Telly Savalas kept the patented bald look in place a couple years after his acclaimed Kojak TV series came to an end. Here he plays the title character in a British production filmed in the UK and Mexico. I'd like to know how production companies make their filming decisions when I run across something like this. You would think there were enough British and European topics to tackle, but someone must have thought it was a good idea.
The story isn't altogether too bad, as it takes a sympathetic look at the plight of impoverished Mexicans who would do anything to cross over into the U.S. for a better life. The only trouble is, as we find here, there are any number of corrupt coyotes and border agents ready to take advantage of their situation in order to profit off of their sweat and labor. The slaughterhouse scene presented here is not for the faint of heart. I worked in a meat packing plant once, but that was a relatively sanitized affair compared to this. Every scene was like a gut punch, the one that got me was the guy sledging the dead bull's horns off off. I guess if you can disembowel cattle you can just about do anything.
The film stretches credibility with the actions of the film's young hero, Benny Romero (Danny De La Paz). The kid marches in challenging every symbol of authority at the sweatshop and puts himself in harm's way countless times to save his young friend Paco and wife Leina (Cecilia Camacho). He had miraculous recuperative powers as well, as evidenced by the amazing comeback against the Suarez henchman who knifed him in the back and razored his face in the saloon brawl. When Romero came off the truck at Suarez' place, he looked none the worse for wear and his face was perfectly clean.
But except for the kid being noble, this was pretty much Telly's flick. I don't know if I've seen Michael Gazzo as any character other than Frankie Five Angels in "Godfather II", but he was pretty effective here as the smuggling kingpin Suarez. Too bad the picture fell apart right at the very end when Cooper (Savalas) turned the bus around and rammed the border station for no apparent reason other than to end things in a slam-bang way, but what was the point? There was no follow up, and to my mind, Cooper and the Mexican couple could have wound up goners. Oh well.
One final note, and this is a real puzzler. Remember the Mexican café where the female hitchhiker tried to get Cooper to give her a ride across the border? The name of the café was 'El Beisbolista Fenomeno'. Translated, it means 'The Baseball Phenomenon'. Anyone know what that was all about?
The story isn't altogether too bad, as it takes a sympathetic look at the plight of impoverished Mexicans who would do anything to cross over into the U.S. for a better life. The only trouble is, as we find here, there are any number of corrupt coyotes and border agents ready to take advantage of their situation in order to profit off of their sweat and labor. The slaughterhouse scene presented here is not for the faint of heart. I worked in a meat packing plant once, but that was a relatively sanitized affair compared to this. Every scene was like a gut punch, the one that got me was the guy sledging the dead bull's horns off off. I guess if you can disembowel cattle you can just about do anything.
The film stretches credibility with the actions of the film's young hero, Benny Romero (Danny De La Paz). The kid marches in challenging every symbol of authority at the sweatshop and puts himself in harm's way countless times to save his young friend Paco and wife Leina (Cecilia Camacho). He had miraculous recuperative powers as well, as evidenced by the amazing comeback against the Suarez henchman who knifed him in the back and razored his face in the saloon brawl. When Romero came off the truck at Suarez' place, he looked none the worse for wear and his face was perfectly clean.
But except for the kid being noble, this was pretty much Telly's flick. I don't know if I've seen Michael Gazzo as any character other than Frankie Five Angels in "Godfather II", but he was pretty effective here as the smuggling kingpin Suarez. Too bad the picture fell apart right at the very end when Cooper (Savalas) turned the bus around and rammed the border station for no apparent reason other than to end things in a slam-bang way, but what was the point? There was no follow up, and to my mind, Cooper and the Mexican couple could have wound up goners. Oh well.
One final note, and this is a real puzzler. Remember the Mexican café where the female hitchhiker tried to get Cooper to give her a ride across the border? The name of the café was 'El Beisbolista Fenomeno'. Translated, it means 'The Baseball Phenomenon'. Anyone know what that was all about?