Way of a Gaucho

Plot synopsis:
In 1875 Argentina, a young gaucho kills another man in a duel. His prison sentence is commuted to join the army. He serves under the tough Major Salinas, but soon grows tired of military life and deserts. He becomes Val Verde and leads a band of gauchos to resist the increasing encroachment of railroad agents into the Pampas. In the meantime Salinas quits the army and becomes chief of police, so he can continue his vendetta against him. After falling in love with an aristocratic woman, Martin decides to escape with her to Chile, crossing the Andes on horseback. On the way Teresa tells him that she is pregnant, so they decide to return and get married instead, because of her safety and that for them is inconceivable for the child to be raised without a legitimate last name. When they arrive at the Cathedral, the police follows them so Martin has to escape again, leaving Teresa in the care of Father Fernandez. That night Miguel talks with Teresa about a deal he reached with the Governor, in which Martin voluntarily turns himself in, in exchange for a 3 year prison sentence and a clean slate. Teresa tells Miguel where Martin is hiding, but Salinas also follows, prompting a horse chase through a cattle run, that causes Miguel to fall from his horse and be trampled to death by the herd of cows. That same night, Martin returns filled with guilt to meet Teresa and while she offers to escape to Brazil or Europe, he declines and tells her to meet him at noon at the Cathedral. The next day Father Fernandez arranges a meeting alone with Salinas, where Martin agrees to turn himself in and face the consequences of his actions, as long as he can first marry Teresa as a free man.

Tags: violence

Review:
Twentieth-Century Fox put together this unusual little adventure story, filmed almost entirely on location on the Argentinian Pampas.
It's the tale of a proud young Gaucho and his long struggle against injustice.
Rory Calhoun never quite made it as a big star, but he carries this one ably enough, though I found his unrelenting surliness a little wearying.
A young Richard Boone is excellent as (what else?) the villain.
His character, Major Salinas, bullies Martin (Calhoun) when the latter is forced to join the Argentinian Army.
Martin deserts and becomes Val Verde, the brigand king.
Salinas quits the Army and becomes chief of police, and is thus able to continue his vendetta against the Gaucho.
What puzzled me is, if Calhoun can change names so easily, how come Boone has to wear the same uniform in two different jobs?
Gene Tierney, Fox's specialist film noir love interest, appears in this one as Teresa, the respectable woman who falls for the Gaucho outlaw.
Tierney is great, affecting a softer, more natural look than in her urban crime movies and (unusually for her) hitting the screen in colour.
Jacques Tourneur directs with proficiency, capturing both the glorious freedom of the Pampas and the imposing beauty of the Andes.
Val Verde knows that the Gauchos, the semi-wild ethnic group of the Pampas, are heading for oblivion.
His elemental heroism, and the urbane malice of Salinas, make this little picture worth watching..
The fantastic beauty of wild Argentina and the splendor of Gene Tierney.
"Way of a Gaucho" was filmed in the wild Argentina of 1950.
The beauty of the locations is fantastic and alone makes the movie worth a view.
Not only the endless Pampas and the awesome Andes are breathtaking, also the towns and farms, with their ancient, decadent, cracking Spanish-style buildings and churches are incredibly evocative.The photography is accurate, the colors are magnificent.
The characters of Martin - Rory Calhoun and Salinas - Richard Boone are not fully realistic: one is too sullen and gruffy to be a youngster, the other is over-bad.Then, of course, there is Gene Tierney, as Teresa.
Her unparalleled splendor wins the beauty of Argentine landscapes (I admit I'm not a fair judge in this matter).
How I like these old-fashioned, good-taste erotic touches!
Follows a long ride together in the Pampas, with a pair of my most favorite romantic scenes: Gene sleeping on the high grass, close to a pond with exotic birds, then waking up and looking for her rescuer, with a dreaming look; later, at sunset, Gene resting in the shade of one of those lonely, huge, marvellous trees of the Pampas, silently contemplating Miguel.
Love is sprouting: how beautifully romantic.Let me remark a theme of the movie, much creditable in rendering the climate of the 19th century.
Teresa is pregnant, and Miguel repeatedly endangers his life to get to a church, trying to  marry her, in order that the coming child could have a "real, legitimate father".
The necessity to face death, to get a legal wedding, for both Teresa and Miguel is utter matter-of-factness: another option is inconceivable.
This was the actual way people were in the 19th century!
By contrast, how preposterous is the show of anachronistic feelings (such as feminist ideology, dislike for religion etc.) in many current movies placed at that epoch."Way of a Gaucho" is a good way of spending 90 minutes for everybody, and, of course, a must-see for Gene Tierney's fans..
Way of a Gaucho is directed by Jacques Tourneur and adapted to screenplay by Philip Dunne from the Herbert Childs novel.
It stars Rory Calhoun, Gene Tierney, Richard Boone, Hugh Marlowe, Everett Sloane and Enrique Chaico.
Music is by Sol Kaplan and cinematography by Harry Jackson.1875 Argentina, and after killing a man, gaucho Martin Penalosa (Calhoun) is sentenced to serve army duty.
Not one to be conformist, Martin deserts and becomes a leader of bandits.A most pleasing Oater filmed predominantly out of Argentina and in Technicolor, story essentially revolves around Penalosa's refusal to accept progress, where his beloved Pampas is set to see its landscape changed.
But he has many other things to contemplate, not least the appearance in his life if the delectable Teresa Chavez (Tierney), and that he is a very wanted man, particularly by Major Salinas (Boone), who has taken umbrage at Penalosa's desertion from his army.Charge him with a wilful misunderstanding of history.With some high grade locations photographed superbly, and a rousing musical score that sticks in your head for hours afterwards, tech credits are impressive.
The best portions of the pic - as per characterisations - comes via the Calhoun/Boone series of confrontations, both characters having a grudging respect for each other.
Their moral compasses differ greatly, as does their goals in life, but it's two men who are chipped from the same granite stone and both brought vividly to life by two great character actors.He's a fool, but very gaucho.Tourneur's CV shows him to have been at times an outstanding director, and even though this pic is more a case of being a passable mark for him, there's nice framing touches on show to showcase his keen eye for detail.
He also plays a good hand with the action, with plenty of exciting scenes involving the Gaucho's and their trusty steeds.
He gets a more than competent turn out of a radiant Tierney, whilst Enrique Chaico is most memorable, his director letting him hold court as a very important religious character.The moral of the story is nothing new, and in truth from a narrative viewpoint it could have been bolder with its telling of the last days of the Pampas - as the Gaucho's knew it - and one crude imposed projection shot dampens ever so slightly an otherwise great action sequence.
Tyrone Power was probably right to bow out of doing Way Of A Gaucho.
This would have been a great part for him ten years earlier, but by 1952 Power was 38 years old would not have been all that convincing any more as one wild and woolly gaucho who prizes freedom above all things.
So 30 year old Rory Calhoun got the part and he looked even younger than that.
Calhoun plays a young man who was taken in by a large estancia owner and raised as a stepson along with his real son Hugh Marlowe.
The film opens with Marlowe returning from getting a European education in Spain and Marlowe has adopted European ways.Civilization is coming to the Pampas, a fact that a lot of the gauchos resent, none more so than Calhoun.
When he kills a man in a brawl, he's arrested, but Marlowe goes to bat for him and he gets army service with Richard Boone trying to make a soldier out of him.
Naturally Calhoun doesn't take to that kind of discipline and he deserts and becomes the notorious bandit leader Valverde.
Along the way he meets Gene Tierney and the two of them get something going.20th Century Fox starting in the early Forties did a whole slew of films with a Latin American setting, the idea being to promote a Good Neighbor policy with Latin American countries who all declared war on the Axis powers after December 7.
In fact Argentina was the only country not to declare war, at least until 1945.
Because of that the Juan Peron government had few post war friends outside of Franco's Spain.So with that in mind they no doubt welcomed 20th Century Fox to do a film with a real Latin American location.
The cinematography of the Pampas is first rate and the American players who also included Everett Sloane as Calhoun's sidekick blend nicely in with the Argentine cast.
The first lady of Argentina Eva Peron who was a film star before she married Juan took a personal interest in this project even though she was dying during the shooting of Way Of A Gaucho.For its exotic location and good performances Way Of A Gaucho is definitely worth your time for a look..
Unusual western of life in the pampas.
Gorgeous location photography of Argentina and the subtle, lyrical direction of Jacques Tourneur are the main reasons for watching this story of a gaucho who becomes first outlaw and then revolutionary, in an attempt to preserve his way of life from encroaching foreign influences and money.
The acting is somewhat uneven - Calhoun and especially Tierney are somewhat miscast, though Richard Boone and others in smaller roles come off as more authentic..
Another Jacques Tourneur Beauty.
Jacques Tourneur makes very stylish Westerns, from CANYON PASSAGE before to WICHITA after, and WAY OF A GAUCHO is about the "original cowboys," the titular Spanish Argentine bandits who "Go with God" and are as patriotic as they come, and go: Making the famous "last refuge of a scoundrel" quote more pro than con, at least for one in particular who rides in the glory of the Old Days...That we never really learn about so we can only follow the intrepid horse-clopping footsteps of Rory Calhoun's "condor eyed" Martin Penalosa as the best scenes have our anti-hero breaking the law, sent under Richard Boone's harsh military command and eventually finding his own way...
This is where things slowly collapse upon an overly grandiose soundtrack and a maze of plotlines marring what should've been a more simple, honest Western that Tourneur's good at.
Painted with broad strokes, the surrounding countrysides feel like another world entirely, so there's a Fantasy element underneath the deep brown saddles and painted red scarves, as if Penalosa's more a lean Barbarian than maverick horseman, and with Tourneur, a Gothic undertone lurks as well...
But our man needed more of a goal, an urgency, than to ride along (with forced ingenue Gene Tierney when guitar-strumming Everette Sloane would've made a terrific sidekick) full of stubborn, woeful pride.
This GAUCHO looks terrific though..
"He's a fool, but very gaucho".
Way of a Gaucho is a sort of a western displaced to South America, namely to XIXth century's Argentinian pampa.
The main character: Martin (Rory Calhoun) is a gaucho (a sort of a cowboy) who accidentally kills a man in a fight and in order to avoid trial enlists in the army.
After some time he deserts and while on the run meets a beautiful young woman Teresa (Gene Tierney) who was recently kidnapped by the Indians, very soon they fall in love with each other.
Later he forms a gang of outlaws with the intent to fight oncoming civilization that threatens gaucho's way of life.
But gradually Martin starts loosing faith in a cause they are fighting for and wants to settle down, marry Teresa and lead a peaceful life but it seems very unreal when a good half of the Argentinian army and police is after him as a most dangerous criminal.A Way of Gaucho was first supposed to be directed by Henry King, but his wife got sick and the opportunity to direct was given to Jacques Tourneur.
The cast and crew moved to Argentina in order to shoot on real locations, where filmmakers found themselves under considerable pressure from the Argentinian authorities, let's not forget that at the time Argentina was under dictator's rule of general Peron.
Probably it served for better as characters, dialogs and all the atmosphere of the film looks authentically Argentinian.
Zanuck asked to add a few more sequences to accentuate the heroic side of the main character.
But those sequences were directed by Henry Levine, cause Tourneur was already completely out of work at Fox mainly due to his drinking problem.Overall Way of a Gaucho is a good movie with beautiful sequences filmed in Technicolor on real locations in Argentinian pampa and the Andes and the story concerning the idea of freedom, of sacrificing it for the benefit of the group and final realization of impossibility of "building our freedom on ruins of other people's lives." 7/10.
Gauchos and Indians in conflict with Argentine army and encroaching agribusiness..
The story is that Fox studios had earned some money in Argentina, and the Peron government wouldn't let them take it out of the country.
Thus, they came up with this book-based script, closely monitored by the Peron government, shot in various parts of Argentina, utilizing Argentine actors for subsidiary roles and mostly Hollywood actors for the major roles, of which I identify 5.
Martin(Roy Calhoun), the lead rebellious gaucho, who resists the soon-to-be transformation of the pampas from an open range, roadless, railless, vast sea of grass into fenced haciendas, traversed by occasional roads and railways and 'city' ideas of formal law, rather than the traditional informal gaucho tradition of each man serving out his own idea of justice for perceived transgressions against him, with the approval of his comrades or patron.Miguel(Hugh Marlowe) was raised with Martin, although not his biological brother, and has since become an important government official, as well as now the owner of his recently deceased father's large cattle empire.
He tries to reason with Martin that he cannot long hold back the encroachment of civilization into his life, and tries to protect Martin from the severe consequences of his rebellion against 'the system'.
Eventually, he would pay with his life in trying to aid Martin in escaping from his recapture as a(twice) army deserter.Teresa(Gene Tierney)is an elegant gorgeous ethereal city girl, who is invited to spend a vacation at Miguel's hacienda, foolishly goes horseback riding alone in the pampas, is abducted by Indians, serendipitously rescued by the fleeing deserter Martin, and eventually becomes his lover and wife.
She sympathizes with Martin's lament of the impending changes to his lifestyle, and feels guilty that he twice was recaptured because of putting her wellbeing above his own escape plans.
Gene's acting is quite wooden, as usual.Major Salinas(Richard Boone) is the main antagonist, being Martin's commanding officer during his two brief stints in the army, as punishment for killing another gaucho in a knife fight instigated by the deceased.
Miguel engineered the transfer of Martin from jail, awaiting execution, to the army.
However, he should have known that Martin would rebel against Salinas's determination to remake him into an obedient soldier.
Salinas sensed that Martin would make a superior soldier if he could change his attitude.
This proved impossible, as Martin badly slashed Salinas's arm in his second desertion attempt, necessitating its amputation.
As a result of this injury, Salinas was retired from the army, becoming police commissioner for this region, thus enabling him to resume his hunt for the fleeing Martin.Father Fernandez(Enrique Chaico) is the final main character.
He serves as Teresa's protector while Martin is running from the Salinas-led police posse, having known Martin since he was a boy.
Later, after Miguel is killed in a cattle stampede, he brokers the deal previously arranged between Miguel and the governor where Martin surrenders to Salinas, to serve a 3 year jail sentence for all his several serious transgressions, after finally being married to Teresa by the Father.
Yes, Martin was very very lucky to get off so lightly, thanks to Miguel's unflagging devotion to using his political influence to counter Martin's transgressions.
Very interestingly, as a late teen, Roy Calhoun spent 3 years in a federal reformatory, for various robberies.
This is the same amount of prison time Martin is given at story's end!
I thought Calhoun was OK as the main character, being tall and handsome, although I would have preferred Burt Lancaster.After his second army desertion, Martin reinvents himself as Val Verde(green valley), leader of a sizable gang of gauchos bent on sabotaging efforts to build a railway into the pampas.
Later, they capture Salinas, pursuing Martin.
Martin decides to spare his life, saying he is more of a man than any of them.
Thus, the grudging respect of the two, officially with opposite goals, but reluctant to kill the other.
Rather reminds me of the relationship between the Boone and Scott characters in "The Tall T".
We get a sampling of various ecological regions of Argentina , from the flat wet Pampas grasslands nearest the coast, to progressively drier lands, often hilly or mountainous, to the west, and finally to the mighty Andes, which Martin and Teresa attempt to cross to anticipated freedom in Chile.
However, Martin decides they must turn back, as Teresa faints, probably from a combination of fatigue, her pregnancy, and altitude sickness.
One of the few light sequences in the film occurs when Martin and Teresa spend a couple days riding back to the hacienda after Martin rescued her.
Gene looks beautiful and seductive, with her torn blouse, reveling in the picturesque pampas wilderness.
We see a couple of fleeing rheas and their egg, which Martin locates.
Before the introduction of cattle and sheep, rheas largely ruled the pampas, and were the main food of the Native Americans.
During this period, the army went on rhea extermination campaigns, similar to the bison extermination policy of the US government, as part of its Native American subjugation program.Check out the later "Savage Pampas", which deals with the same basic subject, although mostly filmed in Spain..
unforgettable visual beauty, a western in Argentina..
There is a certain sadness in the story of Martin, the gaucho, his macho rules, and the fact that the incoming civilization is going to make the gauchos vanish, makes him doomed from the beginning.
But what is impressive in this film is the beautiful cinematography, the pampas, the mountains covered with snow, the gauchos with their characteristic costumes, thousands galloping in the wilderness.
Something one will never forget in this western, yes, it is definitely a western, in a different location, directed by Jacques Tourneur (Wichita, Stranger on Horseback, Stars in my Crown).
Also western stars Rory Calhoun and Richard Boone.
Gene Tierney was familiar with the genre (Belle Starr,The Return of Frank James) and is a convincing Teresa.
Way of a Gaucho belongs up there with the top films of the western genre, it should be more known.