Review of Viva Zapata! (1952) by Art S — 02 Nov 2014

Brando as Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata? OK, he brings his typical Method-style to the role, underplaying enough to make Jean Peters (his love interest) seem phony (along with all the rest of the white guys playing Hispanic).

The screenplay by John Steinbeck wanders a bit -- Zapata's revolution is on-again, off-again as power corrupts one leader after another (including potentially Zapata himself who quits upon realizing this).

But, of course, this is not Mexico but some fantasy land that Elia Kazan has dreamed up. Still, his heart was in the right place and Anthony Quinn's character (Zapata's brother) suggests a further awareness that even within the revolutionary movement there can be fissures and human failings.

But, in contrast to a film like Salt of the Earth (1954) by members of the Hollywood Ten, Kazan's film isn't gutsy enough -- much like Kazan himself in the fight against Joseph McCarthy -- although admittedly both were facing machinery that would prove very difficult to stop (Hollywood and HUAC).

The film's major crime in the end is that it is just a bit too boring.