Customer Reviews

100 Rifles [VHS]

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This is a somewhat underrated action film set during the Mexican Revolution with James Brown as a deputy who crosses the border to bring back Burt Reynolds for the stolen 100 rifles. Eventually Brown and Reynolds get involved in the Revolution through Raquel Welch . Brown and Reynolds play well off each other as they go up against Fernando Lamas and his Federal army. Director Tom Gries put together some great action sequences. That combined with Jerry Goldsmith's score makes for a film that really delivers. Hans Gudegast (Eric Braeden) brilliantly underplays his part as a German military advisor to Lamas. This film helped launch Burt Reynolds into stardom.

100 Rifles is the kind of Western you'd have expected someone to make in the late 1960's. One with a black US lawman, and two revolutionary Mexican Indians fighting for justice in their oppressed homeland. It would be easy to dismiss this as a politically correct western, even though it was made before the term was invented. But the cast and the production of 100 Rifles pulls it off, making a rare late 60's Western treat.

Jim Brown, recently retired football superstar, plays the US marshal with the virility and muscle that befits his status as one of the greatest, and definitely the most punishing running back in the history of the NFL. Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch plays the two revolutionaries. Brown's character comes to Mexico chasing bank robbing Reynolds, ends up falling for Welch, and eventually helps both Reynolds and Welch with their revolutionary activities. Reynolds displays all of the vigor and charm that helped become the most popular box office star in the late seventies/early eighties, and Welch is, well Welch, oozing sex appeal and sensuality.

100 Rifles is definitely a product of the era in which it was made, but since there very few great Westerns made in the late 60's except movies like Hombre and The Wild Bunch, this is film to appreciate and treasure.

When is this movie going to DVD? This one is the best of all the Racquel Welch Westerns--It has plenty of action and great storyline--The best part with Racquel is when she is taking a shower from a railroad water tank to confuse the Mexican soldiers that are on a passing train--who cannot help but look? She is dressed but the clothes are tight!!! What a scene!!! Plenty of action in this movie-especially the love scene with Jim Brown--this along with Bandeloro are the best--get them both---DVD PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The movie takes place during a bloody time period of Mexico history... At that time, anyone coming to Mexico ought to be speaking Spanish... But Lyedecker (Jim Brown) didn't speak the language... He was a black policeman looking for a valuable man, a bank robber named Joe Herrera (Burt Reynolds), who looks Mexican but doesn't talk Mexican... Herrera is a half-breed, whose mother was a Yaqui Indian and his father was from Alabama...

General Verdugo (Fernando Lamas) is sure that the money was not spent on women or on Whisky... For him, Joe stole the $6,000 from the Citizen's Bank in Phoenix, Arizona to buy 100 rifles for his people, the Yaqui Indians...

Verdugo--a murderer and an assassin who runs the State of Sonora--have orders to get rid of the Yaquis any way he could, and he took the easy way by killing everybody... He even kidnapped Yaqui children to regain the rifles... And now he wants Lyedecker's head on a stick in the middle of the plaza for everyone to see...

Lyedecker doesn't care about nothing and nobody... He took a job that nobody else wanted... His intentions are to take Joe back for the $200 reward and a permanent job... The policeman rejected any deal in spite of all the atrocities he witnessed like executing Indians or hanging them up like a side of beef...

Steven Grimes (Dan O'Herlihy)--who runs the railroad-- doesn't want his train to be a small sacrifice to the mean general... The German military adviser Lt. Von Klemme (Eric Braeden) thinks that the Indians must be finished off as quickly as possible before more guns come through... Raquel Welch's most audacious moment comes out when the Indians attack a well-guarded train carrying troops and supplies, and she was openly showering in the flat part, under a water tower...

With a very nice score by Jerry Goldsmith, "100 Rifles" is a slam-bang action epic, with loads of explosions and gory fighting, making little sense but a lot of amusing noise...

I remember watching 100 Rifles when I was younger and even then it was an old movie, a late show standby. I bought it recently, recalling its great action and, of course, one of its three main stars, Raquel Welch.

100 Rifles, directed by the much-underrated Tom Gries, was released in 1969, starring a young Jim Brown, a young (but balding) Burt Reynolds and the young but lovely Raquel Welch, as respectively, a determined lawman, a mixed blood and genial mercenary and a Mexican revolutionary, set imprecisely during the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s (with southern Spain serving as Mexico). The three principals, sometimes antagonistic to each other, sometimes not, oppose a corrupt and cruel Mexican General (Fernando Lamas) as he tries to subdue a Yaqui Indian rebellion, Reynolds, Welch, and, eventually, Brown, work together to bring the titular 100 rifles and revolution to the Yaquis. Dan O'Herlihy co-stars as an oily American railroad manager upset with Reynolds' and Welch Yaqui Indian rebel allies, who tear up his railroad, while Hans Gudegast, AKA Eric Braeden, appears as an advisor from the Imperial German Army.

Sadly, this film has not aged well. From what I can tell, this copy was heavily edited before release - veteran actor Akim Tamiroff is billed as a 'General Romero' but except for several characters mentioning his off-screen death, there is no sign of him. Of the three principals, Jim Brown was neither a gifted nor a trained actor and the best that can be said for his performance is that he brings a plausible physicality to the role of the determined lawman who, among things, pursues bank robber Reynolds and beds Raquel Welch, the latter something pretty shocking for 1969. Burt Reynolds had greater acting chops but there is little of the chemistry and his would-be antagonist, Brown, that audiences can see between Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the contemporaneous Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Perceived at the time as little more than a blond bombshell, Raquel Welch (who is actually hispanic and speaks Spanish fluently), while not above being exploited for her looks, nonetheless delivers the best performance of the three stars, one that is surprisingly convincing and has some depth. Pride of place must go to Lamas, though, as he chews up every scene he is in, making his character the most fun. Gudegast looks great and sounds great (he speaks the best English in the entire cast) but does not do much except amble about looking smug. Director Gries excelled on recreating an authentic-looking Old West (or Old Mexico) and also in great action sequences and this 100 Rifles has in spades. Middling acting and so-so story aside, Jerry Goldsmith composed a rousing and memorable musical score to accompany the great on-screen action. All in all, 100 Rifles is a guilty pleasure, and one I would not pay too much money for, but not without its joys.

Overall, the movie is an OK western. Very watchable, but not great by any definition of the word. But it has some memorable scenes, like the Raquel Welch scene at the water tower.

I admit - Raquel Welch, what a woman! I liked the acters in this flick. It wasn't bad. Burt Reynolds played a good wastrel. Fernando Lamas was the best though as the evil Mexican Commandant with his Colonel Klink sidekick/advisor (Victor Newman from the 'Young & the Restless'). Actually, Victor Newman, is an excellent cool actor. He should have been in more leading roles. I like his cool Prussian demeanor and would make a great stock bad guy. I was surprised that Jim Brown was able to pull it off not too bad.

One of those good 70s westerns, I recommend it.

From the vintage mid '60s-early '70s era of offbeat 'n' out-of-control Euro-inspired Mexico-set westerns; shot spaghetti-style on location in Almeria, Spain with a script co-written by Clair Huffaker. Perhaps Jim Brown's best film performance (now where are DVDs of 1969's "Riot", 1970's "...tick...tick...tick..." & "El Condor", and 1974's "Three the Hard Way"?) ....... with Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, Fernando Lamas, plus a bit part appearance by Soledad Miranda.

anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer but not a special edition DVD - no original trailer, just some photos, stills & posters.

100 Rifles will never be considered a great western, but it is a fun watch with plenty of action and a good leading cast. A Phoenix sheriff, Lyedecker, is pursuing a bank robber, Yaqui Joe a half-breed bandit, and ends up finding him in Mexico amidst an uprising. Before Lyedecker can bring him in, he is captured alongside Joe who is wanted for giving rifles to the Yaqui Indians by the Mexican Army. After a narrow escape, Lyedecker forms an uneasy, very uneasy, alliance with Joe to help the Yaquis fight back against the Mexican Army. 100 Rifles is one of many westerns that was released in the late 1960s trying to take advantage of the success of the Italian spaghetti westerns. It has the feel of spaghettis and was filmed in Almeria, but was American financed. All that aside, its a very enjoyable western with plenty of action. Add a great score from Jerry Goldsmith and a great looking print on this new DVD, and you can't miss.

Jim Brown stars as Lyedecker, the Phoenix sheriff trying to bring in Yaqui Joe for robbing a bank of $6,000. Brown isn't considered a great actor, but he's very good here. The man simply has a great presence on screen. Burt Reynolds plays Yaqui Joe, a half-breed bandit trying to give rifles to the Yaqui Indians. His part gives him some very funny lines, and together with Brown, they make a great duo. Raquel Welch plays Sarita, the love interest who fights alongside the men. She has a love scene with Brown, that at the time seemed shocking, but its pretty tame. As expected, Ms. Welch looks amazing, and director Tom Gries gives the viewer plenty of chances to oggle her. Fernando Lamas plays the evil Verdugo, the Mexican officer charged with wiping out the Yaquis while Eric Braeden offers advice as Von Klemme, a German advisor. This long-overdue DVD offers a great looking widescreen presentation considering the movie is almost 40 years old, three picture galleries with about 60-70 photos, a 100 Rifles trailer, and trailers for three other 20th Century Fox westerns. So if you're a fan of westerns, check out Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, and Raquel Welch in the action-packed 100 Rifles!

This spaghetti-flavored oater is one of the last of the Hollywood westerns, when the genre about faded from public consciousness. The film has an off-beat cast of players who are good, especially Burt Reynolds, who easily steals the film with a great performance. Jim Brown, an Arizona lawman, and Raquel Welch, a revolutionary spitfire, team up with Reynolds and Yaqui Indians who revolt against a tyrannical military leader. Fernando Lamas is the heavy here and Hans Gudegast is his German military adviser who advises Lamas in his war of extermination against the Indians. Jerry Goldsmith's excellent music score is in keeping with the music flavor south of the border and is one of his best scores in an impressive resume. A very good, if bloody film, that never received its proper due.