Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Prismark10 Burt Lancaster plays Valdez an ageing Mexican-American lawman who after the wrongful death of a black man he is determined that vicious and bigoted land baron Frank Tanner pays $100 compensation for his Indian wife.Humiliated and beaten up by Tanner's men, he is tied up on a cross and send off to the desert before he is freed. Valdez a former cavalry officer is out for revenge and abducts Tanner's woman and starts to pick off his men one by one until Tanner is basically stripped of his protection.The film paints Valdez as a steely but dignified man who is never stripped off his humanity despite being strapped on a cross. Tanner on the other hand sees blacks, Mexicans, Indians to be beneath him and just above his cattle.Based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, shot on location in Spain it is just a standard revenge western which is elevated by Lancaster.

LeonLouisRicci Although the Title, in 2016, could be a Warning coming out of a Donald Trump Rally, in 1971 it was from the Pen of Elmore Leonard's Social Consciousness along with Soul Traveler and Actor Burt Lancaster.It is an Underrated and Little Seen Western and a Product of its Era to be sure. Liberal in its Leanings and Message, it is the Tale of Oppressed Minorities, Blacks, Mexicans, Women that is Set in a Time when Whites Overtly Flaunted Their Privilege and Took Advantage. Valdez, an X-Calvary Apache Hunter ("Before I knew better.") and current Lawman, goes on a One Man Crusade Against Injustice.Almost Crucified and Killed, He is Determined to see some Humility and Compassion, from a Gang Leader, along with a $100 Compensation for an Indian Widow. It's a Gritty Western, in the Spaghetti Tradition of Stylized Realism and Mythical Overtones. It has been Lost in the Ether of Leone, Peckinpah, and Eastwood, but is a Solid and Enlightened Entertainment than can Side with its Betters because of its Message and has an Effective Low-Key Performance from Burt Lancaster.

Robert J. Maxwell Fundamentally a revenge Western, not too badly done, but with considerable built-in illogic. The humble, wheezing old local sheriff, Lancaster, is tricked into shooting a man by the evil boss man Jon Cypher. The deferential Lancaster begs one hundred dollars from Cypher for the innocent dead man's window. Cypher and the gang laugh at him and shoot holes in the wall against which he's standing. Lancaster pursues the matter and Cypher's gang beat him and tie him to a crucifix and send him off stumbling through the forest to die. Well -- he doesn't die. How COULD he die? If he did -- or even if he were merely disabled for life -- the title of the movie wouldn't be "Valdez is Coming." It wouldn't even be "Valdez is Going." As it is, Lancaster recovers from his near-death experience with the help of humble Mexican farmer Frank Silvera and his taciturn family. Then, Cypher and his group had better look out because Valdez is definitely coming. He digs out his old uniform and weapons from the time he was a cavalry trooper, hits and runs, kidnaps Tanner's girl friend, Susan Clark, and finally get the one hundred dollars for the widow.Frank Silvera's part isn't a big one but he's great at playing Mexicans. He was the gunslinger who finally offed Paul Newman in "Apache." He's played African-Americans and Tahitians. He LOOKS ethnic. His father was a Spanish Jew and his mother was Jamaican. A marvelously reassuring performance.Susan Clark is fine. She has deep-set blue eyes and thin but sensuous lips, the upper one the same shape and size as the lower one. I wouldn't mind kidnapping her myself.Lancaster is Lancaster. He was fifty when this was shot and still running and hopping around doing some of his own action scenes. My God, he was fit. His Spanish accent isn't bad but he really ought to stay away from dialects.I don't know who is responsible for casting and make ups but the director should really have brought some of them up short. The head of Cypher's gang is played by Barton Heyman. His appearance is ludicrous and he's on screen often. First, his face is too dark for a Mexican or Mestizo, emphasizing his startling blue eyes. Next, he's balding and yet make up has given him the kind of long bushy hair combed back that was fashionable among rock stars in 1970, when this was shot. And they've topped it off with a set of mutton chop whiskers that turn him into a simulacrum of Frank Zappa or somebody. I don't like to carry on about what ought to be a minor problem like this but every time the guy appears, it's as if a gong had been rung and a big red sign flashed on the screen -- "1970".At the end -- lookout, a spoiler -- Cypher and his gang have trapped the unarmed Lancaster and his captive Clark. Clark has decided to abandon Cypher and leave with Lancaster. Cypher orders the gang to shoot Lancaster. One of the gang has developed respect for Lancaster and refuses. Bart Heyman grins through his ridiculous mustache and hollers, "She is not MY woman!" Cypher himself hasn't the guts to do it. Lancaster gets his one hundred dollars.It's not a bad movie. It's merely rather routine. But it is fun to see Lancaster unlimber his Sharps carbine and shoot half a dozen bad guys at a distance over a mile. Those bad guys were colleagues and friends of Heyman's gang -- you know, the gang that refused to kill Lancaster because they had no motive for doing so? Cue the deus ex machina.

Claudio Carvalho While traveling protecting a stagecoach back to his town, the middle-aged Mexican-American Constable Bob Valdez (Burt Lancaster) witnesses a group of locals shooting on a cabin where a black man is trapped with his Indian pregnant wife, accused by the powerful Frank Tanner (Jon Cypher) of being the killer of the local Jim Erin. Valdez decides to talk to the man, and when he opens the door, the henchman R.L. Davis (Richard Jordan) shoots; the man believes it is a setup and shoots on Valdez, forcing the peace officer to kill him. Sooner they find that the victim was innocent and Valdez asks for one hundred dollars to Tanner to give to the widow. However, he is humiliated and nailed to a cross by Tanner's henchmen and sent back to the desert. He is miraculous saved by his Mexican friend Luis Diego (Frank Silvera) but recovers his health. Valdez retrieves his outfits and weapons from the time he was a professional shooter killing Apaches for the U.S. Cavalry and rides to Tanner's land. He hits one of his henchmen (Hector Elizondo) and sends him back to Tanner's farm with the advice that "Valdez is coming"."Valdez Is Coming" is an overrated western, with a good story of guilt and revenge, supported by magnificent performances. Unfortunately the last fifteen minutes and the open conclusion are absolutely disappointing, specially considering that R.L. Davis and El Segundo have burnt Luis Diego's house and hands and abused of his daughter. The make-up of American actors with blue eyes to become a cliché of Mexican people is quite ridiculous. The disrespect with the Catholic religion is quite out of the context of the plot. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Retorno de Valdez" ("The Return of Valdez")