Someone mentioned this flick the other day and boy, did it bring back memories! "Che!" clearly deserves a place all its own in any discussion of entertainingly bad movies. It's totally unconscious though, because this is a genuine and heartfelt liberal tribute to good old Ernesto, with lots of Hollywood contrivance mixed in. I'm biased because I never bought a Che T-shirt or admired Fidel Castro. I'm pretty sure that without the USSR's timely checkmating of the USA, these two clowns would've been consigned to history's garbage heap in a couple years at the most. Years ago, I read an excellent book about the guy (Max Gomez) who tracked Che down so that the Bolivian Army could shoot him. He was a Cuban expatriate who ended up in the US Army and the CIA. He had quite a different take on Che and Fidel than all those drug-addled American/European teens and intellectuals did. Apparently, Communist revolutionaries have an extremely ruthless viewpoint and a very unsentimental way of doing business. Che looked great on a poster, but his spoiled admirers would not have enjoyed him in person. Or he them. When production of "Che!" was announced, right-wingers and Che-worshipers were both infuriated, albeit for opposite reasons. The hard right was upset that Communists would be glamorized, and Che fans were positively livid that the legend of their sainted icon would be desecrated. But the story goes that when the flick came out, it was so bad and so boring that both sides immediately lost interest in their indignation.Anyway, back to the movie. Jack Palance is the greatest, but his portrayal of Fidel must be seen to be believed. Mr. Palance never had a reputation for being fun-loving, but I swear he's always on the verge of cracking up and is struggling to keep it together the entire time. He probably didn't have a choice, because the script is so absurd that it was impossible to take seriously. Omar Sharif just wheezes and gasps during all his screen time, in order to emphasize Che's real-life asthma. Seriously, that's it. He just pants like an obscene phone caller the whole movie and displays zero charisma, which I assume the real Che must've had at least some of. I guess the filmmakers thought that scenes of Che struggling to overcome his asthma and still being so dynamic added tremendous drama to Omar's role. "Che!" also features the inimitable Woody Strode and the immortal Sid Haig as henchmen, and they both do their usual fine work. The funny thing is, nobody even attempts a Hispanic accent, or else they give it a half-a***d try and waver back and forth. There are some odd "interviews" interspersed throughout, which are meant to imply a documentary feel, but they're as disconcertingly comical as the rest of the flick. One character gives a long speech and then actually looks directly into the lens and implores: "Please don't tell anyone I said any of this!" Good stuff.It's available on Amazon instant video, but DVD's are almost certainly non-existent. It's still pretty hilarious, same as I remembered. But I bet it's even better in a group setting, with inebriated viewers. I gave it 1 star, purely on face value, but as unintentional comedy it deserves 10 stars.

Reason why this movie doesn't ever work out as a good one is because it really has no story to tell, or it at least seems that way, due to the entire way this movie got done and told.Just don't watch this movie expect to learn anything. While watching this movie you'll have no idea what Che and his buddies are all fighting for and what they want to achieve, if you know nothing to little about Che Guevara and the Cuban revolution. Perhaps this can be blamed on the fact that this is an 1969 movie. Only 2 years after Che's death, so his story was still fresh back in the minds of the audiences at time. Therefore the movie perhaps felt no need to ever explain anything or to go into detail. But this movie was already much hated back in its day, so of course there is plenty more wrong with this movie.Not only the story won't learn you anything but you also won't learn a thing about the person Che. Nothing in this movie justifies why he is globally regarded still such an icon, since the movie doesn't show anything great or heroic that he ever achieved and his personality in his movie is just very bland as well.I can't really blame Omar Sharif for it though, while many other still seem to do so. In my opinion the blame should be put with its writing and directing. The story is already bad to begin with by the entire way it gets told makes it all the more worse.What I also really didn't like about the storytelling was the random insertion of random people narration the events straight into the cam, as if this was a documentary. It comes across as incredibly cheap and lame, also since often the actors just aren't the greatest ones.Even Jack Palance is real bad in his role. He is supposed to play Fidel Castro but instead he seems more like a caricature of him. And to be frank, he made Castro come across like an idiot. Perhaps this all was intentional though, for propaganda reasons.The way this movie got shot and all of its action really reminded me of a "The A-Team" episode. I of course love "The A-Team" but this doesn't really seem like a compliment for a movie that tries to tell a serious, historically relevant story.Perhaps the movie is not as bad to watch as its reputation might suggest but still it's truly really far from a good movie.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

CHE! is a bad movie and deserves it reputation as an unintentionally funny film. It takes a serious subject and presents it like the Cliff Notes version or Classic Comics because there isn't much emotion or a proper narrative--just episodic segments stitched together with mostly stupid "true stories" relayed by a variety of yutzes.This is a deservedly derided film, as it is poorly written and acted. However, what I have found most interesting about the film is its apparent gay subtext. Instead of Che Guevarra and Fidel Castro working towards a Communist Cuba, they seem to be more of a gay couple--with Che behaving coy and aloof and Fidel as the ardent suitor! Again and again, the film abounds with great lines such as when Fidel implores Che "Cuba needs you....I NEED YOU!!". I am not sure if the studio intended this homosexual undercurrent, but it doesn't take a brain surgeon to recognize it! I am very surprised that the other reviewers didn't point this out. However, if you remember this when you watch the film, it makes viewing much more exciting and even funnier.A final note. In recent years, Che has been very chic--even a fashion statement with hoards of brain-dead teens, who have no idea who he was, wearing shirts emblazoned with his face. Considering he was a cold-blooded killer and nihilist (an odd combination for a doctor), this new reverence for the man is gross. What will they do next, put Hitler or Dr. Mengele on T-shirts and posters?!!? Even Communists with consciences should be appalled by the bloodshed Guevara was responsible for and I find it ironic that people with computers are championing a man who might likely have killed them given half a chance! Considering how stupid and unintentionally funny this movie was, it does nothing to further the message that Guevara was no hero. I would love to see a realistic film done of his life--with the good and the bad but also with dialog and a plot that weren't apparently created by chimps!

It was brave of the makers of this film to release it in 1969 when the U.S. war against Communist North Vietnam still raged. It does depict a **failed** attempt to foment revolution in the Third World and on balance it is a negative portrayal of a professional revolutionary. Given the times, any depiction of Guevara and Fidel Castro showing them as human was a bold move. In the U.S. most publicity has been garnered by Castro's bitterest enemies (those wonderful folks who brought you the **Elian** affair). Fidel has his supporters here, and around the world, also. Many of them seem to have posted comments at this site. The title of this movie is "Che!", not "Fidel!". Naturally, Castro's role will be a secondary one, a decision Castro's supporters seem unable to forgive.Everyone knows how the story ends, and that is where the movie starts, with Che Guevara's body being transported by helicopter down from the one-room schoolhouse where he was apparently executed after being wounded and captured by an elite unit of the Bolivian Army. It's a strikingly beautiful, almost elegiac shot with the slopes of the Andes stretching to the horizon in the background. The movie proceeds in a semi-documentary style, the story told in flashbacks by Guevara's old Comrades (and some old enemies). Some of the Comrades, visibly aged, give their interviews from prison cells.While Guevara's early life in Argentina isn't depicted, there is a soundless, striking scene early in the film of Cuban women protesting the dictatorial Battista regime, only to be massacred by Cuban soldiers ("We heard you calling, Cuba and we came...") that well explains what motivated young Ernesto and other youths from Latin America's upper classes to join the Cuban revolutionaries. From there we trace Che's transformation from idealistic medical graduate to hardened guerrilla fighter--summed up in a moment when in the heat of battle he picks up a rifle and leaves his doctor's kit on the ground.I also disagree with the many criticisms of the portrayal of Fidel Castro by Jack Palance. Palance's movie career was distinctly on the down slope when he accepted the part, but he always had **macho**. Here he captured the 6'4" Castro's dominating physical presence in a land of mostly short statured people. It is a real pity that this motion picture has completely disappeared. There is not a commercial version of it available anywhere. In the future, perhaps after Omar Sharif has died, this portrait of one of the twentieth century's most charismatic figures will be recognized as the rare achievement it is.