BY FRED BLOSSER
A
Dino De Laurentiis production starring Charles Bronson, John Sturges’ “The
Valdez Horses†opened in Italy in 1973 and kicked around markets in Europe and
the Far East over the next two years under various alternative titles. In 1975, it finally limped onto a handful of
U.S. screens as “Chino.†By then,
Bronson was already a cultural sensation here in the wake of “Death Wish,†but
“Chino†didn’t have much of a push from its American distributor, and it didn’t
last long in the movie houses. The
Bronson vehicle that made a splash in 1975 was Walter Hill’s “Hard Times,â€
featuring the star as a hardscrabble street fighter during the Great
Depression. If you’re of a certain age,
you probably remember “Chino,†if at all, as a VHS release from the Neon Video
budget label in the 1980s, gathering dust at your local Blockbuster or
Suncoast.
In
the film, young Jamie (Vincent Van Patten), traveling alone across the wide
open spaces, is stranded miles from the nearest town as night begins to
fall. Is he a runaway or an orphan? That’s never clarified, an element that may
bother those who tend to pick at loose ends, although it doesn’t greatly matter
in terms of the story. Seeing a lonely
ranch house in the distance, the boy meets Chino Valdez (Charles Bronson), a
half-Indian stockman who tames horses and lives by himself. The taciturn Chino gives Jamie shelter for
the night, in return for the kid pitching in with the chores. Next morning, in a scene nicely underplayed
by Bronson and Van Patten, Chino offers the boy a job as his hired hand, and
Jamie eagerly accepts. The work includes
mentoring on how to tame and ride mustangs. When Jamie asks if taming means “busting†a wild horse, Chino
emphatically says no: “ . . . that takes all the spunk out of a
horse. It breaks him. And I'm not gonna
bust a Valdez horse.†It’s the first of
several scenes in which, not very subtly, Chino is likened to his wild
stallions.
Chino’s neighbor is Maral (Marcel Bozzuffi), a wealthy rancher
whose sister Catherine (Jill Ireland) comes from the East to visit. In case any sticklers in the audience wonder
why Maral has a French accent and Catherine a British one, the real answer is
simple. If you wanted Charles Bronson
for a picture in those days, his wife Jill Ireland was part of the deal. In context of the story, it’s because the
siblings had different mothers, as quickly noted in passing. Trouble develops when Chino and Catherine
fall in love with each other and decide to marry with the help of a friendly
padre. Learning of the plan, Maral
confronts Catherine in the chapel as she waits in her wedding gown for Chino to
arrive. If his sister marries the
rough-hewn, penniless horseman, “I will kill him,†Maral tells her. It’s a complication straight out of the 1950s
B-Westerns. Except there, the hero and
the overbearing cattle baron would have settled their differences with a
friendly fist fight, and wedding bells would ring. This being a 1970s Western, and a Charles
Bronson vehicle to boot, it isn’t too much of a spoiler to suggest that things
won’t go that smoothly for Chino.
Even Bronson fans are likely to concede that “The Valdez Horsesâ€
is a mess dramatically speaking, although an interesting mess for those of us
who fondly remember how the international co-productions in the 1970s, like
this one, were often patched together. Quiet, family-friendly scenes of Chino and Jamie bonding as surrogate
father and son are punctuated by a saloon brawl in which Chino bashes a bully
in the crotch with a whiskey bottle, a protracted showdown with a high body
count, a whipping, and a scene in which the Spanish actress Diana Lorys, in
brown makeup as a Cheyenne woman, bares her breasts. In audio commentary for a new Blu-ray edition
from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, film historian and Bronson specialist Paul
Talbot notes that Sturges filmed on Spaghetti Western locations in Almeria,
Spain, in 1972 with an Italian and Spanish crew and supporting cast. Although the Europeans’ relaxed approach
jarred with his studio-honed sensibilities for running a tight set, Sturges
gamely wrapped on schedule. But once
they previewed the finished product, De Laurentiis‘ investors decided that the
director’s low-key, 1960s-style Western would disappoint Bronson fans. So Italian filmmaker-for-hire Duilio Coletti
was brought in to film additional scenes, accounting for the more exploitative
content. Even so, “Chino†squeaked by in
the U.S. with a PG rating, bare breasts and all. Some of us will be less embarrassed by Diana
Lorys‘ nudity than by the inane romantic scenes between Bronson and
Ireland. For what it’s worth, the script
was credited to veteran novelist and screenwriter Clair Huffaker from a book by
Lee Hoffman. Stephen Geller and Elmore Leonard also made unofficial
contributions along the way, according to Paul Talbot’s research.
The Kino Lorber Blu-ray includes two versions of the movie, a
1.85:1 print from the U.S. release and a windowboxed 1.37:1 version with French
opening titles. In color and clarity,
the 1.37:1 version is superior to the other, but the nostalgically minded may
prefer the 1.85:1, blemishes and all, as the one they watched on VHS back in
the day. In a new interview, Vincent Van
Patten fondly remembers Bronson, Sturges, and the shoot in Almeria. Between scenes, the young actor asked the
fifty-year-old Bronson how he maintained his “ripped†physique, on display
twice in the movie. “Push ups,†Bronson
answered. “Push ups?†Van Patten
said. “Push ups,†Bronson repeated. Van Patten’s affectionate Bronson impression
is spot-on. From Talbot’s minute
reconstruction of the picture’s bumpy history and Van Patten’s affable
memories, you’ll conclude that a docudrama about the making of “The Valdez
Horses†would be more engaging than the movie itself.
Other extras on the Blu-ray include a silent 8-millimeter home
movie shot by Van Patten and his brother Jimmy in Almeria, the American TV spot
for “Chino,†alternate title openings, trailers for other Bronson movies on
Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, and a reversible cover sleeve with poster art for
“The Valdez Horses†on one side and “Chino†on the other.
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Fred Blosser is the author of "Sons of Ringo: The Great Spaghetti Western Heroes". Click here to order from Amazon)