“100 Rifles” (1969) Starring Jim Brown, Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds / Z-View

100 Rifles (1969)

Director: Tom Gries

Screenplay by: Clair Huffaker, Tom Gries based on The Californio by Robert MacLeod

Starring: Jim Brown, Raquel Welch, Burt Reynolds, Fernando Lamas, Dan O’Herlihy andHans Gudegast (aka Eric Braeden)

Tagline:  None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Joe (Reynolds), robbed a US bank and used the money to purchase 100 rifles which will be used by Yaquis to fight the Mexican army led by General Verdugo (Lamas).  Sheriff Lyedecker (Brown) tracks Joe to Mexico and finally catches up to him in a small Mexican town.  General Verdugo learns of the rifles and thinks Joe and Lyedecker are partners, so he sentences them to death by firing squad!  They escape and join Sarita (Welch) and other Mexican revolutionaries.  But the Mexican army is close behind…

Any movie with Jim Brown, Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds should rate at least three stars.  100 Rifles is the exception to the rule.  The movie lacks real tension.  We see a bit of Reynolds’ loveable rogue film persona, but since he’s the third billed actor there’s not enough to save the film.  Brown and Welch are the stars, but together they lack chemistry.  Their love scenes don’t feel sexy which is surprising since they were two of the hottest sex symbols of that time.  Tom Gries is a competent director who did most of his work in television and quite often 100 Rifles feels like a movie made for tv.

100 Rifles earns 2 of 5 stars.