Saturday, January 5, 2013

THE PROUD AND THE DAMNED



The Proud and the Damned - U.S.A. title
Los orgullosos y los malditos - Spanish title
5 patifes em furia – Portuguese title
The Proud, Damned and Dead – English title
The Proud and Damned - English title
The Proud and the Damned – English title

A 1968, U.S.A., Spanish, Filipino co-production [Interfilm, Media (Hollywod), Presitge Films (Madrid)]
Producer: George Montgomery, Ferde Gorfe, Jr. (Ferdinand von Grofé Jr.)
Director: Ferde Grofé Jr. (Ferdinand von Grofé Jr.)
Story: Ferde Grofé Jr. (Ferdinand von Grofé Jr.)
Screenplay: Ferde Grofé Jr. (Ferdinand von Grofé Jr.)
Cinematography: Remegio Young [Deluxe color]
Music: Gene Kauer (Guenther Kauer), Douglas M. Lackey
Song: “Windblown” sung by Smokey Roberts (Fred Roberds)
Running time: 100 minutes

Cast:
Sergeant Will Hansen – Chuck Connors (Kevin Conors)
Ike – Aron Kincaid (Norman Williams III)
Mayor of San Carlos – Cesar Romero (Cesar Romero, Jr.)
Ramon – José Greco (Constanzo Greco)
Jeb – Smokey Roberds (Fred Roberds)
Hank – Henry Capps
Billy – Peter Ford
General Alejandro Martinez – Andres Marquis
Captain Juan Hernandez – Conrad Parham
Maria Vargas – Maria Grimm
Carmela – Nana Lorca (Djenana Vigaray)
Mila – Anita Quinn
Chico – Álvaro Ruiz (Álvaro Zuñiga)
Lieutenant – Pacheco (Fernando Castro)
Padre – Ignacio Gómez
Aide – Ernesto Uribe
Innkeeper – Rey Vásquez
Rollo – Bernardo Herrera


In 1870 Ex-Confederate mercenaries and American Civil War veterans Sgt. Will Hansen, Ike, Hank, Jeb, and Billy have emigrated from Texas to South America. After their arrival, they are confronted by South American soldiers who ambush them and force them to come with them to meet General Martinez, the evil, cold-hearted dictator of their country. When they meet Martinez, he gives them a job: to go visit San Carlos, a town where rebel forces are preparing to start a Civil War between them and Martinez’s army, live amongst the rebels, and report back to him what they know within the next few days. Will and his men take the job, but Martinez warns them that they'll be severely punished if they fail him.

The next day, while on their way to San Carlos, Will's gang runs into a gypsy family who are on their way to the same town. Will escorts them and the gypsie's daughter, Mila. They both haven fallen in love with each other at first sight. They all ride into San Carlos, meet the governor, and rent a cabin outside of town. Will and Mila sneak out that night and meet. Mila’s father is angry when he hears of this and slices her cheek. When Will finds out about what Mila's father has done to her, he shoots and kills him in cold blood.

Will and his gang decide to disobey Martinez's orders and do not to report back to him. As promised Martinez kidnaps and hangs Will for their failure to obey his orders. Will's companions find him and give him a funeral. They vow to avenge their friend's murder. They join the rebels in a battle with Martinez's army and drive them back. They later ambush Martinez and the rest of his surviving soldiers in a canyon, joined by the rebel army's captain. They manage to kill Martinez, but all are gunned down by his soldiers, accept for Billy, who was unconscious after falling from his horse. Billy recovers and rides off into the sunset.

 

5 comments:

  1. Tom, what's the story behind the year of release - apparently 1972. Was it held hostage for foru years, did they face legal problems so they couls not release it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. ...slippery fingers: Read "four" and "could", please and add an "or" right after "years", please.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Btw, credits at http://archive.org/details/TheProudAndTheDamned-1972 show title as ''The PROUD AND DAMNED'' (without a second *the*)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fatman, like many of the Euro-westerns, I don't think we'll ever know their complete stories. I found this paragraph: "Peter Ford, the son of actor Glenn Ford and MGM star Eleanor Powell, had just graduated with honors from USC in 1968 and had been accepted into USC Law School when actor George Montgomery invited him to appear in a movie that Chuck (Connors) was starring in called The Proud and the Damned. Much to his family’s dismay, Peter decided to do the movie so instead of going to law school, he spent six weeks filming his role in the mountains of Columbia, South America. Peter graciously shared some of his memories of that experience with us." http://ourchuckconnors.com/Memories.html
    I had read that George Montgomery had started lining up production backing on the film as early as 1966 when he went to Spain to appear in "The Outlaw of Red River". That's where the Spanish angle comes in. Grofe had the connections for the Filipino backing and together George and Ferde obtained U.S. backing through Montgomery's production company. I always try and use the production date as when the film was actually made not released. Like many small films once they are made it's difficult to get a distributor for them so it sat in the can for 4 years before it was released in the U.S.A. in July of 1972. Later it was released in various European countrieys in 1973, 1974 and 1975.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think there's some misunderstanding here. First, that the gypsy Mila is not the daughter of the gypsy Ramon.
    Second, General Martinez is not grumpy, and I don't see him as the villain of the film, quite the opposite. I think he was fair and warned the gunmen that he was a ruthless man. He was betrayed by the supposed good guy Will Hansen.
    I was glad Will and his teammates were dead. And I don't think the General should have died. Moreover, the role of General was very well interpreted by the actor Andres Marquis.

    ReplyDelete