Old Gringo
Encyclopedia
Old Gringo is a 1989 film
directed by Luis Puenzo
and co-written with Aída Bortnik
, based on the novel Gringo Viejo by Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes
.
The film stars Jane Fonda
, Gregory Peck
, and Jimmy Smits
.
The film was screened out of competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival
.
) goes to Mexico
to work as a governess
for the Miranda family, she becomes caught up in the Mexican revolution
.
Mexicans transporting her from Chihuahua
actually belong to a unit of Pancho Villa
's army. They use her luggage to smuggle weapon
s to the servants at the Miranda hacienda
, who in turn aid the attacking revolutionary army
of General
Tomas Arroyo (Jimmy Smits).
During the attack, a sardonic "Old Gringo," who is really American author Ambrose Bierce
(Gregory Peck
), joins in the fighting on the side of the revolution, operating the track switch that ensures a railroad flatcar laden with explosives reaches its target.
After the Miranda hacienda
is taken, Winslow becomes romantically smitten alternately with Bierce and Arroyo. Bierce has come to Mexico
to die in anonymity, feeling that his fifty years as a writer have won him praise only for his style, not for the truth that he's tried to tell. Arroyo, by contrast, has returned to the hacienda where he was born. His father was actually a Miranda who had raped his peasant mother. Later, in his youth, Arroyo murdered his father.
While his army enjoys luxuries they have never known on the war-damaged but palatial Miranda estate, Arroyo becomes obsessed with his past and, transfixed by childhood memories of his family buried there, fails to move his army when ordered by Villa. To snap Arroyo out of his fixation, thus averting a mutiny of his officers, Bierce burns papers that the illiterate Arroyo considers sacred—papers that supposedly entitle the peasants to the hacienda land. But Arroyo responds by shooting Bierce in the back, killing him. Bierce dies in Winslow's arms.
Winslow later goes to the U.S. embassy in Mexico to claim Bierce's body and bring it back to the United States
, saying that it is that of her long-lost father. This puts Villa in a predicament because a U.S. citizen was murdered by one of his generals. So, wishing to avoid American meddling in the revolution, he has Winslow sign a statement that her father had joined the revolution and was executed for disobeying orders, as was General Arroyo who had shot him, and that she witness
ed both executions. She signs the statement, is provided with the coffin
bearing Bierce's body, and witnesses the execution of Arroyo.
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
directed by Luis Puenzo
Luis Puenzo
Luis Adalberto Puenzo is an Argentine film director, producer and screenplay writer.He works mainly in the cinema of Argentina, but has also worked in the United States.-Biography:...
and co-written with Aída Bortnik
Aída Bortnik
Aída Bortnik is an Argentine screenwriter, nominated for an Academy Award for her work in the film La historia oficial .- Career :...
, based on the novel Gringo Viejo by Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
.
The film stars Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
, Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
, and Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as Congressman Matt Santos on The West Wing...
.
The film was screened out of competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival
1989 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Wim Wenders *Christine Gouze-Renal*Claude Beylie*Georges Delerue*Hector Babenco*Krzysztof Kieślowski*Peter Handke*Renée Blanchar*Sally Field*Silvio Clementelli-Feature film competition:* Chimère by Claire Devers...
.
Plot
When American schoolteacher Harriet Winslow (Jane FondaJane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
) goes to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
to work as a governess
Governess
A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...
for the Miranda family, she becomes caught up in the Mexican revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
.
Mexicans transporting her from Chihuahua
Chihuahua, Chihuahua
The city of Chihuahua is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It has a population of about 825,327. The predominant activity is industry, including domestic heavy, light industries, consumer goods production, and to a smaller extent maquiladoras.-History:It has been said that the...
actually belong to a unit of Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
's army. They use her luggage to smuggle weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s to the servants at the Miranda hacienda
Hacienda
Hacienda is a Spanish word for an estate. Some haciendas were plantations, mines, or even business factories. Many haciendas combined these productive activities...
, who in turn aid the attacking revolutionary army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
of General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Tomas Arroyo (Jimmy Smits).
During the attack, a sardonic "Old Gringo," who is really American author Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...
(Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
), joins in the fighting on the side of the revolution, operating the track switch that ensures a railroad flatcar laden with explosives reaches its target.
After the Miranda hacienda
Hacienda
Hacienda is a Spanish word for an estate. Some haciendas were plantations, mines, or even business factories. Many haciendas combined these productive activities...
is taken, Winslow becomes romantically smitten alternately with Bierce and Arroyo. Bierce has come to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
to die in anonymity, feeling that his fifty years as a writer have won him praise only for his style, not for the truth that he's tried to tell. Arroyo, by contrast, has returned to the hacienda where he was born. His father was actually a Miranda who had raped his peasant mother. Later, in his youth, Arroyo murdered his father.
While his army enjoys luxuries they have never known on the war-damaged but palatial Miranda estate, Arroyo becomes obsessed with his past and, transfixed by childhood memories of his family buried there, fails to move his army when ordered by Villa. To snap Arroyo out of his fixation, thus averting a mutiny of his officers, Bierce burns papers that the illiterate Arroyo considers sacred—papers that supposedly entitle the peasants to the hacienda land. But Arroyo responds by shooting Bierce in the back, killing him. Bierce dies in Winslow's arms.
Winslow later goes to the U.S. embassy in Mexico to claim Bierce's body and bring it back to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, saying that it is that of her long-lost father. This puts Villa in a predicament because a U.S. citizen was murdered by one of his generals. So, wishing to avoid American meddling in the revolution, he has Winslow sign a statement that her father had joined the revolution and was executed for disobeying orders, as was General Arroyo who had shot him, and that she witness
Witness
A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...
ed both executions. She signs the statement, is provided with the coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
bearing Bierce's body, and witnesses the execution of Arroyo.
Cast
- Jane FondaJane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
as Harriet Winslow - Gregory PeckGregory PeckEldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
as Ambrose Bierce - Jimmy SmitsJimmy SmitsJimmy Smits is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as Congressman Matt Santos on The West Wing...
as Gen. Tomas Arroyo - Patricio ContrerasPatricio ContrerasPatricio Contreras is a well-known Chilean-Argentine film actor.-Life and work:Contreras was born in Santiago, Chile in 1947 and emigrated to neighboring Argentina following the 1973 coup d'état against left-wing President Salvador Allende, of whom Contreras was a vocal supporter...
as Col. Frutos Garcia - Jenny GagoJenny GagoJenny Gago is an American actress.- Career :Gago has appeared in movies and television for 25 years, including recurring roles as Captain Santina on MacGyver, Detective Beatrice Zapeda in Alien Nation, Anaya on The Agency and Grandma on Freddie...
as La Garduna - Gabriela Roel as La Luna
- Sergio CalderónSergio CalderónSergio Calderón is a Mexican actor.Calderón's first role was that of "Pedro" in the 1971 film The Bridge in the Jungle. Since then he has appeared in numerous films including the 1997 film Men in Black and the 2007 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End .-External links:...
as Zacarias - Guillermo Ríos as Monsalvo
- Jim MetzlerJim MetzlerJim Metzler is an American television and film actor, best known for guest-appearances on popular TV series. In 1983, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his supporting role in the 1982 film Tex....
as Ron - Samuel Valadez De La Torre as Consul Saunders
- Anne PitoniakAnne PitoniakAnne Pitoniak was an American actress. She was nominated twice for Broadway's Tony Award: as Best Actress in 1983, for night, Mother, and as Best Actress in 1994, for a revival of William Inge's Picnic.-Early life:Pitoniak was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, the daughter of Sophie and John...
as Mrs. Winslow - Pedro Armendáriz Jr.Pedro Armendáriz Jr.Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. is a Mexican actor.- Life and career :Armendáriz Jr. was born in Mexico City, the son of actors Carmelita and Pedro Armendáriz. He has been married to actress Ofelia Medina....
as Pancho Villa - Pedro DamiánPedro DamiánPedro Damián is a Mexican actor, television producer and director, who was executive producer for two teen telenovelas, Clase 406 and Rebelde, distributed within and outside Mexico.-Acting:...
as Capt. Ovando
Awards
Nominations- Razzie Awards: Razzie Award; Worst Actress, Jane FondaJane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
; 1990.