Valdez is Coming is directed by Edward Sherin and adapted for the screen by Roland Kibbee and David Rayfiel from the novel of the same name written by Elmore Leonard. It stars Burt Lancaster, Susan Clark, Jon Cypher and Frank Silvera. Music is by Charles Gross and photography by Gábor Pogány. It's out of United Artists and shot in DeLuxe colour. Plot finds Lancaster as ageing town constable Bob Valdez, who after being forced into killing an innocent man, attempts to get compensation for the dead man's widow out of the townsfolk responsible for the events leading up to the shooting. This is met with a less than favourable response, particularly from crooked rancher Frank Tanner (Cypher), who although he is the most guilty party, takes umbrage to the suggestion and has Bob tied to a wooden cross and hounded out of town. But Bob will be back, he may be old and gentile in nature, but he's an experienced Indian fighter and a crack shot marksman. Watch out, Valdez is Coming.Solid if a little too ponderous at times, Valdez is Coming is sort of like an amalgamation of an American Oater and a Spaghetti Western. Filmed in southern Spain, at locations where master Italian director Sergio Leone shot many of his European Westerns, the film is the silver screen directing debut of Edward Sherin, who made his name as a director in American theatre and television. Whilst the direction is competent and the acting from Lancaster adds a complexity to the story, the picture almost seems to be trying too hard to make Leonard's source material work. The bigotry of men card is played very early on and from then on in everything is just too predictable, in fact were it not for Lancaster's screen presence the piece would fall well under average. The Christ-come-avenging angel motif is subtlety played by Lancaster, but tension is in short supply and action sequences few and far between. Somewhere in the cramped mix is a good film, one with something to say, a film desperately trying to make a dramatic thrust courtesy of a decent man on a mission narrative. Sadly it doesn't all come together, but thanks to Lancaster and a neat ending, it's not one to dismiss completely. 6/10Footnote: British cuts of the film offer a version missing some violent moments, suffice to say that if seeking the film out one should choose carefully.

While traveling protecting a stagecoach back to his town, the middle-aged Mexican-American Constable Bob Valdez (Burt Lancaster) witnesses a group of locals shooting on a cabin where a black man is trapped with his Indian pregnant wife, accused by the powerful Frank Tanner (Jon Cypher) of being the killer of the local Jim Erin. Valdez decides to talk to the man, and when he opens the door, the henchman R.L. Davis (Richard Jordan) shoots; the man believes it is a setup and shoots on Valdez, forcing the peace officer to kill him. Sooner they find that the victim was innocent and Valdez asks for one hundred dollars to Tanner to give to the widow. However, he is humiliated and nailed to a cross by Tanner's henchmen and sent back to the desert. He is miraculous saved by his Mexican friend Luis Diego (Frank Silvera) but recovers his health. Valdez retrieves his outfits and weapons from the time he was a professional shooter killing Apaches for the U.S. Cavalry and rides to Tanner's land. He hits one of his henchmen (Hector Elizondo) and sends him back to Tanner's farm with the advice that "Valdez is coming"."Valdez Is Coming" is an overrated western, with a good story of guilt and revenge, supported by magnificent performances. Unfortunately the last fifteen minutes and the open conclusion are absolutely disappointing, specially considering that R.L. Davis and El Segundo have burnt Luis Diego's house and hands and abused of his daughter. The make-up of American actors with blue eyes to become a cliché of Mexican people is quite ridiculous. The disrespect with the Catholic religion is quite out of the context of the plot. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Retorno de Valdez" ("The Return of Valdez")

Burt Lancaster's crystal clear blue eyes is but one, but the most obvious reason I can't take Valdez Is Coming all too seriously. Burt's given some great performances, but can't overcome his Anglo looks and a heavy handed script.Lancaster plays Bob Valdez, the Valdez who's coming in the title role. He's a Mexican-American sheriff who because of some trigger happy men in a posse is forced to kill a black man recently discharged from the cavalry with an Indian wife now left a widow. The leader of the posse is rich rancher Jon Cypher who organized the manhunt on the say so of Susan Clark, the widow of a man this black trooper supposedly killed. Not that Cypher is terribly upset about the mistake. He's got a low opinion of people of color.But when Lancaster just asks him for a decent amount of money for the widow, Cypher goes into a rage because no people who aren't white are going to tell him what to do. He fixes a kind of cross and ties Lancaster to it and sends him out on the desert. The mockery of the Catholic religion isn't lost on the Mexican populace.It's more than not lost on us, we the audience get hit on the head with it. When Lancaster gets loose, he goes Rambo on Cypher and his men. It's a lot of blood and guts after that, worthy indeed of any Sylvester Stallone film.According to a recent biography of Burt Lancaster, what Lancaster was trying to do was show the Mexicans as decent folks for the screen. His accent is passable, but why didn't they get the man some contact lenses to change that blue eye color is beyond me. And that religious symbolism was just a bit too much.Still when the action gets going, it doesn't let up. Those sequences are the best part of Valdez Is Coming. It's not Burt Lancaster's best venture in the west though.

Valdez is more a symbol of conscience!Burt Lancaster—at that time 57 years old—in fact dominates the film by a mystic presence, rather than actually being on screen for any length of time…The bulk of the film constitutes a battle of wits and guns between Valdez and an extremely stubborn leader of a band of trigger-happy gun-slingers… So when Frank Tanner (John Cypher) provokes a shoot-out which results in the death of an innocent man, Valdez asks $100 compensation from Tanner to provide financial support for his pregnant widow… Tanner not only refuses, but humiliates Valdez and orders his hired gunmen to beat him hardly, to tie him to a cross, and to drive him out of his place… Again Spain locations represented the American frontier for this revenge tale about an aging former cavalry man who dusts off his old uniform, straps on his old guns, takes plenty of ammunition, and erupt a one-man army against a greedy, rotten, evil rancher and his henchmen to enforce justice at any cost…As the pursuers forge deeper into the wilderness, the situation shifts around with hunters becoming the hunted…Susan Clark (Gay) sides with Valdez without falling in love with him, while Barton Heyman (playing the chief henchman "El Segundo") provides his character with warmth and quality at a pivotal time