CANCELLED: Movies at the Library: Brando as a Mexican revolutionary
Marlon Brando as Emiliano Zapata.
Movies at the Library will continue on Tuesday, February 24 at 7 p.m. with a stunning, little-known bio-pic, “Viva Zapata.” It is the story of Mexican firebrand Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against his country’s oppressive dictator, President Porfirio Diaz, in the early days of the 20th century.
Zapata is brilliantly brought to life by Marlon Brando, his second major film after “A Streetcar Named Desire,” both directed by Elia Kazan. Kazan had already established himself as a superb film director with “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” in 1945 and “Gentleman’s Agreement” in 1947. “Streetcar” came out in 1950, “Zapata” in 1951.
Brando, on the other hand, was so unknown that the New York Times film critic of the day, Bosley Crowther, called him “this dynamic young performer.” Overall, the film received mixed reviews but Crowther also wrote that although the film might not be totally accurate, “the portrait throbs with a rare vitality and is a masterful picture of a native in revolutionary fervor.”
There have been a number of novelists who also wrote screenplays with more or less success but the great John Steinbeck was the author of five, two of which have stood the test of time. Those are “Lifeboat” and “The Red Pony.”
“Zapata” never achieved their fame, perhaps because it was not so well known. Steinbeck based his script on the book “Zapata, the Unconquerable” by Edgcomb Pinchon. The film was, nonetheless, noticed at awards time.
It was showered with nominations, and Anthony Quinn won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Brando was nominated but won at the Cannes Film Festival and the BAFTA (British Academy) Best Actor Awards. Mildred Dunnock was nominated for a Golden Globe Supporting Actress award and the Oscar nominations went to Kazan and Steinbeck.
Kazan and producer Daryl F. Zanuck painstakingly researched the “look” of the film and were inspired by a collection of photographs of the period of Agustin Casasola and other photos of the Mexican Revolution.
They shot all the outdoor sequences in Mexico.
In addition to Brando, Quinn and Dunnock, the film stars other equally talented actors including Jean Peters as Zapata’s wife Josefa, in one of her last film roles before “retiring” with husband, Howard Hughes. Joseph Wiseman is especially fine, as is Alan Reed as Pancho Villa.
Join Shelter Island movie lovers for this wonderful movie, which will be shown in the library’s lower level Community Room. As always, “treats” and water will be served.
