Runtime: 110 minutes
Directed by: Tom Gries
Starring: Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, Fernando Lamas, Dan O’Herlihy
From: Marvin Schwartz Productions
Is the movie a masterpiece that you’d perhaps want for something starring Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, Fernando Lamas, Dan O’Herlihy, and even cult favorite Soledad Miranda for a few scenes, filmed in Spain and all set to a Latin-flavored Jerry Goldsmith score?
No. Also, Brown & Welch did not get along during filmmaking.
This does not mean that 100 Rifles wasn’t a pretty good time. Brown was a lawman who rode into early 20th Mexico to collect the bounty on the head of Reynolds, who had a white father and a Native American mother; Burt had a hell of a tan for this redface role; so did Welch in her Native American role. He robbed a bank to purchase the titular rifles for his people to fight against the Mexican government & a railroad built on their land.
The relationship between the three leads was a fractious as you’d expect; also expected (and delivered) for me was that this was a rollickin’ good time. They had an adventure in the wilds of Mexico-Spain was a nice substitute-at least one set I recognized as appearing in From a Few Dollars More. Colorful characters, a detestable villain-the General role Lamas had-and the Goldsmith score were further assets.
In my opinion, there are several quality shootouts involving large numbers of people which electrified & was an asset in making 100 Rifles enjoyable despite the film not coming together to form a classic starring a trio of legends. At least there was what amounted to a gratuitous shower scene involving Ol’ Raquel… but it’s done as a ruse so that moment didn’t serve no purpose for the plot.
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