Thanks for the memories!

Simply Perfect

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Mexican PJF investigator Pablo Rodriguez (Ricardo Montalban) and US immigration inspector Jack Bearnes (George Murphy) join forces to investigate the murders of illegals at the crossings. Pablo infiltrates illegals posing as a bracero or farmhand. He befriends bracero Juan. Pablo's soft hands almost give him away but he convinces them that while he's not a bracero. He's actually wanted by the police. Meanwhile Jack follows Pablo and then tries to infiltrate the other side of the transaction masterminded by farmer Owen Parkson.I like Montalban as he infiltrated the smuggling gang. George Murphy really sticks out like a sore thumb in Mexico. I also don't like his plan to infiltrate the other side of the border. It seems ill-conceived from the very start. I would rather not have Bearnes' side of the infiltration and just have him coordinate the police. The story ends up with too many coincidences and too many questionable moves by the bad guys. It's great to have this crime drama which is well done for the era and its genre.

Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, James Mitchell, and Charles McGraw star in this story about Mexicans who cross the border to California legally (and some illegally) to work and support their family back in Mexico. But, going back to Mexico, they are killed for their meager pay. In doing this, these certain "businessmen" can then get more Mexicans to come and work for them. It's all a racket, where these "businessman" make all the profits, until federal agents of America and Mexico are planted on the inside, who are George Murphy and Ricardo Montalban. George Murphy was mainly a song-and-dance guy in musical comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, but branched out to do other genres with this film, and I may never see him the same way again. Not so much because he was in it, but because of what happens. James Mitchell, who found fame later as "All My Children"'s Palmer Cortlandt, is on hand as a Mexican trying to find work to support his family. The film wraps up with unrelenting and uncompromising violence that does not talk down to its mature viewers. Little children, I should think, should not see this. For good actors in a solid picture directed by Anthony Mann, it's a Border Incident on the bill.

Mexican and American agents team up to crackdown on those taking advantage of illegal farm workers. The film starts with hokey and superfluous narration explaining the premise of the film. It then tracks a groups of Mexicans as they illegally cross the border, with Montalban as an undercover agent among them. It is quite dull and looks drab. It perks up a bit in the middle, but the basic story is too uninteresting to hold one's interest. Murphy, the affable dancer, seems miscast as a tough American agent. The cast includes Bedoya, who uttered his famous "stinking badges" line the year before. Despite its short running time, the film drags because the plot has no flow.

The preachy-sounding lesson in illegal immigration that opens "Border Incident" makes it seem like this is going to be a boring classroom documentary. And, the opening call to action for Mexican Ricardo Montalban (as Pablo Rodriguez) and American George Murphy (as Jack Bearnes) is unexciting. In fact, the two really don't work together like you're expecting. Instead, Montalban hooks up with handsome James Mitchell (as Juan Garcia) while Mr. Murphy is taken captive by dastardly Howard Da Silva (as Owen Parkson). Watching these two intriguing relationships develop builds to a shocking mid-point murder. And, the ending will make your patience with this picture worthwhile. The direction and photography, by Anthony Mann and John Alton, are outstanding.******* Border Incident (10/28/49) Anthony Mann ~ Ricardo Montalban, James Mitchell, George Murphy, Howard Da Silva