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And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (TV)

5.4

461

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Original title

And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself

Year

2003

Running time

107 min.

Country

United States

Director

Bruce Beresford

Screenwriter

Larry Gelbart

Cast

Music

Stephen Endelman, Joseph Vitarelli

Cinematography

Peter James

Producer

HBO

Genre

Drama | Mexican Revolution. Biography. TV Movie

Synopsis

Banderas delivers a powerful, larger-than-life performance as the title character of this extraordinary story from HBO Films, which reveals how Mexican Revolutionary Villa allowed a Hollywood crew to film him and his army as they fought the nationalist Huerta forces, altering the course of film and military history in the process.

The adventure gets its start when early movie giants D.W. Griffith (Colm Feore) and Harry Aiken (Jim Broadbent), send a junior executive, Frank Thayer (Eion Bailey) to Mexico to persuade the cash-strapped, publicity-hungry Villa (Banderas) to let them film his revolution. Stepping into the literal crossfire, Thayer's crew risk their lives in the mingling of fiction and reality-and prove, ultimately, that "the lens is mightier than the sword."

After a string of dangerous exploits, escapes and double-crosses worthy of a silent action short, Thayer and Villa make their movie, and "The Life of General Villa" is released in the U.S. to popular acclaim. The film turns public opinion in Villa's favor-- but the charismatic revolutionary never gets to see his star turn on the silver screen.

"When you tell people about this story--that there was an American crew filming Pancho Villa in battle, in 1914 in Mexico--they say that's not true, that it is a fantasy, a legend," says Antonio Banderas. "But it is true. It happened."

Awards: 2004: Emmy: Best Sound Editing. 9 Nominations, Including Best TV Movie

2003: Critics' Choice Awards: Nominated for Best Picture Made for Television

2003: Producers Guild Awards (PGA): Nominated for Best TV Movie

2003: Writers Guild of America (WGA): Best Original Screenplay (Long Form)

2003: Golden Globes Awards: nominated to Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for TV.

2003: Satellite Awards: 2 nominations

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User history

And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (TV)

2003

Bruce Beresford

5.4

(461)