Someone mentioned this flick the other day and boy, did it bring back memories! "Che!" clearly deserves a place all its own in any discussion of entertainingly bad movies. It's totally unconscious though, because this is a genuine and heartfelt liberal tribute to good old Ernesto, with lots of Hollywood contrivance mixed in. I'm biased because I never bought a Che T-shirt or admired Fidel Castro. I'm pretty sure that without the USSR's timely checkmating of the USA, these two clowns would've been consigned to history's garbage heap in a couple years at the most. Years ago, I read an excellent book about the guy (Max Gomez) who tracked Che down so that the Bolivian Army could shoot him. He was a Cuban expatriate who ended up in the US Army and the CIA. He had quite a different take on Che and Fidel than all those drug-addled American/European teens and intellectuals did. Apparently, Communist revolutionaries have an extremely ruthless viewpoint and a very unsentimental way of doing business. Che looked great on a poster, but his spoiled admirers would not have enjoyed him in person. Or he them. When production of "Che!" was announced, right-wingers and Che-worshipers were both infuriated, albeit for opposite reasons. The hard right was upset that Communists would be glamorized, and Che fans were positively livid that the legend of their sainted icon would be desecrated. But the story goes that when the flick came out, it was so bad and so boring that both sides immediately lost interest in their indignation.
Anyway, back to the movie. Jack Palance is the greatest, but his portrayal of Fidel must be seen to be believed. Mr. Palance never had a reputation for being fun-loving, but I swear he's always on the verge of cracking up and is struggling to keep it together the entire time. He probably didn't have a choice, because the script is so absurd that it was impossible to take seriously. Omar Sharif just wheezes and gasps during all his screen time, in order to emphasize Che's real-life asthma. Seriously, that's it. He just pants like an obscene phone caller the whole movie and displays zero charisma, which I assume the real Che must've had at least some of. I guess the filmmakers thought that scenes of Che struggling to overcome his asthma and still being so dynamic added tremendous drama to Omar's role. "Che!" also features the inimitable Woody Strode and the immortal Sid Haig as henchmen, and they both do their usual fine work. The funny thing is, nobody even attempts a Hispanic accent, or else they give it a half-a***d try and waver back and forth. There are some odd "interviews" interspersed throughout, which are meant to imply a documentary feel, but they're as disconcertingly comical as the rest of the flick. One character gives a long speech and then actually looks directly into the lens and implores: "Please don't tell anyone I said any of this!" Good stuff.
It's available on Amazon instant video, but DVD's are almost certainly non-existent. It's still pretty hilarious, same as I remembered. But I bet it's even better in a group setting, with inebriated viewers. I gave it 1 star, purely on face value, but as unintentional comedy it deserves 10 stars.
Anyway, back to the movie. Jack Palance is the greatest, but his portrayal of Fidel must be seen to be believed. Mr. Palance never had a reputation for being fun-loving, but I swear he's always on the verge of cracking up and is struggling to keep it together the entire time. He probably didn't have a choice, because the script is so absurd that it was impossible to take seriously. Omar Sharif just wheezes and gasps during all his screen time, in order to emphasize Che's real-life asthma. Seriously, that's it. He just pants like an obscene phone caller the whole movie and displays zero charisma, which I assume the real Che must've had at least some of. I guess the filmmakers thought that scenes of Che struggling to overcome his asthma and still being so dynamic added tremendous drama to Omar's role. "Che!" also features the inimitable Woody Strode and the immortal Sid Haig as henchmen, and they both do their usual fine work. The funny thing is, nobody even attempts a Hispanic accent, or else they give it a half-a***d try and waver back and forth. There are some odd "interviews" interspersed throughout, which are meant to imply a documentary feel, but they're as disconcertingly comical as the rest of the flick. One character gives a long speech and then actually looks directly into the lens and implores: "Please don't tell anyone I said any of this!" Good stuff.
It's available on Amazon instant video, but DVD's are almost certainly non-existent. It's still pretty hilarious, same as I remembered. But I bet it's even better in a group setting, with inebriated viewers. I gave it 1 star, purely on face value, but as unintentional comedy it deserves 10 stars.