Just watched this film again after seeing it many years ago. It stands up well. Moreau and Bardot are fascinating to watch, together and apart, esp. in their musical numbers. Hard to take your eyes off them when they're on screen, which is most of the time. The many songs are catchy and the soundtrack score is absolutely beautiful--one of the best film scores I've heard in a long time. It captures both the epic quality of some of the excellent action scenes as well as the charm of a long-ago time in the slower, recurring themes-- gorgeous.The whole movie is unlike anything I've seen in ages. Well worth a viewing.

This film begins with a little girl and her father blowing up everything British. It seems they are Irish revolutionaries and again and again, you see them attacking things in the UK and then later in their colonies. In what had to be British Honduras (Belize), the girl is now older and is played by Brigitte Bardot--a very, very odd choice to play an Irish lady! She is forced to blow up a bridge with her father on it, so soon she embarks on a solo career.A bit later, Maria (Bardot) happens upon a French traveling show in Central America and another Maria (Jeanne Moreau) makes her part of her act. For now, the more lethal Maria stops killing people and spends her time singing and being wined and dined by various men. However, when the other Maria (Moreau) falls in love with a handsome revolutionary (George Hamilton), things change. Hamilton is soon killed by the cruel general and so Moreau vows to continue his revolution. It goes badly at first---until the mad bomber Maria joins the fight. Then the two ladies lead a successful revolution and become folk heroes.The film is a bizarre combination of action, adventure, music and comedy. Frankly, I didn't think all that much of the comedy and didn't laugh at their exploits. It was mildly interesting but that's all. In fact, it all seemed a tad lightweight and silly.This, to me, was a curious misfire from writer/director Louis Malle. The film is nothing like the more serious movies he was later known for and didn't particularly impress me. It is entertaining in a mindless sort of way and Bardot was a knockout to look at, but that's really about it.

The main merit of the movie is the presence of Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau, at the top of their charm and beauty. The strip-tease scene is the only funny scene instead.Apart from that and from a good cinematography, the film is quite boring. Louis Malle is one of the leading French "Nouvelle vague" directors, but here he deals with a big budget adventure -he doesn't work in his natural context.The idea of two girls named Maria who carry on the Mexican revolution could be good, but gags and action scenes are not memorable. In many situations you can guess what is going to happen.Obviously it's a movie made for exploiting the commercial appeal of the two gorgeous actresses.Malle, Bardot and Moreau made much better things.

I originally saw Viva Maria! at a Toronto cinema in the mid-1960s in the company of three college friends and, upon emerging, I think that each of us would have cheerfully enlisted in a revolutionary cause of the kind depicted in the film. The Moreau-Bardot magic was irresistible! As I recall, the North American release of this film ended with the cheers of the crowd of San Miguel as the circus troupe departed. On a recently acquired laserdisc pressing of the film, however, I note that there is an extra minute -- the European ending in which the troupe returns to the European stage.Pay particular attention to the musical score -- composed by Georges Delerue (1925-1992), most of whose work was for the European cinema but he was, from time to time, commissioned to compose for American and British films. He had a particular talent for evoking the nostalgic longing inherent in mediæval and renaissance themes. In fact, in a radio interview, Delerue once indicated that, where most film composers would start to experiment with tunes on a battered piano, he would often wander into archives of ancient music to get his inspiration. In the opening credits to Viva Maria!, a French ballad of the young heroine is picked up by the orchestra in a delightful example of Delerue's skill. (By the way, the film's credits do not seem to name the singer, but whoever he is, the man's diction is so clear that even an anglophone "retard" ought to be able to follow the French lyrics. If anyone knows who he is, I would be pleased to learn his identity.)