The parallels to Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Der Besuch der alten Dame (The Visit) are striking indeed; definitely an influence or inspiration for screenplay writer Richard Aubrey. Probably an unlikely connection, but in 1964 actor Robert Shaw had played the role of Johann Wilhelm Möbius in the Broadway theater performance of Dürrenmatt’s Die Physiker (The Physicists).
For some reason, Christopher Frayling doesn’t mention A Town Called Bastard in his recent essay on “Irishness.” A strange omission, for the conflicts depicted in Parrish’s film are obviously informed rather by the contemporaneous escalation of political violence in Northern Ireland than by events in Mexico between 1890 and 1905, when the country was under the rule of Porfirio Díaz.
In his detailed discussion of A Town Called Bastard, Lee Broughton emphasizes the film’s Gothic elements and the presence of a strong female character, revenge-seeking Alvira Montes, as distinctively British.
@morgan: Good review! Were you able to find out who played “Águila”?