Awesome Movie

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I think I know why so many reviews and write-ups about this picture focus on the off-screen clash of the titanic egos and the taboo-defying love scene between black lawman and Indian squaw--it's not a very good Western.The premise was good. It's 1912 and Burt Reynolds' half-breed Yaqui Joe robbed a Phoenix bank of $6,000 to buy 100 rifles to arm the Yaqui Indians of Sonora, Mexico, who are woefully outmatched in their conflict with the Mexican army led by General Verdugo. Meanwhile, into town rides Big Jim Brown as Sheriff Lydecker determined to capture and bring back the outlaw. But to General Verdugo, one meddling gringo is the same as any other, and Yaqui Joe and Lydecker soon find themselves chained together and destined to face the firing squad.Raquel Welch lends glamour to the proceedings as Sarita, but is incidental to the plot, relegated to eye-candy: luring a soldier to his death by unbuttoning her shirt, taking a shower, and playing the eminently seducible soldada.The movie belongs to Burt, whose charisma and smile steal every scene from the ponderous and lumbering Brown. Yaqui Joe is no hero, however, welshing on paying his whore, slapping her around, then dragging her topless onto the hotel balcony in a vain effort to distract the soldiers long enough to allow the Yaqui prisoners to escape. Brown's Lydecker, a lawman eager to bring in Yaqui Joe for the $200 reward and job security, is a 15-year U.S. Cavalry veteran of the Indian Wars and openly declares his dislike for Indians. He rebuffs Yaqui Joe and Sarita when they implore him to join in their fight, but his attitude changes once he befriends a young Yaqui boy who is later abducted by the military--now it's personal.To its credit, the film never descends into schmaltz with everyone forsaking their prejudices and joining in a group hug. Yaqui Joe and Lydecker work together, but don't necessarily like or trust each other. They are no Culp and Cosby and 100 RIFLES never becomes a buddy movie. In fact, I don't think anyone in this picture really liked anyone else. It's a cynical story, with each of the featured characters coming to Sonora for his own gain.Railroad man Grimes, for example, represents American interests in Mexico. Played with disarming charm by Dan O'Herlihy, Grimes initially appears as a dandy in his white suit and weak stomach for killing, but in the end he's confident and poised to pull the strings of reluctant leader Yaqui Joe. It's telling that Joe parrots to Lydecker the stirring speech he just heard from Grimes, indicating he's already fallen under the American's persuasive spell.And in a rather ham-fisted foreshadowing of World War II, there is Lt. Franz von Klemme. As a fan of director Tom Gries' 1966-68 series RAT PATROL, I was delighted to see Eric Braeden--still billed as Hans Gudegast--playing--what else?--a German military adviser to General Verdugo. Braeden has a gravitas that contrasted sharply with Verdugo's bombast and decadence, evident in the scene where Verdugo lolls in a tub being scrubbed by a couple senoritas while von Klemme scowls in disgust. Of course, von Klemme's sound counsel falls on deaf ears. Verdugo is more interested in salving his bruised ego by settling personal scores with Yaqui Joe and Lydecker than in the military objective of retrieving the 100 rifles. (And of course proto-Nazi von Klemme advised Verdugo to exterminate all the Yaqui in a too-obvious and ominous allusion to what the future held.) I sympathized with von Klemme and this fool's errand he was dispatched to in Sonora and was glad to see him survive and make a strategic retreat in the end, just as he did in dozens of RAT PATROL episodes.The names of the villains each evoke strong associations: Verdugo - vertigo, unsteady and liable to fall. Von Klemme - clammy, unpleasantly slimy, sticky, and moist--yuck! Grimes - grimy, oily and dirty (in contrast with his white suit). I'm confident these names were not chosen by accident.In another of the film's strong points, the Yaqui Indians are not romanticized as virtuous underdogs. When they conquer Verdugo's compound, they immediately get drunk and trash all the trappings of civilization they can find, eventually burning it all to the ground in the grand sacking tradition of the European barbarians, Mongols, and Huns. It was the Yaqui's tearing up the railroad tracks that sparked the conflict with the Mexican military in the first place, signifying this war is at its heart a war on civilization, modernity, and progress.100 RIFLES is an ambitious Western that stumbles as entertainment, though it dutifully delivers action, excitement, and gunplay. The titles and Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack were excellent, as were the locations (the ruined cathedral especially). The acting is very good, with Burt Reynolds standing out, ably backed by Brown and the three principal baddies--Fernando Lamas, Dan O'Herlihy, and Eric Braeden. The shortcomings include the tropes that traditionally plague Westerns--people falling forward after being shot (and practically diving over the sandbags near the end), Welch arriving just in time to hear a dying man's last words before he shudders and dies in her arms, and Welch and her "cavalry" coming over the wall a split-second before the firing squad executed our heroes. These weren't mortal wounds, but they added up over the 110-minute run time that could have been trimmed by twenty minutes. Worth watching once.

If you never once use your gray-matter during the 110 minutes of Tom Gries 100 Rifles, you may escape with nothing more than a feeling that Gries, who made the dull, episodic, and beautifully acted (by most of the characters) Will Penny, decided to throw out the performance aspect and replace it with lots and lots and lots more killing and stabbing and dynamiting.Just a feeling, mind you.100 Rifles is drive-in movie trash. You really can't get mad at it because it is, if you pardon the cliché, 100 Clichés. Fernando Lamas plays a Mexican general, and plays him like Michael Ansara in one of the Magnificent Seven sequels, like Ansara played his Mexican colonel a little like the fat officer in The Wild Bunch, and on and on.Jim Brown is big (like the trees in my yard).Burt Reynolds shows flashes of the humor and action-oriented charisma that would propel him to superstardom.But, it's Raquel Welch, her awful Mexican accent notwithstanding, who gains the viewer's greatest affection. There are indications of an actress here. She occasionally seems tender and likable. I always found her too Barbie Doll-like--boobs, butt, big-hair, and hard as a rock (not me, you nitwit, her), but somewhere along the way, parked in amongst some of that killin' and maimin', I realized I wasn't cringing every time she was on screen.Oh, well. I first heard about this flick some 20 years ago. I finally watched it, uncut, on YouTube. Now, I've seen it. Whoop.I wonder if I ever see Kansas City Bombers, Welch will turn in a fairly good performance there, too.That's sarcasm.

Continuing my plan to watch every Burt Reynolds movie in his filmography in order, I come to 100 Rifles.Plot in A Paragraph: Set in Mexico during Indian oppression and rebellion. Law man Lyedecker (Jim Brown) arrives in town in hot pursuit of Yaqui Joe (Burt Reynolds) who has stolen $6000 from a bank. Lyedecker soon catches his man, but problems arise when it is revealed Joe is involved in the Indian uprising, and has used the money to buy 100 Rifles for the Indians, which he plans on taking them to the Indians with Sarita (Raquel Welch) Leydecker gets caught up in the uprising but is determined to get his man back to the U.S. as a prisoner.Jim Brown does as well as he can in his role, but acting is not his strong suit. Raquel Welch is gorgeous with a wonderful body, but she was not much of an actress back then and only Burt Reynolds emerges the films real star "acting wise" he plays the role with a glint in his eye and he brings the laughs. Of the three co stars he is the only one who can actually act. Had his character being better scripted, then this would be one of Burt Reynolds more famous characters. As it it is he easily stole this picture.I don't understand why there isn't more love this movie. Burt Reynolds earlier western" Navajo Joe" has a cult following yet is nowhere near as well made or as enjoyable as "100 Rifles"

"100 Rifles" is an adventure western set in Mexico with former pro football player Jim Brown cast as a sheriff and Burt Reynolds as a Mexican who purchased the titular number of rifles. Raquel Welch is the daughter of a revolutionary soldier who is hanged at the beginning. These three unlikely allies team up to contend with Fernando Lamas and Eric Braeden. Director Tom Gries is better known for his realistic Charlton Heston cowboy classic "Will Penny." Although "Will Penny" is a better all-around western with a largely believable plot, "100 Rifles" qualifies as an exciting, scenic western set below the border that appeared after Spaghetti westerns had popularized the Mexican revolution. Nevertheless, "100 Rifles" is a lot of fun. Reportedly, Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds got off on the wrong foot, and the beautiful Welch hated Reynolds so much that when they co-starred again with him in "Fuzz" she had most of her scenes filmed when Reynolds was not present. Fans of Mexican revolutionary westerns will enjoy this bullet-riddled romp. When "100 Rifles" came out, interracial romances were in their infancy on the big screen. Brown and Welch share a couple of scenes together. Jerry Goldsmith's orchestral score is very atmospheric and contributes to the suspenseful tension. The advertising campaign for this outdoors film was clever. "This picture has a message—watch out." Novelist Clair Huffaker, who wrote the novel for the John Wayne western "The War Wagon," co-scripted this turn-of-the-century horse opera with Gries, based on Robert MacLeod's novel. For the record, MacLeod penned the novel that served as the basis for the Marlon Brando oater "The Appaloosa." "100 Rifles" was lensed on location in Spain.