Review of 100 Rifles

Some filmgoers may be surprised to know that there was a time when Brown could command top-billing over Welch and Reynolds. Here he plays a deputy sheriff, traveling across the Mexican border to retrieve Reynolds, who has robbed an American bank of $6,000. Just as Brown is about to nab Reynolds, all hell breaks loose due to Mexican general Lamas persecution of freedom-fighting peasants, led by curvaceous Welch. With commitment, purpose and loyalty questioned occasionally, Brown, Reynolds and Welch all wind up working together against Lamas, who is allied with O'Herlihy, a railroad representative, and Braeden, a German officer on hand to advise Lamas. The title weapons become a bargaining chip as both sides work hard to defeat the other. Before it's all over, a lot of bullets have been fired, a lot of things have been burned or blown up and plenty of blood has been spilled. Brown, who possessed a laid-back, almost gentle screen presence, is not as comfortable before the camera as he would later become, though his amiability and chemistry with Reynolds helps. Welch is, of course, quite stunning physically, but her acting (which includes a theek Mehican accent!) isn't exactly stellar. Also, not only did she not get along with Reynolds at all, but she also reneged on a nude scene she was supposed to film (it was done with a wet shirt instead.) She also, according to Brown, refused to do their love scene unless she had fabric in between their chests. Their highly publicized love scene is tame now, though it was surely arresting at the time. Stella Stevens would go further when she and Brown made "Slaughter" a few years later. Reynolds conveniently plays a half-Yaqui Indian and half Alabaman. His innate charisma allows him to walk away with most of his scenes while his sense of amused abandon foreshadows his later career. Lamas has a good time as the relentless villain of the film while O'Herlihy is appropriately shifty in his part. The towering Forest (best known for playing Apollo on an episode of "Star Trek") plays Welch's silent helpmate. Miranda has a spicy bit role as one of Reynolds' bedmates. The score for the film, by Jerry Goldsmith, is excellent, containing some unusual sounds/"instruments" no doubt left over from "The Planet of the Apes." There's a lot of action, perhaps even too much since the personal story gets a bit eclipsed along the way and characters long to be fleshed out a little bit more. Still, it's an attractive, interesting cast going through the motions of a sometimes-rousing film. There are a few images of drunken Indians that seem blatantly stereotypical and derogatory these days. At least there is a certain degree of scope in the number of extras used and the spectacle of the train careening into town in the finale. It's a moderately effective time filler.