Despite the beautiful scenery of and camera work capturing old Mexico, this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Pancho Villa does not for one minute look heroic in this movie, but instead comes off as a childlike buffoon with the inability to put two sentences together without bumbling with his words. I would never recommend this film to anyone. I understand that this was a different era in Hollywood, but this is why we still have English accents in all the Roman/Greek "gladiator" films and television shows. Some things in Hollywood don't seem to change. Hearing any actor trying to speak English with a "Spanish" accent, but with the old world Shakespearean classic "English" delivery is almost painful to my ears. "Oh... have I missed the execution?" Just horrible Hollywood, horrible. I wanted to see this movie, hoping that it would have some historical value to it. To give me a better insight to the life of Villa, and all I could sum up was that Wallace Beery's performance was better suited for an "Our Gang" short, where the kids were getting the better of this lummox. I kept expecting Spanky or Buckwheat to appear any moment throughout the film with the almost comedic delivery of this Mexican hero/bandit.Sadly, this movie would probably popular with college kids as one of those "drinking game" movies. Drink every time Villa says "Shut up" or the word "uh". Yeah, Pancho Villa the warlord, represented to the finest. Or when one of the Mexicans spoke and you couldn't tell if it was Shakespeare or not. And to find out that this movie won several awards... no, just no.

Viva Villa! (1934) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Wallace Beery's tremendous and rousing performance as Pancho Villa is the main reason to view this troubled production, which sadly can be seen in the movie itself. The movie tells the story of Pancho Villa, who as a boy sees his father killed by the Mexican government. Later in life Villa wages war against the greedy bad guys of Mexico first as a bandit and then as a general. It's not often a bio starts off with a warning that the thing is strictly fiction but that's the case with this MGM picture. I'm really not sure what to make with the final film but I found it clear to see that there was a lot of tampering with it. After viewing the movie I read some of its history, which includes director Howard Hawks being fired and original reporter Lee Tracy getting kicked out of the country after getting drunk and urinating off his hotel balcony onto some military men. There was also a plane crash that destroyed a lot of footage, which had to be re-shot and all of this caused the film's release to be pushed back, which then had the thing being cut by the Hayes Office. The entire film is quite choppy and a lot of what's going on has to be explained with title cards that come up every few scenes. The film's running time of 110-minutes seems double that and it doesn't help that the majority of the supporting cast are rather weak. Fay Wray, Donald Cook and George E. Stone walk through their roles. Leo Carrillo and Stuart Erwin are pretty bland in theirs. Henry B. Walthall gives a very good performance but he's role is quite minor. What keeps the film moving is the great performance by Beery who clearly becomes this character and when one thinks of Villa you can't help but picture Beery.

From the hokey dying scenes (and there's more than one in this turkey) to the purely fictitious stories told about this Mexican legend, this old movie just doesn't hold up. Lauded in its day for performances that now seem ridiculously silly, this is one Beery bad biopic. Outside of some good stunt work and passable scenes of battle, there's not much to recommend it. And somebody tell me what's with the artist who will never draw a bull and Pancho Villa who seems to have a phobia of pigeons? I got so tired of this dumb running gag that before this movie was over, I was not chanting "Viva, Villa!" but "Die, Pancho, Die".

Good western movie with good all around production and performances.Very gritty and not too watered down in it's violent sequences.The only flaw here is the fictionalised version of the main characters story which is not what most people want from a profound historical icon as Pacho Villa.Surely he must have had a great true to life story to be told thru Hollywood without resorting to this over mythologised version.Also,the great actress Fay Wray was so underused here as well.Her makeup here was also terribly done,making her look like some kind of evil Vampiress.Only for fans of Mexican Westerns and big fans of the lead actors.....