I would recommend the novelisation of this film, by William Terry (pen name of Terry Harknett, who went on to write the legendary Edge series of pulp westerns). As well as fully explaining the plot, it is more violent, grotesque and sadistic then any film version I’ve subsequently heard about. There are also some striking images and memorable dialogue not found in the original screenplay.
I’ve only seen a UK VHS release of the film, many years ago, which was a let down after the book, but I keep meaning to catch up with it again on DVD.
A question, particularly for German members. When I did German at university, we studied Durrenmatt’s play Die Besuch der Alten Dame (The Visit) where a woman arrives with a coffin and corrupts the townspeople by offering them a reward to kill someone from her past. I immediately thought: That’s where they got the idea from! What do you reckon?
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.
Thanks, companero. No. I have been thinking about Fernando Sánches Polack. But to speak the truth I know nothing about Spanish actors. Here some screenshots of him. Surely, someone who do will recognize him.
And long before the flashback sequence in a black-and-white photograph with his wife Alvira (English version: 27 min 30 s, Spanish version: 27 min 18 s), posted by morgan above.
Film full of no hope and dispair. Full of sweat aswell ! You just get involved in one character and they go, but then you just get involved in another on the same level. What a great cast !, and this of course enhances this theme. Its such a negative film, and gets better with each viewing. Top notch stuff for this viewer !
I just found a widescreen HD version of this on YouTube (billed as A Town Called Hell but with Bastard as the onscreen title), looking better than I’ve ever seen it. All the structural flaws are still there, of course. It feels like it was conceived as a much longer and more transgressive film but the producers took fright and cut it to bits before it was even released.
This movie’s page on the SWDb has been updated to the new layout. Let us know if we need to make any corrections. We could do with more facts, figures, reviews, links and images as well.
This one has now been updated with A NEW POLL to vote on at the top of the page under the original post. Please find it and share your rating with the community.
As usual, link to forum page has also been added / fixed, poster art added, and broken links removed. The original member’s post is as intended, at the top section.
