Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded

[moira finnie]

Good Grief! Look at that man and then tell me rationally why Eddie Albert was the star of that movie!

I hear ya, JF, but all I can think is perhaps the casting was due to...Demographics?

As far as I can discern, the post-war period was really a lean period for GR. He had a few leads in movies few people saw. The Cisco Kid movies and 1947's High Conquest weren't really critical or broadly popular movies, though kids of the time probably liked Cisco--though the way that Roland played the character he was rather adult with a kind of dashingly surreal and quietly romantic quality more than that of an adventure hero.

BTW, there seem to be some passionate defenders of this movie on IMDb in the user reviews and the message board for The Dude Goes West, so maybe it is better than it sounds. James Gleason is in the supporting cast too, so how can it be a total loss?


Eddie Albert and Jimmy Gleason in The Dude Goes West.

I kind of like Eddie Albert, and think he was a pretty good second lead. I usually prefer him when he plays in dramas as a nutty military guy as in Attack! (1956) and Captain Newman M.D. (1963), when he could really be scary and effective. His movie career as a potential leading man in the studio era never completely recovered after he had a liaison with a prominent studio chief's wife, leading to a "sudden" diminution of his roles in better pictures. After that and the war, where as a Marine, Albert distinguished himself militarily and survived Tarawa somehow--a topic he scrupulously avoided elaborating on in interviews, his film work was all kind of scattershot. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar twice for Roman Holiday (1953)--why, I don't know--and in The Heartbreak Kid (1986), but I think he played Susan Hayward's accompanist one too many times in the movies and roles like a psalm-singing Casper Milquetoast in 7 Women sure looked like career suicide. Good thing there was television, huh?

[JackFavell]

Oh you are making me laugh!

I do actually like Eddie. A lot. I love it when he turns up in a picture. I think you are right though, somehow TV lent him stature. He's quite good here:



But please, there is just no reason for GR to be playing backup!

[moira finnie]

Thanks for that amusing link, JF.


Above: The director, Serge Bourguignon, Max von Sydow and Gilbert Roland on location for The Reward (1965).

An obscure movie from the 1960s, The Reward (1965) is being shown on the Fox Movie Channel this month and will be broadcast again on Friday, Jan. 13th at 6AM ET. Gilbert Roland plays a fed-up and philosophically-minded Mexican sheriff involved with Max Von Sydow in a desert chase after a fugitive (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) and his girlfriend (Yvette Mimieux). Roland and Von Sydow are after the promised reward money so that they can escape their fairly bleak existence. The movie was directed by Serge Bourguignon (Sundays and Cybele, The Picasso Summer) and even though the films of his that I have seen are very worthwhile, the French filmmaker apparently alienated his cast and crew big time in this 20th Century Fox production, if you can believe the gist of this article in Life magazine back then.

[MissGoddess]

I really like The Picasso Summer, so I will try to record this. I hope I don't forget to program my dvr.

[moira finnie]

I really enjoyed The Dude Goes West, but not because the role played by Gilbert Roland was especially good. His part as The Pecos Kid was most intriguing at the beginning of the film, when we meet his character, shrouded in ambiguity, on the train carrying Eddie Albert and Gale Storm to the West. Pecos appears to be a gallant figure, quick to take offense if he felt that a lady's honor was being compromised---though we soon learn that he has another side to his character. The filmmakers tried to reveal a cruel and ruthless side of Pecos as the story developed, but it wasn't credible--especially since Binnie Barnes seemed much harder than GR! The best thing about The Dude Goes West was the affectionate focus on two character actors who really were allowed to shine in this little movie.

They were Barton MacLane as "Texas Jack Barton," a bad man with a price on his head who is treated kindly by Eddie Albert's tenderfoot when they meet in the desert. Texas Jack listens to this stiff young Easterner spout off about his ideals, etc., but he is most impressed by the gunsmith's way with a gun. The look of wonder and disbelief on MacLane's face is delightful, and his character steals Eddie Albert's wagon and horse in the night, leaving him to wander in t he desert--but he later finds himself feeling a kinship with the dude and even tries to talk him into joining his gang. MacLane really had fun filling in his character's quirks: Texas Jack wasn't very bright, but he was likable and you found yourself concerned when he was almost strung up. I can't say I've ever felt that way about any of his other characters in the kajillion movies he appeared in throughout his long career.

The other actor who had a chance to take the center of the stage in this movie was James Gleason. I love Jimmy in everything, but in this one, he was very much like a skinny version of Yosemite Sam, as you might see too in this clip from the movie, when his character of Sam tells Eddie Albert that his singing "will only draw flies..."
[youtube][/youtube]

I'll try to post a bit about the recently broadcast The Reward over the weekend. In that one, the only character who really resonated as a human being was Gilbert Roland!

BTW, one of Gilbertito's spaghetti westerns is on youtube below. The Ruthless Four (1968) wasn't too bad, though it is a kind of peculiar knockoff of Treasure of the Sierra Madre--but my favorite scene is when GR decides to do a dance in the middle of the desert--before offing some bad guys lying in wait. Another odd but interesting fact about this movie--Klaus Kinski is in it as a kind of Angel of Death & pale Peter Lorre. Klaus doesn't dance, though. GR shows up (in a steam bath!) about 20 minutes into the movie.
[youtube][/youtube]

Another spaghetti western that is also available on youtube is Any Gun Can Play (1967), with "stars" Edd Byrnes and George Hilton and Gilbert Roland as the only other recognizable name in the cast. Has anyone seen this one yet?
[youtube][/youtube]

A Buster Keaton aficionado has posted one of the comic genius' saddest MGM films when he was teamed with Jimmy Durante in 1932's The Passionate Plumber online too. As you probably know, a very young GR is in the movie too. This was around the time that Roland convinced his friend Keaton to visit Spain with him. I think he was trying to cheer him up.
[youtube][/youtube]

[JackFavell]

Moira, I really enjoyed the Dude Goes West, mostly for the supporting cast and especially Gilbert, who as you say, had a more promising role at the beginning than he ended up with. I thought that first scene on the train was a hoot! I was waiting for a turn around from Roland during the picture, since he was by far more charismatic than anyone else, but it didn't happen. I think it might have been a better picture had they made him a sort of anti-hero, but then again who am I to say?

You really captured Barton MacLane's role perfectly here, he's an actor whose warmth I've always liked, even when he was portraying a snake in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

[MissGoddess]

I can't remember if you talked about it before but Moira, have you ever seen The Last of the Fast Guns? I'm very curious about it since it also stars one of my favorite actresses, Linda Cristal. I would love to see the two of them together (apart from Gilbertito's appearance on "The High Chaparral"). Jock Mahoney is the main star.

I couldn't find it on YouTube, unless it's under another title/name and I've never noticed it on TCM or Encore. I think I'll request it at TCM.com, if it's available.

[MissGoddess]

[MissGoddess]

Wappissimo! I think I found my new avatar.

[Rita Hayworth]

I would love to see this movie ... The Last of the Fast Guns. I would love either TCM or Encore Westerns show this movie someday soon.

[moira finnie]

Wendy, I really haven't liked Barton MacLane much before seeing The Dude Goes West. I think it was because he yelled too much most of the time. He was softer spoken in this movie, even a touch whimsical and contemplative--something his fellow bandits didn't seem to appreciate. Do you think I'm reading too much into this?

April, Last of the Fast Guns (1958) is one of those movies I've never seen or even seen scheduled anywhere. It looks like something that Encore Western would be likely to favor, doesn't it? I hope that Lorne Greene plays a bad guy in that one. Before Bonanza, he was a swell villain (see Autumn Leaves and Peyton Place for his "best" work in this vein). I don't know if I have posted the images from this movie below previously, but the ones below seem to indicate a fairly large part for Gilbert Roland (even if it looks as though he gets hurt...uh, oh...does that mean that he doesn't make it??). I wonder if after working with GR in this movie, Linda Cristal might have helped get him the gig on High Chaparral after Frank Silvera's accidental death?






It looks as though Eduard Franz is the doc in this case.

Here are a couple of pictures I found recently:


GR, Constance Bennett and Fredric March in the '40s. (No, I don't think that Freddy would dare lay a wandering hand on Connie).


Just before entering the service in WWII with Constance and an unidentified officer.


Keeping the Axis at bay in WWII. I wonder if he's thinking about what he is going to write to Greta Garbo in his next letter?

You picked a good one for your new avatar, but if you would like another one, perhaps these will make your day, Miss G.:



Oh, that reminds me. This photo is from We Were Strangers (1949) which features two of Jennifer Jones and John Garfield's least compelling performances (odd, since I normally relish both actors for their ethereal and earthy qualities)---but which gives Gilbert a chance to be warm and human---has been posted on youtube and can be seen here if anyone would like to check it out.

[MissGoddess]

Last of the Fast Guns does seem an Encore type movie, but who knows if and when it will turn up there. I'm liable to miss it if it does! I have more hopes for YouTube.

And I think for my avatar I'll settle on the last picture you posted from We Were Strangers...oh my goodness, he looks like Clark Gable in that one!

[moira finnie]

Last of the Fast Guns does seem an Encore type movie, but who knows if and when it will turn up there. I'm liable to miss it if it does! I have more hopes for YouTube.

You might find it at someplace like ioffer or ebay.

And I think for my avatar I'll settle on the last picture you posted from We Were Strangers...oh my goodness, he looks like Clark Gable in that one!

Gee, wouldn't the pair of them have been quite a sight in one movie together? Please let me know if you have any need of assistance with your avatar choice.

[pvitari]

Last of the Fast Guns is available from the nice people at Comet Video, your source for B-westerns. :) I would be willing to bet their copy is pan and scan though, not Cinemascope.

Advice: Call in your order, don't e-mail them. Every time I've e-mailed I've never gotten an answer, but once I call they send off the order promptly.

[MissGoddess]

thank you, paula.