The Americano (1955)

As Good As It Gets

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Watchable and standard Western set in flashy Brazil about classic confrontation between cattlemen and homesteaders . There are wonderful , showy outdoors shot on spectacular territory and it displays action , shootouts , violence and though sometimes is slow-moving , isn't tiring neither dreary , sustaining the interest for quite a while . It deals with an American who takes a small herd of Brahma bulls and undertakes the long drives began from Texas to Brazil where he has sold them for a small fortune that is subsequently robbed . Later on , the American working on a ranch in the Amazon comes up against a gang of Brazilian bandits (Cesar Romero) . The American named Sam Dent fights to stifle the conflicts between homesteaders (led by Ursula Thies) and cattleman (Frank Lovejoy) who hires gunfighters . Texas cowboy become involved with a group of bad guys versus Brazilian good guys in this way-south-of-the-border Western . Meanwhile , he is hired for a time to keep the peace and develops a love story with the wealthy owner. But the Amazon becomes notorious for its lawlessness . The picture gets action Western , shootouts , a love story , musical numbers (in charge of a gorgeous Abbe Lane) and is quite entertaining . A formula film featuring the standard grand opening , an enjoyable change of scenery , dramatic problem-posing center and slang-bang climax , but a nice entertaining Western nonetheless . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians, cheap production values and pleasing results . Bright scenarios shot in Brazil and Riverside, California , though there are excessive stock-shots. The main asset results to be the change of scenery , but a familiar theme : homesteaders against cattlemen make this movie all but a little bit pedestrian . Acceptable acting by Glenn Ford as a Texas cowboy gets embroiled with bad guys and finds himself in the middle of a range war . Commendable support cast as Frank Lovejoy , Cesar Romero , Rodolfo Hoyos and the gorgeous Abbe Lane , though Sara Montiel was originally cast for the role of Teresa and filmed some sequences in the Matto Grosso jungle . Atmospheric musical score by Roy Webb , including agreeable songs ; being danced and sung by Abbe Lane and composed and conducted by her husband Xavier Cugat . This low-budgeted motion picture was professionally directed by William Castle . He was an expert craftsman with some of the all-time great schlock names serving as the producer Sam Katzman and fondness for gimmicks as proved in his successful terror films such as House of haunted hill , The Tingler , Mr Sardonicus , Strait-jacked , Homicidal , Macabre and 13 Ghosts . Castle emulated Alfred Hitchcock , this included the practice of appearing in the trailers, and even making cameo appearances in his films . Furthermore , he made several Western such as 1955 Duel on the Mississippi , 1955 The Gun That Won the West ,1955 El Americano , 1954 Masterson of Kansas , 1954 The Law vs. Billy the Kid , 1954 Jesse James vs. the Daltons , 1954 Battle of Rogue River , 1953 Fort Ti , 1951 cave of outlaws. Rating : 6. Acceptable and passable

Two brothers have a contract to sell three Brahma bulls to a rancher in South America. They will get a fortune for these bulls--enough so they can buy a big spread of their own. Once one brother (Glenn Ford) arrives in South America, however, he finds things a bit confusing--who is who in a range war raging in the Brazilian forests? There are three different sides vying for power and Ford is left wondering just who he can trust.This is a sloppy and slow-paced film. It takes a terribly long time for anything to happen and it's just not that interesting a film. But what irritated me was how sloppy the film looked and sounded. It was supposed to be Brazil--so why was everyone speaking Spanish, not Portuguese. Too much scratchy old stock footage is used--and I have no idea why, since they actually DID go to South America to film part of the movie. In addition, I laughed when I saw an American Mountain Lion--painted black to look like a Jaguar! It was very clearly NOT a Jaguar. And, the film showed some American Alligators and one of the characters talked about the danger in the forest from Cobras--which are found only in Africa and Asia. While I don't look for perfection in a film, such sloppiness is irritating and shows a lack of regard for the audience. The same can be said in regard to the pacing--it's as if they know they had a bad film and didn't care.The worst moment in the film? It could have been when the cockatiel was ogling the woman bathing in the lagoon. However, I can't say this for sure because about 90% through the film I gave up and turned it off--it was THAT bad. And, for your information, I almost always watch all of the films I review and do this about 99.76% of the time.

I'm a big fan of Glenn Ford, Frank Lovejoy, and Cesar Romero, but this movie goes terribly astray. One must take into account that when this movie was made, the world was less sophisticated, so the lame travelogue aspects of the first half hour were probably exciting, new, and "never-seen-before" footage. Now it is obvious, boring, and an incredibly poor job of editing some location shooting with bad stock footage. Lovejoy and Romero are both presented as smiling bad guys, with Glenn Ford and the audience left to uncover who is truly bad and who Ford should side with. Romero's character was over-the-top and annoying, while I thought Lovejoy gave a very nice, textured portrayal. That being said, I just couldn't care less about either of them, their range war, or who Ford was going to side with. He was back and forth between the two men so often, I started to get dizzy, and, remarkably, throughout most of the 90 minutes, NOTHING gets done! It's just a boring see-saw.There are murders, attempted rapes, treachery, and much thievery, but neither the script, nor the director (William Castle), generate even the SLIGHTEST bit of tension. A perfect example: In the beginning of the film, Cesar Romero is supposed to lead Ford and his bulls across a river, but warns of the Pirahna fish that will devour the bulls, so he chases a crocodile into the river downstream, the Pirahna chase after the croc, and our hero gets his bulls across safely. It is OBVIOUSLY a set-up for later, but throughout the film, they ride TWO times across the river without even pausing or "distracting" the fish, which completely undermines the set-up. The ultimate undermining shows its effect during the scene toward the end of the film where they threaten to drop the bad guy's henchman into the river if he doesn't confess. Because the Pirahna threat has been undermined throughout half the film instead of bolstered by constant tension and references, the scene becomes a hokey "convenience" that holds zero tension. It's ruined and wasted moments like that which drag the film down.The script is awful, with a banal plot that goes nowhere, generates no interest, and has a thoroughly unsatisfying ending. Speaking of the ending, we are forced to endure a painfully awkward romance between Ford and a female rancher (Theiss) who have ZERO chemistry together. Ford is lecherous and smarmy (which are not particularly enjoyable qualities in a supposed hero), but he eventually beds Theiss. Ford then sides with Theiss when everything she owns is destroyed so the bad guy can take her land. Ford & Theiss have formed a great bond and romantic relationship, right? Evidently, not, as the end of the movie consists of the evil henchman (Hoyos) that Ford has been at odds with since the beginning of the movie being killed in a boring fight scene with... CESAR ROMERO (Uhh, what was the purpose of building the "tension" and animosity between Hoyos and Ford then?)! Ford goes up against the main bad guy and kills him...OFFSCREEN! And then the movie ends without a single shot of, or reference to, Ursula Theiss, her ranch, her relationship with Ford, etc.! Ford just kills the bad guy, walks off into the jungle, The End. Huh?! Every possible plot point is tied up in the MOST unsatisfactory way. It was as if the producers went out of there way to ruin every aspect of this movie.I am being incredibly generous and giving this movie a 2 out of 10 because of solid performances by Glenn Ford, Frank Lovejoy, and the insanely sexy Abbe Lane...they did the best they could with a boring script and truly awful directing job by the usually entertaining William Castle.

Set in Brazil, this story of a range war between farmers and ranchers and the man caught between them could easily have been set in Texas or Oklahoma just as well. In fact, after a while, one wishes for Charlotte Greenwood to come out and sing a verse of "The Farmer and the Cowman" to just call the whole thing off! Ford plays the owner of 3 prize bulls en route to Brazil to sell them for $25,000 (which he intends to use to buy a spread with his brother back home.) Upon arrival, he finds one man dead and a range war in full swing between slick, but imperious Lovejoy and fiery, yet attractive Thiess. It shouldn't be hard to figure out which one Ford will gravitate towards. He befriends the ne'er do well Romero, a local man who attracts trouble wherever he goes, and the two form a tenuous alliance in the midst of plenty of violence and reprisals. The vast jungles of Brazil are treated like some small town as the participants of this convoluted story seem to always be running into each other or popping up in just the right spot at just the right time for the story. Lots of stock jungle footage is spliced into the picture to add "flavor" to the tale, notably some shots of piranha devouring alligators. The color photography is sometimes striking and other times poor with noticeable differences in quality from shot to shot. Ford seems to be slumming here in a pedestrian and very minor film (directed by the later-to-be-notorious Castle.) Lovejoy is solid, but lacks the charisma to really sell his questionable character. Romero is hammy, but welcome, as his presence adds a little life to the often drab proceedings. Thiess, advertised at the time as "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" is actually outshone by Lane as a "housekeeper" who looks like she spends more time on her make up and her tan than on scrubbing toilet bowls. She provides a blatantly superfluous musical number (conducted by her husband at the time, Xavier Cugat) in which she sashays around in an off-the-shoulder blouse, hips swinging, while local musicians replicate the musical quality of a major orchestra! Made at a time when America was nuts for all things Latin American (see also "The Naked Jungle" and even "The Opposite Sex"!), it's really just an Old West story penciled into a new setting (though Ford's blue denim jacket does stand out nicely against the lush greens of the jungle.) There's nothing particularly special about it, but fans of the cast might enjoy passing an hour and a half with it.