Ruth (Shelley Winters) wants to help the freedom fighters in mexico, so she goes to Colonel Castro and offers to help. Bryan (Rory Calhoun) is already on the train they are blowing up, and joins in fighting the federales. and on that very train is the gold that they must bring to Pancho Villa to help him rise up again. and the local natives are helping the federales. Ruth and Bryan seem to be fighting for different reasons-- he's in it for the money, as he tells her very clearly, and we're not sure what why Ruth is involved. her husband was killed in a shoot-out, so she appears to be sympathetic to the rebels. and then one of the freedom fighters turns on his own group. and the water holes are dried up. lots of bumps along the way to get the gold to Pancho. my personal feeling is that Winters was miscast... she seemed out of her element in this role. but i was never a fan of hers anyway. her acting was a bit over the top for me. the film is mostly quite well done. final showdown near the end. would be interesting to know how accurate this is, historically. wikipedia dot com says Villa suffered a couple defeats in 1915 and 1916, and was pretty much out by 1920. Directed by George Sherman. he made a LOT of westerns. this one is okay.
Review of The Treasure of Pancho Villa
