SnoopyStyle Pancho Villa (Antonio Banderas) offers access to film the Mexican revolution for much needed gold to finance his war and counter Hearst's propaganda. Hollywood empresario D.W. Griffith (Colm Feore) is immediately interested. Studio boss Harry Aitken (Jim Broadbent) sends his inexperienced nephew Frank Thayer (Eion Bailey) and a film crew. Sam Drebben (Alan Arkin) is Villa's liaison. After rejecting the initial footage, a new film crew is sent to restage the battles with a younger actor as Villa. The film "The Life of General Villa" would become the first feature film over an hour.Banderas is solid as Villa. He overshadows Eion Bailey. This needs to be more of a movie about Frank Thayer and his relationship with Villa. This is a fascinating slice of history. It is big enough for a theatrical production despite being a HBO TV movie. Director Bruce Beresford brings his cinematic skills but I would love to have more tension. Thayer has a romance that adds very little to the movie. It should have stayed focus on the Villa Thayer relationship.

runamokprods From a funny, complex, dark and political script by Larry Gelbart, with a smashing lead performance by Antonio Banderas, and lovely support by a number of actors (first and foremost Alan Arkin cast way against type as a mercenary machine gunner, who makes the part completely his own) – this is a terrific retelling of a hard to believe but true story of the revolutionary Pancho Villa getting Hollywood to film his real life war as a way of netting good publicity and public support. I love the way the film effectively mixes the tragedy of war with comedy, an epic feel (amazing considering it was made for HBO) with intimate character moments. Not everything works. There's a love story that feels a little shoe-horned in, and some ideas get repeated a few too many times, but this is a terrific satirical look at Hollywood, war, politics and how they all dance together. And it's not afraid of making Pancho Villa a hero with a dark side, a man of good intent but huge, unchecked ego as well.

BigLaxFan94 I liked this film because it I think it was an accurate portrayal of how Pancho led his folks against the evils of the American government. I believe that Pancho was a hero because he fought for the rights and freedoms of the Mexican people. You can say that he was like a first class freedom fighter. That's just putting it lightly but the point is that he stood up and fought the United States tooth and nail because he hated what was happening to the Mexicans! I believe that Uncle Sam was trying to turn Mexico into another state but Pancho would have NO PART OF THAT! As far as I know, he simply wanted Mexico to be remain free, on its own and as far away from American influence as possible. Of course, that was a daunting task, even for Pancho. Others who've seen this film may beg to differ. They may look at Pancho as a villain who betrayed the Mexican people. But since I can only speak for myself, I think he fought FOR the people and NOT against them. If he fought against them, then trust me, the Americans wouldn't have gone after him to kill him. Furthermore he wouldn't have made so many enemies like the way he did throughout his tenure.But..... however........ this is why I gave this one a 7 out of 10.

rlsharp_1999 This film tracks very closely the content of the 1913 nitrate film of Dr. Charles A. Pryor "Associated Press Reporter and President, El Paso Feature Film Co." held by the Library of Congress as the AFI/Seffens Collection.The Banderas film credits Mary Pickford's long-time cameraman George Rosher as the cinematographer covering Villa's battles, although it appears there were a large number of foreign cameramen filming both Villa's rebel army and the Federal defenders, including Charles Pryor, with Rosher one of those confirming Pryor's cinematic efforts in the form of a notarization dated "Presidio, Texas, Jan 12, 1914."Pryor's effort "The Great Mexican War," was shown in theaters in San Francisco and Sacramento in April 1914 and later in Europe. I have jpgs of the original lobby posters if anyone is interested.