Valdez Is Coming (Edwin Sherin, 1971)

This USA/Spain coproduction is a very anonymous film. By that I meen it doesn’t really have and American orEurpoean feel to it. It is a good movie about prejudice and dignity. Starring Burt lancaster.

Database page: Valdez Is Coming - The Spaghetti Western Database

I agree it is kind of bland (anonymous) looking and feeling. But Burt makes a great blue-eyed Mexican hero. (I love it when when he uses the Sharps) I don’t care much for the supporting cast except for the guy who played El Segundo. He looks freaky.
I like the ending. Nice way to end a duel.

Yeah, the ending is great. Even if it is kindof anti climacting, I can’t imagine it any other way.

Good western

I really liked this one - perhaps because of (and not in spite of) its unique atmosphere. Burt’s character is great and like so many roles he took on later in his career (he was 57 when he made this), it is a real change of pace for him. It is of course based on a novel by Elmore Leonard and has his knack for simply drawn, yet morally complex characters. The movie was filmed in Spain, which is part of what gives it that non-American (or maybe non-Hollywood) western feel.

Good point about Elmore Leonard. I had forgotten this was based on the book.
You’re right, Leonard created some great characters. I’ve read all his western novels but not in years. They are very good.

[quote=“Romaine Fielding, post:6, topic:1239”]Good point about Elmore Leonard. I had forgotten this was based on the book.
You’re right, Leonard created some great characters. I’ve read all his western novels but not in years. They are very good.[/quote]

I think this was adapted from a Leonard short story rather than a novel, but I could be mistaken.

I’ve had a U.S. dvd of this for about 3 years and still haven’t gotten around to watching it, must get round to doing so.

btw avoid the U.K. disc as it is cut by the BBFC.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/0/B0ADF4D1C04D3C8A80256F810020E036?OpenDocument

[quote=“Phil H, post:7, topic:1239”]I think this was adapted from a Leonard short story rather than a novel, but I could be mistaken.[/quote]You are not incorrect. It was a short story.

I also must say thatit does have Euro touches like the strangeness of how when Burt begins his mission, he dons his old calvary uniform which didn’t seem like something from an American westerm. In an American one, he would just strap on his guns with a man’s gotta do what a mans gotta do look in his face. That is one of the main attractions of this film in my ( nit picky) mind.

I hear this one didn’t do to well in the US. But over in England, they really loved it.

I have no idea why you guys believe this was a short story. 3:10 to Yuma was a short story. Was Leonard’s novel, Valdez Is Coming, based on an earlier short story of his or something?
If you know somethin’, dish…

I’m possitive it was a short story. I’ll check google and get back to you with 100% proof.

Well, I might have been wrong. It is 260 pages. It is called a novel so however said it wasn’t a short story is correct. I was wrong.

How many western novels were written by Leonard?

[quote=“Romaine Fielding, post:12, topic:1239”]I have no idea why you guys believe this was a short story. 3:10 to Yuma was a short story. Was Leonard’s novel, Valdez Is Coming, based on an earlier short story of his or something?
If you know somethin’, dish…[/quote]

Valdez is Coming was originally a short story called ‘Only the Good Ones’ published around 1961. Six years later, when he was looking for a subject for a novel that he could sell to the movies, Leonard reworked the story into a full length book and called it ‘Valdez is Coming’. So everyone is right really.

I have the short story in The Complete Western Short Stories of Elmore Leonard’ which is a book I’d recommend to anyone who likes good quality writing and westerns.

About 9 or 10 I think.

[quote=“Phil H, post:16, topic:1239”]Valdez is Coming was originally a short story called ‘Only the Good Ones’ published around 1961. Six years later, when he was looking for a subject for a novel that he could sell to the movies, Leonard reworked the story into a full length book and called it ‘Valdez is Coming’. So everyone is right really.

I have the short story in The Complete Western Short Stories of Elmore Leonard’ which is a book I’d recommend to anyone who likes good quality writing and westerns.[/quote]

Excellent. I don’t really care about being right, I just wanted to know. I knew that I had read the novel. I’ve thought about picking up the collection of stories but have not yet.
Thanks for the info.
Hey by the way, I looked for The Missing by Thomas Eidson this weekend at the bookstore. I went to two good stores and they had no novels by him. I’ll have to order from Amazon!

It seems that Leonard has written books for some great westerns. 3:10 to Yuma, Hombre, and this one.

Nothing special, and the modified ending in the Italian version certainly does not help.

3/5