Feature film
The Soldiers of Pancho Villa
La Cucaracha
Ismael Rodríguez · 1959
Synopsis
During the revolution, La Cucaracha, a soldier of strong character, commands a group of armed women who follow the troops. Colonel Antonio Zeta has the man she loves shot, and yet she falls passionately in love with him. Isabel arrives, a widow forced to follow the troop after her husband's death, whom Zeta courts in his turn: the two women become rivals.
Context
A large-scale spectacle with many extras and horses, shot in the state of Zacatecas and the Sierra de Órganos national park, near Sombrerete, the film is photographed by Gabriel Figueroa. The director offers it to María Félix on condition that Dolores del Río play opposite her, and surrounds them with Emilio Fernández (Zeta), Pedro Armendáriz, Antonio Aguilar, Flor Silvestre and Ignacio López Tarso. Presented at the Cannes Film Festival, it was released in Mexico on 12 November 1959.
Who it is for
An hour and thirty-seven minutes of revolutionary film, in Spanish, carried by two great actresses of Mexican cinema.
Prizes and reception
In competition for the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1959; ninety-sixth of the hundred best Mexican films according to the magazine Somos.
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