos and nonsense in violence has come to an end the way a baseball game concludes with a walk off home run and Mitchum giving a clinic on how to put a bullet through the impulse to break out into tears with classic manly disconnection as one of the great natural actors of our time.
Besides the treat of seeing the Baseball legend Satchel Paige in a movie and Julie London being easy on the eyes, and a host of venerable Latinos being sympathetically cast in supporting roles or as villains with sneering machismo, there is Mitchum swaggering through with that 'I don't give a damn' disinterest finally giving a damn at the end without saying a word..
It occurred to me in the final minutes of the picture what the title might have been meant to represent - as Martin Brady (Robert Mitchum) makes his way across the Rio Grande from Mexico, his destination is the United States.
Fifty years removed from the original release of the picture, and without benefit of knowing to what extent politics played in the development of the story line, it's interesting to speculate about the film maker's use of the Castro name.
But it did set him up as a sympathetic character for the admiration of Helen Colton (Julie London) and as a foil in Mrs. Colton's relationship with her husband (Gary Merrill).The genuine surprise in the picture for me was the appearance of the legendary Satchel Paige as a soldier in Colton's black regiment.
Mitchum was a bit too droll in his portrayal to suit me, but he's certainly competent enough here as in other films I've seen him.