''Che!'' is a 1969 American

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from Docudrama, docudrama films ...

directed by

Richard Fleischer Richard Owen Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director. His career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave. He was the ...

and starring

Omar Sharif Omar Sharif (, ; born Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub ; 10 April 1932 – 10 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as one of his country's greatest male film stars. He began his career in his native country in the 1950s. He is bes ...

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

revolutionary

Ernesto "Che" Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

. It follows Guevara from when he first landed in Cuba in 1956 to his death in Bolivia in 1967, although the film does not portray the formative pre-

Cuban revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

sections of Che's life as described in the autobiographical book '' The Motorcycle Diaries'' (1993).

Plot

The film tells of Che Guevara (

), a young Argentine doctor who proves his mettle during the Cuban

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

war in the late 1950s. He gains the respect of his men and becomes the leader of a patrol.

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

(

Jack Palance Walter Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk, , ''Volodymyr Ivanovych Palahniuk''; February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American screen and stage actor, known to film audiences for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominat ...

) is impressed by Guevara's tactics and discipline and makes him his chief adviser. When Castro defeats Cuban dictator

Batista Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player João Batista da Silva * Dave Bautista, Batista (wrestler) (Dave ...

after two years of fighting, Guevara directs a series of massive reprisals, yet, Guevara dreams of fomenting a worldwide revolution. After Castro backs down during the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

, Guevara accuses Castro of being a Soviet tool and decides to leave Cuba. Guevara lands in Bolivia, where he attempts to begin his dream of a worldwide peasant revolution, but the Bolivian peasants do not follow his lead and the Bolivian Army pursues him.

Cast

as Che Guevara *

as Fidel Castro *

Cesare Danova Cesare Danova (March 1, 1926 – March 19, 1992) was an Italian television and screen actor. He was best known for his roles in '' The Captain's Daughter'' (1947), ''Viva Las Vegas'' (1964), '' Chamber of Horrors'' (1966), ''Mean Streets'' (1973 ...

as Ramon Valdez *

Robert Loggia Salvatore "Robert" Loggia ( , ; January 3, 1930 – December 4, 2015) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Jagged Edge'' (1985) and won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for ...

as Faustino Morales *

Woody Strode Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (July 25, 1914 – December 31, 1994) was an American athlete, actor, and author. He was a decathlon, decathlete and American football, football star who was one of the first Black American players in the National ...

as Guillermo *

Barbara Luna Barbara Ann Luna (born 2 March 1938), also stylized as BarBara Luna, is an American actress from film, television and musicals. Notable roles include Makia in '' Five Weeks in a Balloon'' and Lt. Marlena Moreau in the classic ''Star Trek'' episo ...

as Anita Marquez *

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 ...

as Goatherd *

Albert Paulsen Albert Paulsen (born Albert Paulson; 13 December 1925 in Guayaquil, Ecuador – 25 April 2004 in Los Angeles, California) was an Ecuadorian-American actor who appeared in many American television series beginning in the 1960s, playing charac ...

as Captain Vasquez *

Linda Marsh Linda Marsh (born Linda Cracovaner; born February 8, 1939) is an American actress of film, stage, and television. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Elia Kazan's 1963 film ''America, America''. Early years Marsh ...

as Tania *

Tom Troupe Thomas Troupe (born July 15, 1928) is an American actor and writer. Biography Troupe was born in 1928 and grew up in North Kansas City, Missouri, and studied with Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof Studio in Manhattan during the early 1950s. ...

as Felipe Muñoz *

Adolph Caesar Adolph Caesar (December 5, 1933 – March 6, 1986) was an American film and theater actor. Known for his signature deep voice, Caesar was a staple of off-Broadway as a member of the Negro Ensemble Company, and as a voiceover artist for numerous ...

Juan Almeida Bosque Juan Almeida Bosque (17 February 1927 – 11 September 2009) was a Cuban politician and one of the original commanders of the insurgent forces in the Cuban Revolution. After the rebels took power in 1959, he was a prominent figure in the Commun ...

* Rudy Diaz as Willy *

Perry Lopez Perry Lopez (born Julio César Lopez; July 22, 1929 – February 14, 2008) was an American film and television actor. His acting career spanned 40 years. Biography Lopez was born in New York City of Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican descent. L ...

as Rolando *

Abraham Sofaer Abraham Isaac Sofaer (1 October 1896 – 21 January 1988) was a Burmese-born British actor who began his career on stage and became a familiar supporting player in film and on television in his later years. Life and career Sofaer was born in R ...

as Pablo Rojas * Richard Angarola as Colonel Salazar * Sarita Vara as Celia Sanchez * Gil Serna as Lt. Suarez * Paul Bertoya as

Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz ( ; ; born 3 June 1931) is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the One-par ...

Production

The film was directed by Richard Fleischer who said before filming:

An enormous amount of pressure has been brought to bear on this film – both for and against the subject. Each group is afraid we're going to favor the other. The picture will be a character study, and I will only say that it is neither pro nor anti Guevera. The printing of his diary caused only minor changes to the picture... I consider our sources for information impeccable and I cannot tell you who they are.

"We are doing purely the story Che, the person, not the movement", said producer Sy Bartlett. "We want to show what happened with the people who touched his life." Filming started in October in Puerto Rico. The island was chosen because South America was considered too politically unstable.

Release

The film opened without press screenings on May 29, 1969 at Loew's Cine and the new Penthouse theatre in New York City. It grossed $76,000 in its opening week.

Critical reception

The film received mostly negative reviews at the time of its release. ''Che!'' was listed in the book ''

The Fifty Worst Films of All Time ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' (1978). ''

The Book of Lists The ''Book of Lists'' refers to any one of a series of books compiled by David Wallechinsky, his father Irving Wallace and sister Amy Wallace. Each book contains hundreds of lists (many accompanied by textual explanations) on unusual or obsc ...

'' (1977) labeled it "a cardboard, pseudo-historical drama" and noted that "Poor Sharif is forced to deliver lines such as 'The peasant is like a flower, and the revolutionary like a bee. Neither can survive or propagate without the other'". Film critic Roger Ebert panned the film and the motivations for producing the drama, writing: "From the beginning, it sounded like a bad dream. Hollywood was making a movie about Che Guevara. Why? Probably because somebody smelled easy money, having been inspired by the sales figures on Che posters. That must have been the reason, because ''Che!'' is abundant evidence that no one connected with this stinkeroo gave a damn about Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, the Cuban Revolution or anything else requiring more than five seconds' thought". Fleischer later said "the picture was a disaster. It should never have been made. People got emotional about it. By the time the memos from the board of directors got to me, they'd taken out all the pro-Che things. It took no sides, which wasn't what we started out to do. The producer was no help. He gave in so easily."

Box office

According to Fox records the film required $9,400,000 in rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $4,100,000. By September 1970 Fox estimated they had lost $3,389,000 on the film.silverman p 259

Soundtrack

The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Music of Latin America, Lati ...

and the soundtrack album was released on the

Tetragrammaton The TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliteration, transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from ...

label in 1969.Payne, D
Lalo Schifrin discography
accessed March 15, 2012

Track listing

All compositions by Lalo Schifrin except as indicated # "Ché (Orchestra Version)" – 2:22 # "La Columna" – 2:34 # "Emboscada" – 3:10 # "La Ruta" – 2:42 # "Charangos" – 2:04 # "Fiesta Numero Dos" - 3:06 # "Recuerdos" – 2:44 # "Fiesta Numero Uno" – 2:13 # "Anita" – 2:00 # "La Barraca" – 1:56 # "Tiempo Pasado" – 3:00 # "Ché (solo guitar version)" – 3:17

Personnel

– piano, arranger, conductor * Marcus Cabuto, Luis Gasca – trumpet * Ronnie Lang, Jose Lazano,

Bud Shank Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thro ...

, Sheridon Stokes, Tom Scott, Ted Nash, Justin Gordon – flute * George del Barrio – piano, arranger * Bob Bain, Dennis Budimer, Jose Gamboa,

Al Hendrickson Alton Reynolds Hendrickson (May 10, 1920 – July 19, 2007) was an American jazz guitarist and occasional vocalist. Biography When he was five years old, Hendrickson's family moved to California, where he grew up. He played early in his career w ...

, Lalo Ruiz,

Tommy Tedesco Thomas Joseph Tedesco (July 3, 1930 – November 10, 1997) was an American guitarist and studio musician in Los Angeles and Hollywood. He was part of the loose collective of the area's leading session musicians later popularly known as The Wre ...

– guitar * Humberto Cane, Bill Plummer – bass *

Francisco Aguabella Francisco Aguabella (October 10, 1925 – May 7, 2010) was an Afro-Cuban percussionist whose career spanned folk, jazz, and dance bands. He was a prolific session musician and recorded seven albums as a leader. Biography In Cuba Aguabella was ...

Larry Bunker Lawrence Benjamin Bunker (November 4, 1928 – March 8, 2005) was an American jazz drummer, vibraphonist, and percussionist. A member of the Bill Evans Trio in the mid-1960s, he also played timpani with the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra. ...

, Julio Collazo, Orlando Lopez,

Mongo Santamaría Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez (April 7, 1917 – February 1, 2003) was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga an ...

, Ken Watson – percussion * Alfredo Ebat, Bobby Bruce, Erno Neufeld, David Frisina, Paul Shure, Marvin Limonick, Alexander Murray, George Mast, Nathan Kaproff, Bonnie Douglas, Anatol Kaminsky,

Herman Clebanoff Herman Clebanoff (May 2, 1917 – January 13, 2004) was an American concert violinist and conductor. Background Herman Clebanoff was born on May 2, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois, to his Russian immigrant parents. Starting violin lessons at the b ...

– violin * Myra Kestenbaum, Peter Mark, Allan Harshman, Milton Thomas – viola * Raphael Kramer, Edgar Lustgarten, Kurt Rener – cello * Dorothy Remsen, Catherine Gotthoffer – harp * Robert Helfer – orchestra manager * Kaskara – voice (tracks 3, 5 & 12)

References

External links

* {{Richard Fleischer 1969 films 1960s biographical drama films 20th Century Fox films American adventure drama films American biographical drama films Films about Che Guevara Films directed by Richard Fleischer Films set in Cuba Films set in Bolivia Films shot in Puerto Rico Films shot in California Cultural depictions of Che Guevara Cultural depictions of Fidel Castro 1960s Spanish-language films Films scored by Lalo Schifrin Films with screenplays by Michael Wilson (writer) 1969 drama films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films English-language biographical drama films Spanish-language American films