''Valdez Is Coming'' is a 1971 American Western film directed by

Edwin Sherin Edwin Sherin (January 15, 1930 – May 4, 2017) was an American director and producer. He is best known as the director and executive producer of the NBC drama series '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (1991–2005). Early life Sherin was ...

and starring

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...

Susan Clark Susan Clark (born Nora Golding; March 8, 1943) is a Canadian actress, known for her movie roles such as ''Coogan's Bluff'' and '' Colossus: The Forbin Project'', and for her role as Katherine Papadopolis on the American television sitcom '' Web ...

, Richard Jordan and Jon Cypher. The film is based on the 1970

Elmore Leonard Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thri ...

novel of the same name.

Plot

Aging town constable Bob Valdez (

) is tricked into killing an innocent African-American man by powerful rancher Frank Tanner ( Jon Cypher), whose hired gun R.L. Davis ( Richard Jordan) shot up the hovel where the wrongly accused man and his Indian wife were trapped. Valdez believes it would be a fair gesture to raise $200 for the widow, $100 from Tanner and the rest from others in town. Tanner is livid at the old man's suggestion. He orders ranch hand El Segundo (

Barton Heyman Barton Heyman (born January 24, 1937, in Washington, D.C. - died May 16, 1996, in Manhattan, New York City, New York) was an American actor. Heyman was a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles where he studied theater arts. As an a ...

) and his men to tie Valdez to a heavy wooden cross and drive him into the desert. The central pole is so long that Valdez must walk bent over. He finds an oasis blocked by two trees that he repeatedly tries to ram with the ends of the cross. When it finally breaks, the jagged ends are driven into Valdez's back. Davis finds him and cuts the ropes, freeing the unconscious man. The badly injured Valdez is able to crawl to the ranch of his friend Diego (

Frank Silvera Frank Alvin Silvera (July 24, 1914 – June 11, 1970) was a Jamaican-born American character actor and theatrical director. Born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in Boston, Silvera dropped out of law school in 1934 after winning his first stage ...

), where he is nursed back to health. Unfortunately for Tanner, he has picked on the wrong man: Valdez is a wily, experienced Indian fighter and a marksman with a rifle. He dons his old cavalry uniform and sends Tanner a message via one of the rancher's wounded men (

Héctor Elizondo Héctor Elizondo (born December 22, 1936) is an American character actor. He is known for playing Phillip Watters in the television series ''Chicago Hope'' (1994–2000) and Ed Alzate in the television series '' Last Man Standing'' (2011–2021) ...

): "Valdez is coming." Valdez sneaks into the compound and, during the ensuing gun battle and his escape, kidnaps Tanner's woman, Gay Erin (

), for whose favors it is rumored that Tanner had her husband killed. With her in restraints, Valdez proceeds to systematically do away with the men Tanner sends after him with his long-range Sharps rifle. The only one he shows mercy to is Davis, after the gunman screams, "I cut you loose! I cut you loose!" and reveals that the cut on the left wrist of Valdez concealed under his glove came when his knife slipped as he cut the ropes off. Now he has two hostages. While hiding from Tanner's posse, Valdez realizes that Gay Erin knows who killed her husband. Valdez confronts her and she admits that it was she who killed her own husband in order to be with Tanner, not the other way around. He sets her free, but by now Tanner's woman is sympathetic to his cause, feeling guilty because she was the cause of all the deaths so far. Despite Gay Erin's help, Valdez is finally surrounded and captured. Tanner and his men ride up. The men are ordered to shoot, but R.L. Davis backs off, showing he has no gun, and El Segundo calls his men aside, refusing to obey orders. That leaves Tanner to do his own dirty work—if he can. Tanner turns out to be a coward one-on-one. Gay makes it clear she will not return to Tanner. Tanner helplessly snarls at Valdez, "I should have killed you three days ago." He calmly replies, "Or paid the $100."

Cast

as Constable Bob Valdez *

as Gay Erin * Jon Cypher as Frank Tanner *

as Diego *

as Mexican Rider * Phil Brown as Malson * Richard Jordan as R.L. Davis *

as "El Segundo" * Ralph Brown as Beaudry * Werner Hasselmann as Sheriff * Lex Monson as Rincon * Sylvia Poggioli as Segundo's Girl * José García García as Carlos * María Montez as Anita * Juanita Penaloza as Indian Woman

Production

The film was filmed in southern Spain in locales used by Italian filmmaker

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone (; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter credited as the pioneer of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cin ...

in his European "spaghetti" Westerns. The desert-like terrain of this isolated region of Spain resembles the U.S. southwest and parts of

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

Mexico 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 ...

, though the vegetation is not the same. When director

Sydney Pollack Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack directed more than 20 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 movies or shows and produced over 44 films. For his film ''Out ...

was attached to the property, Lancaster was originally slated to play Frank Tanner with

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...

as Valdez. These plans failed to materialize when Lancaster got involved in the 1970 movie ''

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

''.

Reception

The film received primarily mediocre to negative reviews.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

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 ...

'' praised Lancaster's on-screen presence but wrote that, "A lot of fancy flourishes, which I associate with Mr. Sherin's stage work, are apparent in the film, as in its picturesque groupings of picturesque characters, and in a musical score that's much given to comment on the action." When the film was released to video, Ty Burr of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' wrote that, "Slow and choppy, ''Valdez'' manages an astounding feat: It drains Lancaster of personality."Burr, Ty
. ''Entertainment Weekly'', film review, May 31, 1996. Last accessed: February 17, 2011.

References

External links

* * * * {{Elmore Leonard 1971 films 1971 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Films based on American novels Films based on works by Elmore Leonard Films based on Western (genre) novels Films set in the 1880s United Artists films Films shot in Almería Films produced by Burt Lancaster 1970s English-language films 1970s American films