Customer Reviews

Behold a Pale Horse [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A classic action film with a brilliant cast! Features Gregory Peck as "Manuel Artiguez" an aging spanish revolutionary exile living in the french town of "Po" near the spanish border and the Pirennes Mts. Artiguez is dreaded by the spanish authorities and specially by ruthless and somewhat corrupt commander of Franco's Guardia Civil, Captain Vin~olas, brilliantly portrayed by Anthony Quinn,due to Artiguez ability to cross the border, raise havoc in spanish territory and escape, unharmed back to his safe haven in France, in spite of Vin~olas best efforts to capture him. Equally brilliant supporting cast by Omar Sharif, Mildred Dunnock, Paolo Stoppa and Mario Angeletti. Probably based on a true story,which takes place around 1959 or 20 years after the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) this is an unforgettable action film, a must buy!

I thought in memory of Anthony Quinn's passing, I'd view one of his lesser known performances, and do a review on it. One of my favorite actors, he was always fascinating and versatile, with a great screen presence. His filmography is remarkable, and spans 6 decades. I love "La Strada" ('54), "Lawrence of Arabia" ('62), and one of his last, the sweet and sentimental "A Walk in the Clouds" ('95).

This film starts with actual 1936-39 newsreel footage, and proceeds to tell the story of Manuel, a warrior-soul who won't give up, and the anguish and trials he goes through. The intrigue that surrounds him, in trying to capture him, makes for a subdued but suspenseful drama.

Gregory Peck is Manuel, and though not 100% convincing as a Spaniard, is nevertheless excellent. Quinn is fabulous as the police captain, rougueish and full of vitality, determined to get his man. My favorite character in this film is the priest, with Omar Sharif giving a performance of amazing and unforgettable depth.

Made in 1964, Fred Zinnemann directed this with a lot of sensitivity...it's in black and white, with a lovely score by Maurice Jarre. Though this film never received much critical acclaim, or public recognition, I've seen it several times, and appreciate it more with each viewing.

It is a sign of Gregory Peck's talent as an actor that although used to playing American Heros in films like to Kill a Mockingbird, he is totally convincing as Artiguez, a Spanish Communist living in France during the time of the Franco regime.
Peck's performance is matched by that of Anthony Quinn as Captain Vinolas, the Spanish policeman who sets out to catch him.

Artiguez is a hero to the Spanish exiles in France, having spent the years since the Spanish Civil War crossing into Spain and robbing banks. Dispite this he lives in povety having given all the procedes from his robberies away.

Vinolas is determined to catch Artiquez who has made a fool of him over the years. When Artiquez's mother, who still lives in Spain, falls fataly ill, Vinolas gets the message to Artiguez knowing that he will have to try and see his mother before she dies.

Both Vinolas and Artiquez are shown as real people, Peck plays the Communist bandit as a man tied of the life he has led,
although he is still true to his cause. Vinolas is a corrupt Policeman with a crippled wife and a mistress. However in church he promises God that he will give up his mistress, return a horse which he was given as bribe and take his wife to Lourdes if he catches Artiquez.

Shot in black and white it is clear that neither Vinolas or Artiquez is a hero, neither are either of them a villan.

Omar Sharif, in an early role plays the priest who Artiquez's mother sends to him warning him not to try and see her as Vinolas will be waiting.

An film which should be much better known, not only for it's
unusal story but for the performances of it's leading actors.
Peck being to my mind one the most talented actors ever to grace the screen and anyone who does not love Anthony Quinn must have been born without a soul.

One of the few films to deal with the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, Behold a Pale Horse is a now completely forgotten but once high-profile well-intentioned failure where you can see the good intentions and valid reasoning behind every misstep. It certainly has pedigree to spare: Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn resuming on screen hostilities after their ruckus on Navarone, a supporting cast including Omar Sharif and Christian Marquand, a screenplay based on a novel by Emeric Pressburger (the wonderfully titled Killing a Mouse On Sunday) and direction by Fred Zinnemann. At its core is an effectively simple idea, with Anthony Quinn's failing local police chief trying to tempt Gregory Peck's legendary Republican bandit across the border into Franco's Spain and right into a trap, with the rebel's dying mother as the bait. But the film wants to be more than a thriller or a simple adventure story and in the process ends up considerably less. The biggest problem is a slow opening half, where Peck is kept deliberately at a distance, seen only through the eyes of a child and filtered through the hatred of Quinn as the film tries to build him into a mythic figure so that when we finally do meet the embittered, grumpy and overly cautious man the void between reputation and reality is that much greater. Unfortunately he's kept at far too much of a distance and the film is just far too low-key and drawn out to really draw us in.

Thankfully the second half is considerably more successful as the moral dilemmas multiply and the story enters Graham Greeneland as the tired, violently atheist hero has to face the betrayal of friends and the help of a priest, although it's not without its absurdities (most notably in a scene in Lourdes where they look for, and find with comical ease, one specific group of priests among thousands). This desperately wants to be a great film, but sadly it rarely manages to be a good one, much as you may appreciate the effort. Those with an eye for trivia might want to note early bit parts from Michel Lonsdale at a reporter in the final scene and an uncredited future producer Claude Berri as well as the involvement of actress Nicole Stephane and writer-director Frederic Rossif in putting together the extremely effective opening montage sequence.

The DVD transfer is a little too dark at times, while the only extra is the theatrical trailer.

When I saw the names Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn on the title, I was almost positive this would be a winner, and it is, to a point. The movie has a good plot, good performances, and decent action... So why do I say to a point? This movie would have been better if it had been cut to an hour and a half running length. As it is, it is far too slow. The story could and should have been shortened.
Other than that, I have no problems with this movie. Omar Sharif's character is probably my favorite. He is a highly morale man who trusts God to take care of him. He goes to warn Peck even though he knows that by doing so, he will be arrested. Even more amazing is the fact that he goes to try and save Peck's life even though Peck is an atheist and hates priests.
Peck is slightly unbelievable as a Spaniard, but after a while you get used to it. The scenery in this film is beautiful. The musical score is pretty good. The ending, which was led up to the whole film, was a let-down. It is fairly clean for 1964. There is some language.

Although this is a great classic film, my low rating refers not to the film, but to the "Columbia Tri-Star" DVD re-issue.
First of all this copy is too dark to the point where at the beginning of it you cannot even see the faces and features of the actors. Its like its always night in that version. Very poor quality. Also I think it was totally unnecessary to re-issue it in widescreen only. This is a 1964 black and white film, so it should have been re-issued in its original full screen form or give the buyer an option of widescreen and full screen. But the dark tone is too much and in my opinion ruins the film which was a great film based on a great story about the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and the arch-rivalry between a guerilla fighter and a Captain in Franco's Guardia Civil.

This is a film about two fictitious personages probably based in real persons, the first, Manuel Artiguez, an ex combatant of the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. At the beginning of the movie, there's 20 years after - about 1960- and Artiguez is exiled in the Basque Country of South France. I think Artiguez is a personage based in two real people: one, a militant from ETA, the revolutionary Basque organization, and the other, a real Catalan guerrillero, Francisco Sabater who was killed by Franco's police exactly in 1960 in Catalonia in a fierce open final confrontation. Sabater used to commit robberies in Barcelona and Catalonia including many assaults with firearms and killings. Finally he was machine gunned while jumping from a train, but it was the police which killed him, not Guardia Civil, a corps slightly different.
Viñolas, the personage played by Antony Quinn isn't so real. This Guardia Civil is mostly an unbelievable puppet, plenty of topics about Spain as seen from abroad (the bullfight, etc is pure cliché). Franco's police wasn't folkloric but a very efficient corps partially trained by the nazis.
The plot is Artiguez mother is terminally ill in an hospital in the Spanish side of Basque Country. This fact is used by Viñolas for trapping him, spreading the rumor of the disease of Artiguez mother along the French - Spanish frontier, as in the movie this fight is shown mostly as a personal question pendent between the two men dating from the days of the war, resting the political facets in a secondary level.
Well... the physical aspect of Gregory Peck is very unlikely for a Spaniard grown up in the poverty of the Spain from the first third of XXth century, because Peck I think was a tall man, rare to see in Spain until almost now.
Finally, in Spain, this film could be seen, but it seems to me to remember only in the late days of Franco or soon after his death, I'm not sure now. It's a rare and curious work but not really good cinema because Zinnemann charged too much in the peculiarities of Spanish topics.
And if you want to see a movie much more real about this theme or similar, you can see "Hormigas en la boca" ("Ants in the mouth") a very good Spanish film from 2006, but much more hard.
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This was a great movie as it featered 3 big name stars. Would recommend this to anyone to watch.

A fine film by director Fred Zinnemann with decent acting, writing, and B&W cinematography. I find Maurice Jarre's score rather weak at times. The 1.85:1 picture is excellent and enhanced for widescreen TVs.

Behold a Pale Horse(1964) has the makings of a classic film. A literate screenplay,a solid cast and a good director at the helm. And while the film's plot may be intriguing and the cinematography beautiful, the film is emotionally hollow. This is a shame because the cast is so game especially Gregory Peck who stars as a failed revolutionary of the Spanish Civil War, who returns from exhile in France to Spain to see his ailing mother and possibly assasinate an old enemy, that being Anthony Quinn, who is quite good.

The film has a solid plot but lacks cohesion. The film follows a small child for over half of the running time, only to disregard this character later on. Omar Shariff plays a Priest who delivers the news of a set up to Peck, but ultimately adds nothing but his distingushed presence to the proceedings.

The action takes forever to get going and when it does, it seems rushed and not as interesting as could have been.
Zimmerman does not direct the film with a good pace and often lets the film drag onward never gaining the momentum and punch the story properly needed to become timeless. Despite some truly excellent location shots and great use of Black and White, the film still feels empty.

Not a bad picture by any standards, but far from being the classic it could have been. A curio-piece for fans of the actors and director.

Note: The title refers to a line from Revelations about the introduction of Death riding in with the other horsemen of the apocalypse. Very cool.