Viva Villa!

1934 film by Howard Hawks, Jack Conway, William A. Wellman

Viva Villa!

Film poster

Directed by| Jack Conway
Uncredited:
Howard Hawks
William Wellman
Written by| Ben Hecht
Uncredited:
Howard Hawks
James Kevin McGuinness
Howard Emmett Rogers
Based on| Viva Villa! (book)
1933 book
by Edgecumb Pinchon
O. B. Stade
Produced by| David O. Selznick
Starring| Wallace Beery
Fay Wray
Leo Carrillo
Cinematography| Charles G. Clarke
James Wong Howe
Edited by| Robert J. Kern
Music by| Herbert Stothart
Distributed by| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release date

* April 10, 1934 (1934-04-10)

Running time

| 115 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $1,022,000[1][2]
Box office| $1,969,000 (worldwide rentals)[1][2]

Viva Villa! is a 1934 American pre-Code Western film directed by Jack Conway and starring Wallace Beery as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The screenplay was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from the 1933 book Viva Villa! by Edgecumb Pinchon and O. B. Stade. Parts of the film were shot on location in Mexico and produced by David O. Selznick. There was uncredited assistance with the script by Howard Hawks, James Kevin McGuinness, and Howard Emmett Rogers. Hawks and William A. Wellman were also uncredited directors on the film.[citation needed]

The film is a highly fictionalized biography of Pancho Villa starring Beery in the title role and featuring Fay Wray, who had played the leading lady in King Kong the previous year. The supporting cast includes Leo Carrillo, Donald Cook, Stuart Erwin, Henry B. Walthall, Joseph Schildkraut and Katherine DeMille.

## Plot

[edit]

After seeing his poor father lose his land and be whipped to death for protesting, young Pancho Villa stabs one of the killers, then heads off into the hills of Chihuahua, Mexico during the 1880s. As a grown man, Villa and a band of rebel bandits, including his trusted ally Sierra, kill wealthy landowners and become heroes to their fellow "peons".

A wealthy aristocrat, Don Felipe, arranges an introduction for Villa to the distinguished and eloquent Francisco Madero, who resents what has become of Mexico under the rule of president Porfirio Díaz and persuades Villa to help him fight for liberty, not just for personal gain. The coarse and illiterate Villa is humbled in the presence of Madero and agrees to fight for his cause. He also is attracted to Don Felipe's beautiful sister Teresa, although there are many women in Villa's life, including one he is married to, Rosita.

Villa's exploits are made even more colorful by an American newspaper reporter, Johnny Sykes, to whom Villa has taken a great liking. While drunk, Sykes is misinformed and reports that Villa has already overtaken the village of Santa Rosalia in a great victory for his men. Disobeying the orders of Madero and the arrogant General Pascal, simply to help his newspaper friend, Villa stages a raid on Santa Rosalia, as well as on Juarez.

Madero ultimately assumes office in Mexico City, then commands Villa to disband his personal army. Villa agrees, but when Sierra kills a bank teller just so Villa can withdraw his money, Villa himself ends up sentenced to death. A gloating General Pascal mocks the way Villa pleads for his life, then reads a telegram from Madero, ordering that Villa instead be exiled from the country.

Alone and drunk in El Paso, Texas, feeling forsaken by his homeland, Villa is visited by Sykes, who informs him that Madero has been assassinated by the power-mad Pascal and his men. Villa returns to Mexico and rebuilds his own army, recruiting tens of thousands to ride by his side. Together they storm the capital, where Pascal is subjected to a particularly gruesome death. Villa takes what he wants, but when Teresa resists and he physically assaults her, she draws a gun that her brother Don Felipe has given her for protection. Sierra intervenes and murders her.

Villa appoints himself president but is ineffectual, unable to restore Madero's dream of land reform for Mexico's poor. He ultimately agrees to step aside and go back to where he belongs, including to his wife. Before he can, with Sykes by his side, Villa is gunned down by Don Felipe out of revenge for his sister. Sykes vows to keep Villa's memory alive, telling his dying friend that he is no longer news, but history.

## Cast

[edit]

* Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa
* Leo Carrillo as Sierra
* Fay Wray as Teresa
* Donald Cook as Don Felipe
* Stuart Erwin as Johnny Sykes (based on John Reed)
* Henry B. Walthall as Francisco Madero
* Joseph Schildkraut as General Pascal (based on Victoriano Huerta)
* Katherine de Mille as Rosita
* George E. Stone as Emilio Chavita
* Phillip Cooper as Pancho, the boy
* David Durand as Bugler boy
* Frank Puglia as Villa's father
* Francis X. Bushman Jr. as Calloway
* Adrian Rosley as Mendoza brother
* Henry Armetta as Mendoza brother
* Pedro Regas as Member of Pascal's staff
* George Regas as Don Rodrigo

## Production and release

[edit]

David O. Selznick began filming Viva Villa! in 1932 in Mexico. Between filming and its release in April 1934, the film went through a development hell.[3]

Initially, Lee Tracy was cast to play a role of Jonny Sykes. However, following an incident on a Mexican balcony, from which he urinated on military cadets during a parade, he was fired from the film and eventually was replaced by Stuart Erwin.[4]

On September 29, 1933, Pancho Villa's son, Pancho Augustin Villa Jr. was signed to cast in a role of a young Pancho Villa.[5]

The film also experienced script problems requiring a change of as many as three writers and two directors (William Wellman and Howard Hawks, both uncredited).

Viva Villa! premiered at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles on May 17, 1934.[6]

When the film premiered in Mexico on September 7, 1934, exploding firecrackers interrupted the showing.[7]

## Reception

[edit]

Viva Villa! was popular at the box office[8] and was voted one of the ten best pictures of 1934 by The Film Daily's annual poll of critics.[9]

Variety called the film a "corking western",[10] while Helen Brown-Norden of Vanity Fair wrote "There is also no denying the fact that Wallace Beery is not everybody's Villa".[3]

During the film's production, the Mexican press called it "derogatory to Mexico", and urged the film to be boycotted in Mexico.[11]

## Box office

[edit]

In its initial release Viva Villa! earned total theater rentals of $1,875,000, with $941,000 from the US and Canada and $934,000 elsewhere. A 1949 re-release earned an additional $94,000 in foreign rentals, resulting in an overall profit of $157,000.[1][2]

## Awards

[edit]

The picture was nominated for the following Academy Awards:[12]

* Academy Award for Best Picture
* Assistant Director (John S. Waters) (winner)
* Writing (Adaptation) (Ben Hecht)
* Sound Recording (Douglas Shearer)

## In popular culture

[edit]

Viva Villa! partially inspired the creation of Elia Kazan's 1952 film Viva Zapata!, written by John Steinbeck and starring Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn.

## See also

[edit]

* Let's Go with Pancho Villa \- a 1936 Mexican film about Villa
* And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, starring Antonio Banderas

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Glancy, H. Mark (1992). "MGM film grosses, 1924-1948: The Eddie Mannix Ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 12 (2): 127–144\. doi:10.1080/01439689200260081.
2. ^ a b c Glancy, H. Mark (1992). "Appendix". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 12 (S2): 1–20\. doi:10.1080/01439689208604539.
3. ^ a b Norden, Helen Brown (June 1934). "Hollywood's Mexico". Vanity Fair.
4. ^ Levin, Meyer (June 1, 1934). "The Candid Cameraman". Esquire.
5. ^ Associated Press (September 29, 1933). "Villa's Son to Appear in Movie About Father". Evening Star. p. D-8. LCCN 83045462 - via Chronicling America.
6. ^ "At the Movies". The Bismarck Tribune. May 17, 1934. LCCN 85042243 - via Chronicling America.
7. ^ (September 7, 1934) Explosions Halt Film; Firecrackers Alarm Mexican Audience at "Viva Villa". The New York Times. p. 25.
8. ^ Churchill, Douglas W. The Year in Hollywood: 1934 May Be Remembered as the Beginning of the Sweetness-and-Light Era; The New York Times [New York, N.Y.] p. X5.
9. ^ Alicoate, Jack (1935). "The 1935 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures, 17th Annual Edition". The Film Daily.
10. ^ "Viva Villa!". Variety. December 31, 1933.
11. ^ "Mexicans Urge Film Ban; Declare Showing of 'Viva Villa' Would Cost Nation Respect". The New York Times. 25 November 1933.
12. ^ "The 7th Academy Awards (1935) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved August 24, 2021.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Curtis Marez, "Pancho Villa Meets Sun Yat-Sen: Third World Revolution and the History of Hollywood Cinema," American Literary History 17.3 (2005): 486–505.

## External links

[edit]

* Viva Villa! at IMDb
* Viva Villa! at AllMovie
* Viva Villa! at the TCM Movie Database
* Viva Villa! at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* Viva Villa! at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Jack Conway

1910s|

* His Only Son (1912)
* The Penitentes (1915)
* The Silent Battle (1916)
* The Beckoning Trail (1916)
* The Social Buccaneer (1916)
* The Measure of a Man (1916)
* The Mainspring (1916)
* Her Soul's Inspiration (1917)
* Polly Redhead (1917)
* A Jewel in Pawn (1917)
* Come Through (1917)
* The Little Orphan (1917)
* The Charmer (1917)
* Bond of Fear (1917)
* Because of a Woman (1917)
* Her Decision (1918)
* Little Red Decides (1918)
* Desert Law (1918)
* A Diplomatic Mission (1918)
* You Can't Believe Everything (1918)
* Lombardi, Ltd. (1919)

1920s|

* The Dwelling Place of Light (1920)
* The U.P. Trail (1920)
* The Money Changers (1920)
* Riders of the Dawn (1920)
* The Servant in the House (1921)
* The Kiss (1921)
* A Daughter of the Law (1921)
* The Rage of Paris (1921)
* The Killer (1921)
* The Spenders (1921)
* The Millionaire (1921)
* Don't Shoot (1922)
* Across the Dead-Line (1922)
* The Long Chance (1922)
* Step on It! (1922)
* Another Man's Shoes (1922)
* The Prisoner (1923)
* What Wives Want (1923)
* Lucretia Lombard (1923)
* Trimmed in Scarlet (1923)
* Sawdust (1923)
* Quicksands (1923)
* The Roughneck (1924)
* The Heart Buster (1924)
* The Trouble Shooter (1924)
* The Only Thing (1925)
* The Hunted Woman (1925)
* Soul Mates (1925)
* Brown of Harvard (1926)
* The Understanding Heart (1927)
* Twelve Miles Out (1927)
* Bringing Up Father (1928)
* The Smart Set (1928)
* While the City Sleeps (1928)
* Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928)
* Our Modern Maidens (1929)
* Untamed (1929)

1930s|

* They Learned About Women (1930)
* The Unholy Three (1930)
* New Moon (1930)
* The Easiest Way (1931)
* Just a Gigolo (1931)
* Arsène Lupin (1932)
* But the Flesh Is Weak (1932)
* Red-Headed Woman (1932)
* Hell Below (1933)
* The Solitaire Man (1933)
* The Nuisance (1933)
* Viva Villa! (1934)
* The Girl from Missouri (1934)
* The Gay Bride (1934)
* One New York Night (1935)
* A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
* Libeled Lady (1936)
* Saratoga (1937)
* A Yank at Oxford (1938)
* Too Hot to Handle (1938)
* Let Freedom Ring (1939)
* Lady of the Tropics (1939)

1940s|

* Boom Town (1940)
* Love Crazy (1941)
* Honky Tonk (1941)
* Crossroads (1942)
* Assignment in Brittany (1943)
* Dragon Seed (1944)
* High Barbaree (1947)
* The Hucksters (1947)
* Desire Me (1947, uncredited)
* Julia Misbehaves (1948)

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Howard Hawks

* The Road to Glory (1926)
* Fig Leaves (1926)
* Cradle Snatchers (1927)
* Paid to Love (1927)
* A Girl in Every Port (1928)
* Fazil (1928)
* The Air Circus (1928)
* Trent's Last Case (1929)
* The Dawn Patrol (1930)
* The Criminal Code (1931)
* Scarface (1932)
* The Crowd Roars (1932)
* Tiger Shark (1932)
* Today We Live (1933)
* Twentieth Century (1934)
* Barbary Coast (1935)
* Ceiling Zero (1936)
* The Road to Glory (1936)
* Come and Get It (1936)
* Bringing Up Baby (1938)
* Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
* His Girl Friday (1940)
* Sergeant York (1941)
* Ball of Fire (1941)
* Air Force (1943)
* To Have and Have Not (1944)
* The Big Sleep (1946)
* Red River (1948)
* A Song Is Born (1948)
* I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
* The Big Sky (1952)
* Monkey Business (1952)
* "The Ransom of Red Chief" (1952)
* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
* Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
* Rio Bravo (1959)
* Hatari! (1962)
* Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)
* Red Line 7000 (1965)
* El Dorado (1966)
* Rio Lobo (1970)

* v
* t
* e

Films produced by David O. Selznick

* Roulette (1924)
* Forgotten Faces (1928)
* Chinatown Nights (1929)
* Betrayal (1929)
* The Man I Love (1929)
* The Four Feathers (1929)
* Street of Chance (1930)
* What Price Hollywood? (1932)
* A Bill of Divorcement (1932)
* Rockabye (1932)
* The Animal Kingdom (1932)
* Topaze (1933)
* Our Betters (1933)
* Christopher Strong (1933)
* Dinner at Eight (1933)
* Night Flight (1933)
* Meet the Baron (1933)
* Dancing Lady (1933)
* Viva Villa! (1934)
* Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
* David Copperfield (1935)
* Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935)
* Reckless (1935)
* Anna Karenina (1935)
* A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
* Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
* The Garden of Allah (1936)
* A Star Is Born (1937)
* The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
* Nothing Sacred (1937)
* The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
* The Young in Heart (1938)
* Made for Each Other (1939)
* Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939)
* Gone with the Wind (1939)
* Rebecca (1940)
* Reward Unlimited (1944, short)
* Since You Went Away (1944)
* I'll Be Seeing You (1945)
* Spellbound (1945)
* Duel in the Sun (1946)
* The Paradine Case (1948)
* Portrait of Jennie (1948)
* The Third Man (1949)
* Gone to Earth (1950)
* Stazione Termini (1954)
* Light's Diamond Jubilee (1954, TV)
* A Farewell to Arms (1957)

* v
* t
* e

Ben Hecht

Films directed|

* Crime Without Passion (1934)
* Once in a Blue Moon (1935)
* The Scoundrel (1935)
* Soak the Rich (1936)
* Angels Over Broadway (1940)
* Specter of the Rose (1946)
* Actor's and Sin (1952)

Films written only|

* Underworld (1927)
* The Great Gabbo (1929)
* The Unholy Night (1929)
* Roadhouse Nights (1930)
* The Unholy Garden (1931)
* Scarface (1932)
* Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933)
* Topaze (1933)
* Turn Back the Clock (1933)
* Design for Living (1933)
* Viva Villa! (1934)
* Shoot the Works (1934)
* Twentieth Century (1934)
* The Florentine Dagger (1935)
* Barbary Coast (1935)
* Nothing Sacred (1937)
* The Goldwyn Follies (1938)
* Gunga Din (1939)
* Wuthering Heights (1939)
* Let Freedom Ring (1939)
* It's a Wonderful World (1939)
* Lady of the Tropics (1939)
* His Girl Friday (1940)
* Comrade X (1940)
* Lydia (1941)
* China Girl (1942)
* Roxie Hart (1942)
* Spellbound (1945)
* The Black Swan (1945)
* Notorious (1946)
* Her Husband's Affairs (1947)
* Kiss of Death (1947)
* Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
* The Miracle of the Bells (1948)
* Perfect Strangers (1950)
* Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
* Whirlpool (1950)
* Monkey Business (1952)
* Living It Up (1954)
* Ulysses (1954)
* The Indian Fighter (1955)
* Miracle in the Rain (1956)
* The Iron Petticoat (1956)
* A Farewell to Arms (1957)
* Legend of the Lost (1957)
* The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1957)
* The Sun Also Rises (1957)
* Queen of Outer Space (1958)
* Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)
* Circus World (1964)
* 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

Plays written|

* The Front Page (1928)
* Twentieth Century (1932)
* Jumbo (1935)
* Ladies and Gentlemen (1939)
* A Flag Is Born (1946)

Related|

* Rose Caylor (wife)
* Willys Theatre Presenting Ben Hecht's Tales of the City
* Gaily, Gaily (1969 film)

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