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¡Viva Zapata! (1952)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 9/14

9/14: Anthony Quinn won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in ¡Viva Zapata!?

Um...okay. He barely did anything. I think it was to make up for the fact that Anthony Quinn, an actual Mexican, got turned down for the leading role which went to Marlon Brando who's merely above average. However, I can't excuse his brownface which looks ridiculous. He's a lot more Chinese than Mexican. Similarly, many of the others are brownfaced, heightening the unbelievability of it all.

What helps the disjointed film the most is Joe MacDonald's cinematography. It's uniformly outstanding throughout. But is ¡Viva Zapata! a good movie? That, I will have to say no. Sometimes, the story is confusing and doesn't make sense. I fail to see how the revolution went from A to B to C and so on. That being said, Elia Kazan is clearly out of his league, and John Steinbeck should've stuck to books, not screenplays.

All in all, what a bad turkey ¡Viva Zapata! is.

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