MovieChat Forums > The Americano (1955) Discussion > Am I the only one thinking what waste of...

Am I the only one thinking what waste of talent, location and time.

posted 16 years ago by cobram-1
12 replies | jump to latest

Am I the only one who could not get into this movie, no matter how hard they wanted to? The minute someone starts speaking spanish, it's over, the suspension of disbelief gives way to "huh?". The settling of Mato Grosso in Brazil is a compelling story, but has absolutely nothing to do with this complete fantasy. It seems to me someone wrote a script about the Texas range wars, settling, etc., and nobody would buy it, so they added the Brazil setting to make the project sellable.
What a waste, the landscapes and back rounds in this region are breathtaking, yet all you see in this gem is what looks like a clip of a still image.
No wonder there doesn't seem to be any movement on this board.
Cesar Romero does a great job FWIW.

[–] hobnob53 15 years ago

Yeah, this is a pretty weak film. Bad direction and poor technical aspects (sound, cinematography, etc.) really do it in. Although filmed in 1955, it gives the appearance and feel of a movie 15 years older. Plus, in spite of so much of it actually being shot in Brazil, you really get no sense whatsoever of location. It looks as if it was filmed in Oregon.

It has a bad script and looks cheap (even the credits look like they're from a Tom and Jerry cartoon), and little sense of dramatic flow or build-up. And at the end, it just stops -- with no real resolution of personal relationships and other plot points (except the bad guys are hurriedly killed off to abruptly finish the picture -- I guess the money was running out again).

I don't know if your comment about people speaking Spanish was facetious or not, but of course in Brazil they should be speaking Portugese. But almost all you hear is English or an odd sort-of-Spanish.

Casting the German actress Urusla Thiess as a Brazilian doesn't work at all. She can't disguise her German accent (maybe she came over with Mengele?) and isn't very good anyway -- not that she's given much of a part.

I agree, Cesar Romero is very good, and the picture only comes alive when he's around. Glenn Ford is dull and plainly just going through the motions. But Frank Lovejoy isn't bad, and really has you fooled for a while.

Still, you know what? It's so lousy, I find it kind of irresistible. An excellent example of why RKO was going down the drain so quickly by the mid-50s.

[–] cobram-1 14 years ago

Wow, you mean they actually went to Brazil to film....and this was the end product? What a horrible waste of a great location. I saw this film again recently (well, FF'd) and you can tell which parts were filmed there, mostly the parts which could have been done on a back lot, and the parts that would have been great if filmed on location, were obviously done on a back lot.
It's as if they went out of their way to make this film unremarkable.

Happiness is a belt-fed weapon.

[–] hobnob53 14 years ago

Well, it was a William Castle film, and he hadn't yet learned the usefulness of flying skeletons and Ghost-o-vision or whatever he called it. But I agree with your last comment -- it really is as though they went out of their way to make this unremarkable. (Even though here we are, 54 years later, remarking on it!) But you're right -- this movie was a waste of resources, talent and energy, not to mention Brazil.

[–] cobram-1 14 years ago

You're right about us remarking on it! But, I'll be damned if we aren't the only 2 in the entire world doing so!

Happiness is a belt-fed weapon.

[–] hobnob53 14 years ago

Just goes to show...six billion people can be wrong!

[–] sitedecinema 11 years ago

I hate to break the news to you, Hobnob, but thinking that someone in the Pampas (I happen to live in the very south of Brazil where they are located) cannot look german (sarcasm notwithstanding) only shows you have ditched your geography classes lately and has learned of Brazilian´s ethnicity from Ira Levin´s BOYS FROM BRAZIl (your stab at the lady coming over with a Nazi doctor)...at least 25% of the people in the south are of german, Italian (blondes from the Northern part of the Leonés land, mostly, unlike the majority of dark southerners that arrived in the US), polish and tons of jews from all over. If you doubt me, google pics of Xuxa, Gisele Bündchen, Ana Hickman, Shirley Mallman, Bruna Lombardi, Vera Fischer, Bia Seidl, etc and etc.

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Well, I hate to break the news to you, sitedecinema, but I did not say that someone from the Pampas "cannot look German".

What I said was that the actress Ursula Theiss "can't disguise her German accent" and therefore didn't sound Brazilian. I didn't say anything about her looks, ethnicity or anything remotely related to those aspects.

It seems you probably haven't seen this film, otherwise you'd know that Theiss plays a Brazilian woman -- not a German living in Brazil. Her character's ethnic background isn't disclosed, so we don't know whether she's supposed to be of German, Portugese or some other descent, though her last name is Portugese.

Throughout the film she speaks English -- with an obviously German, not Portugese/Brazilian, accent. That's what I was criticizing -- not her actual ethnic background. But in any country a person of German or any other descent (not an immigrant, but someone born and raised in the country) would speak the local language perfectly and not with a foreign accent.

I may not know as much about the ethnic make-up of southern Brazil as you do, though I do know something of it (probably more than you know about the US, from the sound of your post), but that's mostly irrelevant because your comments have nothing whatever to do with anything I actually wrote. Next time, try reading a post before making irrelevant and erroneous remarks about it.

Incidentally, I don't know or care about your racial background or beliefs, but some of your comments -- "the majority of dark southerners that arrived in the US", "tons of Jews" and the rest -- sound pretty racist. The fact that your post has nothing to do with anything I wrote makes me wonder why you're so obsessed with racial and ethnic groups.

[–] cobram-1 11 years ago

This film was supposed to be about Mato Grosso, I know the area very well, and the German/Polish/Slavic immigration was NOT prevalent in this area, neither before or during the time period this film was set in. You were 10X more likely to come across someone of Japanese decent in Mato Grosso or even Mato Grosso do Sul than someone of direct European (non Portugues) descent. The other workers/settlers/ranchers etc. settling and ranching this area were from North East regions, but for the most part descendants of the original Portugues settlers.

It's like the guy who "responded" had a chip on his shoulder for some reason, and spouted irrelevant info not germane or connected to your post or this thread at all.

Happiness is a belt-fed weapon.

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Hey cobram -- I'm glad someone with first-hand knowledge like you has responded, because you can bring an authority to the discussion I don't possess. I have no idea what this guy was talking about, or his reasons for posting, or whether he's ever seen the movie or knows anything about it. Apart from which, his comments sound a little too racially obsessed for comfort. A chip on his shoulder indeed. Maybe he was frustrated after being fired by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

[–] allsmiles3 14 years ago

Considering the budget went belly up in the process of filming this movie, and much of the filming was stalled because of that reason, I would say you are not the only one who feels that way.

[–] cobram-1 13 years ago

Make that 3 of us remarking on this, no longer just 2! ;-)

Happiness is a belt-fed weapon.

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Hi cobram!

Just a quick note to relate the joyous news that The Americano will be released on DVD ($24.95 retail) and Blu-ray ($29.95) on September 24, 2013, courtesy of Olive Films.

And they said it couldn't happen!

Hope everything is well with you, or was until you saw this news. Think I'll make a separate post for all and sundry who visit this site...a census, as you pointed out 22 months ago (above), totaling approximately three, at last count.