''The Soldiers of Pancho Villa'' ( es, La Cucaracha) is a 1959 Mexican epic

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

film co-written, produced, and directed by

Ismael Rodríguez Ismael Rodríguez (October 19, 1917 – August 7, 2004) was a Mexican film director. Rodríguez rose to fame due to the movies he directed starring Pedro Infante, and directed many major stars, including Dolores del Río, María Félix, Tos ...

, inspired by the popular

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

corrido The corrido () is a popular narrative metrical tale and poetry that forms a ballad. The songs are often about oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaquero lifestyle, and other socially relevant topics. Corridos were widely popular ...

La Cucaracha La Cucaracha ("The Cockroach") is a popular Mexican folk song about a cockroach who cannot walk. The song's origins are unclear, but it dates back at least to the 1910s during the Mexican Revolution. The song belongs to the Mexican genre. The s ...

". It stars

María Félix María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña (; 8 April 1914 – 8 April 2002) was a Mexican actress and singer. Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s an ...

and

Dolores del Río María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete (3 August 1904 – 11 April 1983), known professionally as Dolores del Río (), was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin Am ...

in the lead roles, and features

Emilio Fernández Emilio "El Indio" Fernández Romo (; 26 March 1904 – 6 October 1986) was a Mexican film director, actor and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific film directors of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. He is best kn ...

Antonio Aguilar José Pascual Antonio Aguilar Márquez Barraza (17 May 191919 June 2007) was a Mexican singer, actor, songwriter, equestrian, film producer, and screenwriter with a dominating career in music. He recorded over 150 albums, which sold 25 mill ...

Flor Silvestre Guillermina Jiménez Chabolla (16 August 1930 – 25 November 2020), known professionally as Flor Silvestre, was a Mexican singer and actress. She was one of the most prominent and successful performers of Mexican and Latin American music, and wa ...

, and

Pedro Armendáriz Pedro Gregorio Armendáriz Hastings (May 9, 1912 – June 18, 1963) was a Mexican film actor who made films in both Mexico and the United States. With Dolores del Río and María Félix, he was one of the best-known Latin American movie stars ...

in supporting roles. The film was nominated for a

Golden Palm The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

award at the

1959 Cannes Film Festival The 12th Cannes Film Festival was held from 30 April to 15 May 1959. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Orfeu Negro'' by Marcel Camus. The festival opened with '' Les Quatre Cents Coups'', directed by François Truffaut and closed with ''The Diary of An ...

. It was named the ninety-sixth best film of

Mexican cinema Mexican cinema dates to the late nineteenth century during the rule of President Porfirio Díaz. Seeing a demonstration of short films in 1896, Díaz immediately saw the importance of documenting his presidency in order to present an ideal ...

by ''Somos'' magazine. Filming took place in

Zacatecas , image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg , map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type ...

and in

Sierra de Órganos National Park Sierra de Órganos National Park (Spanish: ''Parque Nacional Sierra de Órganos'') is a national park in Mexico, located in the northwest corner of the municipality of Sombrerete in the state of Zacatecas, near the border with Durango. The par ...

in the town of

Sombrerete Sombrerete () is a town and municipality located in the northwest of the Mexican state of Zacatecas, bordering the state of Durango. It was founded in 1555 by Spanish conquistador Juan de Tolosa as a mining center, due to the wealth that the mine ...

México Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Plot

When the

was exploding, there was a woman who made history, her name was "La Cucaracha" (

). Her great passion was the Revolution, but her downfall was a man: Colonel Antonio Zeta (

), who has eyes for another woman, Isabel, the widow (

). The rivalry between both women explodes.

Cast

as Refugio "La Cucaracha" *

as Isabel *

as Colonel Antonio Zeta *

as Captain Ventura *

as Lola *

Ignacio López Tarso Ignacio López López (born 15 January 1925), known professionally as Ignacio López Tarso, is a Mexican actor of stage, film and television. He has acted in about 50 films and appeared in documentaries and in one short feature. In 1973 he was g ...

as Trinidad *

Cuco Sánchez José Refugio "Cuco" Sánchez Saldaña (3 May 1921 – 5 October 2000) was a Mexican singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. Sánchez was one of Mexico's most popular singers and recorded most of his singles and studio albums for Columbia R ...

as Soldier *

Irma Torres Irma Torres (9 March 1926 - 5 June 2010) was a Mexican film and television actress during the golden age of Mexican cinema. Career Torres began her career in 1944 in the film '' Maria Candelaria'' alongside Dolores del Rio and Pedro Armenda ...

as Soldadera *

Miguel Manzano Miguel Manzano (14 September 1907 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico – 21 January 1992 in Mexico City) was a Mexican actor during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, winning an Ariel Award in 1985, for best supporting actor for the film ''Las glo ...

as Gabriel Fuentes *

Lupe Carriles María Guadalupe Carriles, known as Lupe Carriles, (25 December 1913 – 6 February 1964) was a Mexican character actress. Career One of her many memorable roles is as "La Trompeta" in ''La cucaracha'' (1959), starring María Félix. Although she ...

as "Trompeta" *

Humberto Almazán Humberto is a Portuguese and Spanish masculine given name of Germanic origin. It may refer to: *Humberto Aguilar Coronado *Humberto Ak'ab'al *Humberto Albiñana * Humberto Albornoz *Humberto Alonso Morelli * Humberto Alonso Razo * Humberto Andrade ...

as Soldier *

Alicia del Lago Alicia may refer to: People * Alicia (given name), list of people with this name * Alisha (singer) (born 1968), US pop singer * Melinda Padovano (born 1987), a professional wrestler, known by her ring name, Alicia Places * Alicia, Bohol, Phi ...

as Pregnant soldadera *

Emma Roldán Emma Roldán (February 3, 1893 – August 29, 1978) was a Mexican character actress and costume designer. She is remembered as the sharp-tongued, domineering matron of Mexican cinema, and was nominated three times for a Silver Ariel Award. ...

as Midwife *

Tito Novaro Tito may refer to: People Mononyms *Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman *Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journal ...

as Jacobo Méndez *

Manuel Trejo Morales Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name) * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manu ...

as Mayor * Antonio Haro Oliva as Revolutionary priest *

David Reynoso David Reynoso (29 January 1926 – 9 June 1994) was a Mexican actor. He appeared in more than 170 films and television shows between 1955 and 1994. He was also a Deputy of The Seventh Federal Electoral District of the Federal District and die ...

as Colonel Ricardo Zúñiga *

Amado Zumaya Amado may refer to: Places * Amado, Arizona Name * Amado Crowley (1930–2010), occult teacher and self-proclaimed illegitimate son of Aleister Crowley * Amado Carrillo Fuentes (1956-1997), Mexican drug kingpin and former leader of the Juárez Ca ...

as Soldier * Luis Mario Jarero as Don Lupe * Manuel Vergara as Soldier * Guillermo Hernández as Soldier * Magdaleno Barba *

Armando Gutiérrez Armando may refer to: * Armando (given name) * Armando (artist) (1929–2018), the name used by Dutch artist Herman Dirk van Dodeweerd * Armando (producer) Armando Gallop (sometimes written as Armando Gallup) (February 12, 1970 – December 17, ...

as Priest * José Carlos Méndez as Pinguico *

as Colonel Valentín Razo * Los Dorados as Performers at cantina * Dueto América as Singing revolutionary duet

Release

''La Cucaracha'' premiered at the Robles and Ariel theaters in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

on November 12, 1959 for five weeks. It premiered in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's Tivoli Theatre on November 1, 1961.

Critical reception

Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave ''La Cucaracha'' a positive review by writing: "Although the film never rises in stature above its melodramatic plane and romantic embellishments, it is well acted, crisply directed by producer

and graphically photographed by

Gabriel Figueroa Gabriel Figueroa Mateos (April 24, 1907 – April 27, 1997) was a Mexican cinematographer who is regarded as one of the greatest cinematographers of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. He has worked in over 200 films, which cover a broad range o ...

... Both Señorita Félix, as the amoral spitfire, and Señorita Del Río, as her aristocratic adversary, are persuasively passionate. Señor

Fernández Fernández () is a Spanish surname meaning "son of Fernando". The Germanic name that it derives from ( Gothic: ''Frið-nanð'') means "brave traveler." The Portuguese version of this surname is Fernandes. The Arabized version is ''Ibn Faranda' ...

, as their manly quarry, is excellent. Even minus real depth, there is much to be said for a melodramatic eye-filler as tough and tangy as this one. Neighbors below, let's have more."

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soldiers of Pancho Villa, The 1959 films 1959 romantic drama films María Félix Films directed by Ismael Rodríguez Mexican Revolution films Mexican romantic drama films 1950s Mexican films