''Viva Cangaceiro'' (originally titled as ''O' Cangaçeiro'', also known as ''The Magnificent Bandits'') is a Brazilian themed

Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

-like movie co-produced by Spain and Italy and directed by

Giovanni Fago Giovanni Fago (born 11 July 1931) is an Italian director and screenwriter. Born in Rome, Fago began his cinema career in 1959 as assistant director of, among others, Mario Monicelli, Camillo Mastrocinque, Vittorio De Sica, Renato Castellani, Jo ...

Plot

Espedito is the sole survivor of his hometown after it got annihilated by Colonel Minas and his

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

for harbouring an infamous cangaceiro. A

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

consoles him by planting the idea in his mind that he was from now on chosen to fight injustice. Espedito tries to live up to this vision.

Cast

Tomas Milian Tomas Milian (born Tomás Quintín Rodríguez-Varona Milián Salinas de la Fé y Álvarez de la Campa; 3 March 1933 – 22 March 2017) was a Cuban-born actor and singer with American and Italian citizenship, known for the emotional intensity and ...

: Espedito *

Ugo Pagliai Ugo Pagliai (born 13 November 1937) is an Italian actor and voice actor. Life and career In 1958, Pagliai enrolled at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica, starting his career on stage in the early 1960s. He became first known in 1969, tha ...

: Vincenzo *

Eduardo Fajardo Eduardo Martínez Fajardo (14 August 1924 – 4 July 2019) was a Spanish film actor born in Meis (Pontevedra), Spain. He appeared in 183 films, 75 plays and made 2,000 television appearances between 1947 and 2002. Biography He was born in ...

: Gov. Branco *

Leo Anchóriz Leopoldo de Anchóriz Fustel (September 22, 1932 – February 17, 1987) was a Spanish actor and writer, most notable for appearing in Spaghetti Western films. Biography Fustel was born in Almería, Spain on 22 September 1932. His real name ...

: Army Officer * Howard Ross: Hoffmann *

Claudio Scarchilli Claudio Scarchilli (10 February 1924, Rome – 25 July 1992) was an Italian film actor who appeared in film throughout the 1960s. He acted in nearly twenty films within that decade. He is best known in world cinema for his small roles in several ...

Reception

The movie received mixed reviews and is generally considered a minor variant of the similar movies Tomas Milian has starred in for

Sergio Sollima Sergio Sollima (17 April 1921 – 1 July 2015) was an Italian film director and Screenwriter, script writer. Biography Sollima graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in 1935. During World War II he was in the Italian Resistanc ...

('' Face to Face'' and ''

Run, Man, Run! ''Run, Man, Run'' ( it, Corri uomo corri, also known as ''Big Gundown 2'') is an Italian-French Zapata Western film. It is the second film of Sergio Sollima centred on the character of Cuchillo, again played by Tomas Milian, after the two-years ea ...

''),

Sergio Corbucci Sergio Corbucci (; 6 December 1926 – 1 December 1990) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed both very violent Spaghetti Westerns and bloodless Bud Spencer and Terence Hill action comedies. He is the older bro ...

('' The Mercenary'' and '' Compañeros'') and

Giulio Petroni Giulio Petroni (21 September 1917 – 31 January 2010) was an Italian director, writer, and screenwriter, best known for his spaghetti westerns ''Death Rides a Horse'' (1967), with Lee Van Cleef in one of his first starring roles, '' A Sky Full of ...

(''

Tepepa ''Tepepa'', also known as ''Blood and Guns'', is an Italian epic Spaghetti Western film starring Tomas Milian and Orson Welles. The film was directed by Giulio Petroni. It was co-produced with Spain, where the film was released with the title ''Te ...

''). Simon Gelton (aka "Scherpschutter") wrote for spaghetti-western.net considered Riz Ortolani's film score unique and praised Alejandro Ulloa's pictures of

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

. Yet he didn't "recommend the film wholeheartedly" because due to a lack of "emotional depth" ''Viva Cangaceiro'' would never "really take off". He stated the plot was occasionally at the brink of being "absurd".

References

External links

* 1970 films Spaghetti Western films Spanish Western (genre) films 1970 Western (genre) films Films set in Brazil Films scored by Riz Ortolani Films directed by Giovanni Fago 1970s Italian films 1970s Spanish films {{1970s-Western-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links