The movie voiceover confidently reveals to us that Cascabel means Rattlesnake in Spanish.
I've never such dribble! Cascabel means Jingle Bells!!! However there is a Rattlesnake that is named 'Viborita de Cascabel'. Viborita or Vibora means Snake, Viper, Adder in Spanish. It is then more properly translated as Jingle Bell Snake. The rattle is the jingle bell.
OK. Enough of that!
Enrique Sanchez
Thanks for the info, it was a lousy movie.
"It's the stuff that dreams are made of."
It depends what country you're from. I've always known rattlesnakes as "culebras cascabel". Cascabel is just a general term for the snakes rather than going into each individual species. Ask any herpetologist and he/she will tell you the term is used as a generalization. I know "Cascabel" is a Christmas song but they probably couldn't find a better name for Jingle Bells since the sound most likely reminded them of a rattlesnake's rattle.
Anyway, I enjoyed the film. Ralph Meeker was a great actor and I'm glad TCM is giving him the much deserved recognition.