Chino (1973 film)

1973 French film

Chino

US theatrical release poster

Directed by| Duilio Coletti
John Sturges
Screenplay by| Clair Huffaker
Based on| The Valdez Horses
by Lee Hoffman
Produced by| John Sturges
Dino De Laurentiis
Starring| Charles Bronson
Jill Ireland
Cinematography| Armando Nannuzzi
Edited by| Luis Álvarez
Vanio Amici
Music by| Guido De Angelis
Maurizio De Angelis

Production
companies

Produzioni De Laurentiis International Manufacturing Company
Coral Producciones Cinematográficas
Universal Productions France

Distributed by| Intercontinental Releasing Corporation

Release date

* September 14, 1973 (1973-09-14) (Italy)

Running time

| 98 minutes
Countries| France
Italy
Spain
Language| English

Chino (Italian: Valdez, il mezzosangue, UK theatrical title: Valdez the Half Breed) is a 1973 Western film starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Marcel Bozzuffi, and Vincent Van Patten. The original English language title shown at the beginning of the film was The Valdez Horses, the same title as the 1967 novel by Lee Hoffman on which the movie is based. Hoffman was awarded the 1967 Western Writers of America Spur Award.

It was an Italian-Spanish-French co-production filmed in Spain, with Italian and French funding.[1]

## Plot

[edit]

Chino Valdez (Bronson) is a lonely horse breeder, whose life is thrown into turmoil when a young runaway (Van Patten) turns up at his door looking for work and, later, he falls in love with a beautiful woman (Ireland) whose brother (Bozzuffi) hates him.

## Cast

[edit]

* Charles Bronson as Chino Valdez
* Jill Ireland as Catherine Maral
* Marcel Bozzuffi as Maral
* Vincent Van Patten as Jamie Wagner
* Fausto Tozzi as Cruz
* Ettore Manni as Sheriff
* Corrado Gaipa as Padre
* Melissa Chimenti as Indian Girl

## Production

[edit]

Director John Sturges was unhappy with the finished film and considered the casting of Jill Ireland a fatal mistake. Six months after finishing the movie, Producer Dino De Laurentiis gathered the actors and crew to return for re-shoots and inserts. With Sturges no longer available, veteran Italian director Duilio Coletti was hired to complete the work. His name is listed as director on some European prints as a result.[2]

## Reception

[edit]

### Critical response

[edit]

Time Out magazine said of the film, "Bronson suffers from galloping symbolism as Valdez, a wild horse-taming Mexican halfbreed representing different things to different people. Overall, he is the mustang, caught in a wild West which is being tamed and fenced in by white settlers... Despite a few dodgy moments when one really fears for Valdez' co-optability by Ireland's well-kept fragility, the film maintains its contradictory stance right through to a bitter-sweet ending. Valdez leaves, sans wife, sans house, but on his own terms, and after ensuring that if he can not tame the wild horses no one else will.[3]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Chino at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films.
2. ^ Lovell, Glenn (2008). Escape Artist: The Life and Films of John Sturges. The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 277–278\. ISBN 978-029922834-7.277-278&rft.pub=The+University+of+Wisconsin+Press&rft.date=2008&rft.isbn=978-029922834-7&rft.aulast=Lovell&rft.aufirst=Glenn&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Chino+(1973+film)" class="Z3988">
3. ^ TimeOut. Staff film review, no date. Accessed: June 22, 2013.

## External links

[edit]

* Chino at Peter Rodgers Organization
* Chino at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* Chino at IMDb
* Chino informational site
* Chino at the Spaghetti Western Database

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by John Sturges

* The Man Who Dared (1946)
* Shadowed (1946)
* Alias Mr. Twilight (1946)
* For the Love of Rusty (1947)
* Keeper of the Bees (1947)
* Thunderbolt (1947)
* The Sign of the Ram (1948)
* Best Man Wins (1948)
* The Walking Hills (1949)
* The Capture (1950)
* Mystery Street (1950)
* Right Cross (1950)
* The Magnificent Yankee (1950)
* Kind Lady (1951)
* The People Against O'Hara (1951)
* It's a Big Country (1951)
* The Girl in White (1952)
* Jeopardy (1953)
* Fast Company (1953)
* Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)
* Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
* Underwater! (1955)
* The Scarlet Coat (1955)
* Backlash (1956)
* Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
* The Law and Jake Wade (1958)
* The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
* Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)
* Never So Few (1959)
* The Magnificent Seven (1960)
* By Love Possessed (1961)
* Sergeants 3 (1962)
* A Girl Named Tamiko (1962)
* The Great Escape (1963)
* The Satan Bug (1965)
* The Hallelujah Trail (1965)
* Hour of the Gun (1967)
* Ice Station Zebra (1968)
* Marooned (1969)
* Joe Kidd (1972)
* Chino (1973)
* McQ (1974)
* The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

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