BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Spikeopath Four years before he would be known as the master of the gimmick, William Castle directed this South of the border Western starring Glenn Ford, Cesar Romero, Abby Lane and Frank Lovejoy. In true William Castle style, tho let it be known it wasn't always his fault, The Americano was met with a number of problems. Not least that after being afforded a considerable budget by RKO standards, they ran out of money half way thru. With most of the shoot being in the Matto Grosso jungle in Brazil, where it's believed that Budd Boetticher took control of the shoot, they had to hop tail it back to Hollywood where the project sat in limbo for months. By the time of the reconvene, original choice for the role of Teresa, Sara Montiel, had moved onto Warner Bros and was no longer available after having her RKO contract cancelled for the film. In came Abby Lane and all the scenes with Teresa in had to be re-shot.The plot sees Ford as Texas cowboy Sam Dent who agrees to take on a job of delivering prize Bulls to a mysterious buyer down near the Amazon in Brazil. However, when he gets there he finds that the man he was meant to meet has been murdered. Quickly making friends with Manuel (Romero), Dent finds that there is a range war going on and that bandits run rife in the area. Trying to stay neutral he finds that he may have to pick a side after all. Does he trust Manuel, a well known bandit by all accounts, be loyal to Bento Hermanny (Lovejoy) who has given him a roof over his head, or pitch in with the lovely Marianna Figuerido (Ursula Thiess) who he is starting to get sweet on? Either way it possibly spells trouble for him.Amiable, if over used, story that becomes watchable due to the efforts of Ford (as cool as ever) and Romero (who walks away with the movie), The Americano is clearly not the movie the makers set out to make. It was a bold move to make a Western down by the Amazon, not least because the locale should have made for rich pickings. But the problems off screen are up there on the screen. It's photographed by William E. Snyder (Creature from the Black Lagoon/Flying Leathernecks) and the locale is not utilised at all. Shot in Technicolor, the jungle sadly looks grey and almost ashen. There's a little bit of good lens work for a fire sequence, but the majority of it is very poor. They may as well have just built a cheap jungle set at the California base where the rest of the film was shot. The editing is bad and some scenes are blighted by basic errors, watch as Ford is hand tied on his horse one minute then rides an escape in free hand the next! Then there is the awful performance of Thiess, so bad it's obvious why she didn't go on to have a career in Hollywood. This in spite of Howard Hughes manfully fighting her corner.However, this is a film I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to my Western loving friends on proviso they don't expect too much. Ford and Romero are worth it, as is a couple of scenes such as a pitch fork fight and a dandy piranha dangle sequence. While for the boys Lane warbles and wobbles in a very engaging way. So a big case of not what it should have been, but not without its merits either, and certainly fun enough to adequately fill a couple of hours of undemanding time. 5.5/10

bkoganbing The main problem with The Americano I feel is it's a film that should never have been undertaken by a studio that was on its way out. Yet RKO was in fact lucky enough to get this thing done and released at all. At least one member of the original cast, Sarita Montiel, never finished it and her scenes had to be reshot with Abbe Lane.The Americano is a story about a Texas cattle breeder who has bred three prize Brahma bulls and is selling them to a rancher in Brazil. Glenn Ford as the rancher hopes that the money will help him and his brother get started on a new place of their own. He's accompanying the bulls to Brazil and is expecting to get $2500.00 for them.Of course when he gets there his potential buyer is dead and Ford is soon involved in a local range war, something you've seen in a gazillion American westerns. The dead man's partner, Frank Lovejoy is himself the he bull of the valley trying to push out the other smaller ranchers and farmers like Ursula Thiess.It was an ambitious undertaking that RKO did, a studio that was on its last legs since Howard Hughes sold it and didn't want it for a plaything any more. The location shooting in Brazil is the best thing about The Americano. A studio like MGM or Paramount should have done this film, with a better story. As it was the film shut down and then was completed stateside in California because it ran out of money. Ford walks through the film looking like a man who was worried his salary check wouldn't clear.Cesar Romero has an interesting if undefined role as a local bandit who winds up helping the local police. As for Lovejoy there is an interesting gay subtext to his role. He tries to get Ford to stay in Brazil and partner with him, but Ford says he has to get back to Texas and his family. Then Lovejoy pays him and then sets up a robbery where one of his own men is killed so Ford has to return. Now just why was he craving Ford's company so much?Ford's got eyes for Ursula Thiess though and when he's forced to choose a side, his duty is clear. That upsets Lovejoy even more.The panorama of the Amazon forest deserved a film of the epic sweep of Gone With The Wind or even Duel In The Sun. What it got was a warmed over range war plot that could have come from a Roy Rogers film.

ashew I'm a big fan of Glenn Ford, Frank Lovejoy, and Cesar Romero, but this movie goes terribly astray. One must take into account that when this movie was made, the world was less sophisticated, so the lame travelogue aspects of the first half hour were probably exciting, new, and "never-seen-before" footage. Now it is obvious, boring, and an incredibly poor job of editing some location shooting with bad stock footage. Lovejoy and Romero are both presented as smiling bad guys, with Glenn Ford and the audience left to uncover who is truly bad and who Ford should side with. Romero's character was over-the-top and annoying, while I thought Lovejoy gave a very nice, textured portrayal. That being said, I just couldn't care less about either of them, their range war, or who Ford was going to side with. He was back and forth between the two men so often, I started to get dizzy, and, remarkably, throughout most of the 90 minutes, NOTHING gets done! It's just a boring see-saw.There are murders, attempted rapes, treachery, and much thievery, but neither the script, nor the director (William Castle), generate even the SLIGHTEST bit of tension. A perfect example: In the beginning of the film, Cesar Romero is supposed to lead Ford and his bulls across a river, but warns of the Pirahna fish that will devour the bulls, so he chases a crocodile into the river downstream, the Pirahna chase after the croc, and our hero gets his bulls across safely. It is OBVIOUSLY a set-up for later, but throughout the film, they ride TWO times across the river without even pausing or "distracting" the fish, which completely undermines the set-up. The ultimate undermining shows its effect during the scene toward the end of the film where they threaten to drop the bad guy's henchman into the river if he doesn't confess. Because the Pirahna threat has been undermined throughout half the film instead of bolstered by constant tension and references, the scene becomes a hokey "convenience" that holds zero tension. It's ruined and wasted moments like that which drag the film down.The script is awful, with a banal plot that goes nowhere, generates no interest, and has a thoroughly unsatisfying ending. Speaking of the ending, we are forced to endure a painfully awkward romance between Ford and a female rancher (Theiss) who have ZERO chemistry together. Ford is lecherous and smarmy (which are not particularly enjoyable qualities in a supposed hero), but he eventually beds Theiss. Ford then sides with Theiss when everything she owns is destroyed so the bad guy can take her land. Ford & Theiss have formed a great bond and romantic relationship, right? Evidently, not, as the end of the movie consists of the evil henchman (Hoyos) that Ford has been at odds with since the beginning of the movie being killed in a boring fight scene with... CESAR ROMERO (Uhh, what was the purpose of building the "tension" and animosity between Hoyos and Ford then?)! Ford goes up against the main bad guy and kills him...OFFSCREEN! And then the movie ends without a single shot of, or reference to, Ursula Theiss, her ranch, her relationship with Ford, etc.! Ford just kills the bad guy, walks off into the jungle, The End. Huh?! Every possible plot point is tied up in the MOST unsatisfactory way. It was as if the producers went out of there way to ruin every aspect of this movie.I am being incredibly generous and giving this movie a 2 out of 10 because of solid performances by Glenn Ford, Frank Lovejoy, and the insanely sexy Abbe Lane...they did the best they could with a boring script and truly awful directing job by the usually entertaining William Castle.

neobowler This was not a very good movie. It was so corny and lame. I did not like watching it. Glenn Ford is at his worst and his performance is rather sad. I really would not recommend this movie! There was not really anything good about it. But I have seen worse movies. I give it a 1 1/2 out of 5.