Viva Villa! (1934)

6.3Passed109 minDirector: Howard Hawks

1934 film by Howard Hawks, Jack Conway, William A. Wellman

Viva Villa! is a 1934 American pre-Code Western film directed by Jack Conway and starring Wallace Beery as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The screenplay was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from the 1933 book Viva Villa! by Edgecumb Pinchon and O. B. Stade. Parts of the film were shot on location in Mexico and produced by David O. Selznick. There was uncredited assistance with the script by Howard Hawks, James Kevin McGuinness, and Howard Emmett Rogers. Hawks and William A. Wellman were also uncredited directors on the film.

The film is a highly fictionalized biography of Pancho Villa starring Beery in the title role and featuring Fay Wray, who had played the leading lady in King Kong the previous year. The supporting cast includes Leo Carrillo, Donald Cook, Stuart Erwin, Henry B. Walthall, Joseph Schildkraut and Katherine DeMille.

Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

FAQ

What is Viva Villa! about?
Viva Villa! (1934) — In this fictionalized biography, young Pancho Villa takes to the hills after killing an overseer in revenge for his father's death. In 1910, he befriends American reporter Johnny Sykes. Then a meeting with visionary Francisco Madero transforms Villa from an avenging bandit to a r
Is Viva Villa! based on a true story?
See the production background and source material details on the official Wikipedia article.
Is Viva Villa! scary?
Content rating: Passed. See the reviews tab for parental guidance and tone notes.