BoardChiri
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
ShangLuda
Admirable film.
Numerootno
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
zardoz-13
"Duel at Diable" director Ralph Nelson pulls out all stops in this turn of the century shoot'em up Mexico. Ostensibly based on a Jack Higgins' novel, "The Wrath of God" was one of those many adventure epics produced during the early 1970s that featured an Irish gunman on the run in a foreign country. This story about a motley collection of soldiers-of-fortune is strong during the first half when we are introduced to them and eventually the predicament that prompts them to accept a mission to kill the chief villain. Robert Mitchum had been typecast as a flawed man of the cloth who travels through Mexico in a touring car with a giant suitcase stuffed with $53-thousand dollars and a Thompson submachine gun that he brandishes in time of telling trouble. Ken Hutchinson co-stars as the youthful hero who becomes involved with an Indian princess. Victor Buono has one of his better roles as a nefarious villain turned hero. Our 'unholy trinity' as Mexican officer John Colicos calls them are sent into the wilderness to kill a landowner named Thomas De La Plata (Frank Langella of "Dracula") who likes to kill Catholic priests. Writer & director Nelson peppers this 111-minute melodrama with witty dialogue that are in turn punctuated by gunfire galore. Although it is a little overwrought, "The Wrath of God" is still a lot of fun.
ma-cortes
This is a Zapata western set early XX century on the overlong Mexican civil when happened the confrontation executed by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata against Porfirio Diaz , and , later on , against Carránza and Obregón . A misfit group formed by a bandit priest (Robert Mitchum) , an IRA Irish young man (Ken Hutchinson) and a gunrunner (Victor Buono) , all of them are hired by a Mexican colonel (John Colicos) to kill De la Plata (Frank Langella) , a Mexican tyrant .The picture displays lots of action , battles , tongue-in-cheek , shootouts and a little bit of violence like the brutal killing a little boy . The casting is frankly well , Robert Mitchum (¨Night of the hunter¨ , ¨5 card stud¨ , ¨Bandido¨) is excellent in his usual facade of indifference and lazily acting as a greedy priest and wielding a Thomson machine-gun . Mitchum chewing up scenery in this peculiar role . The newcomer Ken Hutchinson provides added depth as an Irish terrorist with a bitter past ; however , this one being his most important role , as he went back England and only acting in TV movies . Frank Langella (¨Drácula¨) plays an elegant psycho killer who bears a deep hatred to Catholic Church . The famed secondary Victor Buono (¨What ever happened to Baby Jane¨ , ¨Hush , hush..sweet Charlotte¨) plays convincingly an avaricious gunrunner . Enjoyable performance by Rita Hayworth in his last completed film (her previous movies during her downfall were the Italian ones : ¨The bastards¨ and ¨The rover¨) , despite Alzheimer disease . In fact , she had difficulty remembering her lines and the crew believed it was because of alcohol abuse , but only later did they realize they were seeing the early stages of her Alzheimer's condition . Besides , there appears habitual secondaries who usually work in American productions shot in Mexico , such as : Gregory Sierra , Enrique Lucero and Chano Urueta . The motion picture was rightly directed by Ralph Nelson who made other good Westerns as ¨Soldier Blue¨ and ¨Duel at Diablo¨ . This offbeat Western will appeal to Robert Mitchum fans.
som1950
To some extent Ralph Nelson's "The Wrath of God" spoofs westerns, but like Nelson's "Lilies of the Field," under the comedy is, I think, a deeply felt belief in divine grace. Both movies focus on unlikely human materials having a vocation they fail to recognize and consciously resist. Herein, Robert Mitchum plays a con man masquerading as a priest and a Catholic martyr in the tradition of Thomas à Becket or Thomas More mistaken by many as a hedonist.In her last screen performance Rita Hayworth has preternaturally red hair (fire-engine red, not a color of any natural human hair), few lines, and is required to look devout (which she manages to do). As her flamboyantly traumatized and traumatizing son, Frank Langella gets to chew up the scenery, which he does with great relish (before "Dracula," after his memorable film debut in "Diary of a Mad Housewife" and Mel Brooks's adaptation of "The Twelve Chairs"). Ken Hutchinson does fine as the token normal guy who is embroiled in others' plots, including the romantic subplot that involves him with a mute Indian maiden (Paula Pritchett). In a Sidney Greenstreet-kind of role as a corpulent and corrupt gun-runner Victor Buono is suitably droll. Still, it is Mitchum's movie, and he is as compelling when he takes his priestly role seriously as when he plays the usual disengaged but competent existentialist who expects nothin' from nobody. <bt><br> A motley gang of foreign mercenaries getting involved in the confusions of the long-running Mexican revolution and taking a side against their financial interest recurred in a number of late-1960s and early-70s movies, including "The Wild Bunch", "The Professionals", and "A Fistful of Dynamite." The latter two use considerable humor within the genre of expatriates taking sides (which in Mexican settings of different eras includes "Vera Cruz", "Old Gringo", and "Bring Me the Head, of Alfredo García").
tpottera
Not everyone agrees that this a parody. I have read that the film turned out confusing because of problems on the set. Including, Rita Hayworth's Alzheimer's and an actor who had a part for the first six weeks of filming. He was severly injured and couldn't complete his part properly. Therefore the confusion. Everyone wanted to just forget the whole thing but they released it anyway. All wasn't lost however, I personally found it very unique and intriguing. And as a Mitchum fan a rare, wonderful find on the classic movie channel.
