My interest in Captain from Castile has a bit of a backstory. In college, I met an administrator named Ray Tuttle, who introduced me to the finer points of soundtracks. I liked film music before that, but didn't really get it. I just knew that Terminator and Conan sounded cool. Among many other terrific scores, Ray introduced me to an Alfred Newman CD produced by Charles Gerhardt. For those who don't know, Newman is one of the most important musical voices in film history. Everyone knows his work, even if they don't realize it - it is Newman's music that accompanies the logo before every 20th Century Fox movie. The Newman CD was pretty good, but there was one track that just captured me - a brilliant march from Captain from Castile. I had never heard of this movie, but my imagination was inflamed. It surely must be one of the great epics of all time. I asked my dad about it and while he quickly tempered my unrealistic expectations, I could still tell he remembered the film fondly...it was based on a popular book that he quite liked, but the book was so long that they were only able to film the first half. For a decade, I kept my eyes peeled for the movie, but no luck...and that music just kept getting stuck in my head...it wouldn't go away! And finally one day Captain from Castile showed up on TCM and I immediately set the DVR.
Captain from Castile tells the story of Pedro de Vargas (Tyrone Power), who after being betrayed and condemned by the Inquisition, escapes Spain to join in Hernan Cortez' conquest of Mexico. Accompanied by his best friend Juan Garcia (Lee J. Cobb) and peasant girl/love interest Catana (Jean Peters), Pedro leaps from adventure to adventure...but to be honest, in only a moderately interesting way. It's not that Captain from Castile is bad. It's certainly pleasant enough to watch, but it never really lifts off as it should. The movie mostly seems to be a series of smaller stories strung together against the backdrop of Cortez's march through Mexico, so it is never able to build tension or momentum or even establish any sort of rhythm. This might be because the best parts of the book are in the second half, which they never got a chance to film. Who knows...
But there really is a lot to like in this film. First off, I found the political stance towards the conquest of Mexico to be really intriguing. The film was made in the 1940s, so there is definitely some racism running across the film, and they certainly do play up the audacious heroism of the Spanish army. But at the same time, the film makes it very clear that the Spaniards are only interested in gold...whether they are heroic or not, they're basically just an army of thieves, and the poor Aztecs just want them to go away. Depending on what history books you read, the real Hernan Cortez was either a heroic conquistador or a monster...and this movie tries to tiptoe the line and show how he could have maybe been both...and I found that to be fascinating.
I also thought that the acting was fairly solid. Cortez is probably the best role Cesar Romero ever had (even though he was certainly entertaining as The Joker in the Batman TV show). He is greedy, generous, ruggedly charming, and unreasonably vicious all in one, and Romero is having a grand time with the role. Lee J. Cobb and Jean Peters are solid as the best friend and love interest, respectively. And Tyrone Power...well, I don't know him very well as an actor. I knew he was enormously popular, and I don't quite understand why. For the most part, he is fine, but he doesn't seem to be anything special...I've heard he could be a superb actor, but maybe he is being held back here by having to play the stereotypical heroic lead. There are moments, though, when I do glimpse something special in his performance. SPOILER HERE: When the Inquisition kills Pedro's sister, and a defenseless Pedro stands before the man responsible, most actors in similar situations - even the good ones - would do one of two things, they would scream and swear vengeance in an epic display of righteous fury (hello, Charlton Heston in Ben Hur!) or they would forcibly hold themselves back, ready for strike if only they could...their jaws clenched, and with eyes narrowed, they quietly swear they will have their revenge (like Russell Crowe in Gladiator). There is nothing wrong with these approaches. When acted well, these moments can be awesome. But Power did something I had never seen before. He just stared. He didn't react. He just coldly stared while our one dimensional villain metaphorically twirled his moustache. As the scene continues, Power never does anything else. He doesn't blink, he doesn't speak, he barely even seems to be breathing. He just...stares. Coldly. Simply. He doesn't need to swear revenge. Because he is so sure he is going to kill this guy, that he doesn't need to. It's just a fact. And it is absolutely chilling. It's a subtle and sublime moment of acting, and nothing else in the movie equals it. Okay, SPOILER OVER.
All in all, Captain from Castile is an entertaining movie. It just sort of ends without an ending, but again that is because they only filmed the first half of the book. So I guess some allowances need to be made. If you like old Hollywood epics or like Mexican history, I would suggest you check it out. Everyone else can probably skip it...
...unless you too have been seduced by Alfred Newman's music...in which case, you will have no choice but to see it because it will gnaw on your brain until you do!!!!
MVP:
Is there any doubt?! For the most part, the music in the film is fine but not special...it's fairly typical 1940s Hollywood fare. Then the love theme makes an appearance, and it is an absolutely stunner. And then the Conquest theme kicks in at the end of the film...and it is just as thrilling and brilliant as when I first heard it on Ray Tuttle's Newman collection. This Conquest theme was so terrific that it is still played today by the University of Southern California's sports teams before games (Newman actually donated the music to the school, which is pretty cool). It's one helluva piece of music...and it is probably going to keep marching away in my head for the rest of my life!
BEST LINE:
Coatl: I think I speak to you now. Maybe I understand better why you come here. This is my country, senior. These are my people, my gods. We not come to tell you to stop loving your gods. We not come to make you slaves. Why you do this?
Pedro: Well, I'm afraid I don't have an answer for that. It isn't right for men to worship idols. There's only one true God.
Coatl: Maybe your God and my God same God. Maybe we just call him by different names.
TRIVIA:
This bit of trivia is awesome. Throughout most of the film, you can see weird, dark billowing clouds in the distance...if you don't know to look, you might miss them, but once you notice, you can't see anything else. What the heck kind of clouds are those? Volcano clouds!!! A volcano was erupting while they were filming the movie, shooting smoke and ashes all over the sky...it seems dangerous to me, but they kept right on filming the movie. In fact, in the last shot, you can see the actual volcano itself in the distance, a column of smoke rising from its peak. Check it out!
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