Behold a Pale Horse (film)
Encyclopedia
Behold a Pale Horse is a 1964 film directed by Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...

, and starring Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...

, Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...

 and Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...

. The film is based on the novel Killing a Mouse on Sunday by Emeric Pressburger
Emeric Pressburger
Emeric Pressburger was a Hungarian-British screenwriter, film director, and producer. He is best known for his series of film collaborations with Michael Powell, in a multiple-award-winning partnership known as The Archers and produced a series of classic British films, notably 49th Parallel , The...

, which loosely details the life of the Spanish anarchist
Anarchism in Spain
Anarchism has historically gained more support and influence in Spain than anywhere else, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939....

 guerrilla
Spanish Maquis
The Spanish Maquis were Spanish guerrillas exiled in France after the Spanish Civil War who continued to fight against the Franco regime until the early 1960s, carrying out sabotage, robberies , occupations of the Spanish Embassy in France and assassinations of Francoists, as well as contributing...

, Francisco Sabaté Llopart‎. The film is the story of an ageing Catalan
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 guerrilla, Manuel Artiguez. After living in French exile for 20 years, he is returning to Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 to visit his dying mother, Pilar. His antagonist, Vinolas, the Francoist
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

 police captain prepares a trap at the hospital to finally catch Artiguez. Although Artiguez's mother dies before he embarks, Vinolas uses spies
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...

 to keep up the idea that she is still alive, in order for him to fall for the trap. Artiguez continues until getting to the hospital and, after realizing that it is a trap, engages the police in a firefight, killing several of them, but ultimately dying.

Plot

The movie opens with shots from the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

, and a line of Spanish refugees crossing the border into France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 after defeat by the Francoists, Manuel Artiguez turns away from the border and back towards Spain. But his friends stop him, saying "Manuel, the war is over!". The story returns twenty years later, to a young boy named Paco, who asks a man named Pedro why Artiguez has stopped his guerrilla raids against the Francoists in Spain. Pedro sends Paco into France to find his uncle and Artiguez. When Paco finds Artiguez, he tells him he wants him to kill Viñolas, a Guardia Civil
Civil Guard (Spain)
The Civil Guard is the Spanish gendarmerie. It has foreign peace-keeping missions and maintains military status and is the equivalent of a federal military-status police force. As a police force, the Guardia Civil is comparable today to the French Gendarmerie, the Italian Carabinieri and the...

officer, for killing his father. Paco lets Artiguez know that his father was killed because he wouldn't tell the police where to find Artiguez. Meanwhile, Viñolas has learned that Artiguez's mother is dying, and sets a trap at the hospital in San Martín to capture Artiguez, presuming that he will come to see his mother. In return for information about the layout of the hospital and surrounding area, Paco tells Artiguez to "bump into Viñolas" for him. After Viñolas has laid his trap, Artiguez's mother dies (after asking a priest to warn her son not to come), but Viñolas sends a spy to convince Artiguez otherwise, and to come visit her. When the priest appears at Artiguez's house, he's gone, so the priest tells Paco to pass on the message that his mother is dead, and not to go to San Martín. But, for selfish reasons, Paco rips up the letter and doesn't pass on the message. Afterwards, Paco recognizes the man (Carlos) in Artiguez's house as an informer, and tells Artiguez about the priest's message. Trying to clear up the mess, Artiguez takes Paco and Carlos to Lourdes
Lourdes
Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...

 to find the priest, but he's not there, and they let Carlos go. On the way back, however, they see the priest, and take him to Artiguez's house. When Carlos returns for his rucksack, he senses the trap, and escapes. After much internal debate, Artiguez then decides to go to San Martín anyway, presumably with the mission of killing Viñolas. Once in San Martín, Artiguez encounters a Francoist sniper on the roof of the hospital and attacks him, sending him to his death. Once inside the hospital, he kills a few officers, but is finally shot.

Cast

  • Gregory Peck
    Gregory Peck
    Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...

     - as - Manuel Artiguez, an aging Catalan guerilla.
  • Anthony Quinn
    Anthony Quinn
    Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...

     - as - Viñolas, a Francoist police captain.
  • Omar Sharif
    Omar Sharif
    Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...

     - as - Francisco, a priest.
  • Raymond Pellegrin
    Raymond Pellegrin
    Raymond Pellegrin was a French actor.Born in Nice, Pellegrin made his screen debut in the 1945 French feature Naïs....

     - as - Carlos, a friend of Artiguez, also his traitor.
  • Paolo Stoppa
    Paolo Stoppa
    Paolo Stoppa was an Italian actor and dubber.Born in Rome, he began as a stage actor in 1927 in the theater in Rome and began acting in films in 1932...

     - as - Pedro.
  • Mildred Dunnock
    Mildred Dunnock
    Mildred Dunnock was an American theater, film and television actress.- Early life :Born in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from Western Senior High School, Dunnock was a school teacher who did not start acting until she was in her early thirties...

     - as - Pilar Artiquez, the dying mother of Artiguez.

Production

Behold a Pale Horse was co-produced by Columbia Pictures, along with Zinnemann (Highland Productions) and Peck (Brentwood Productions). With a budget of $3.9 million, the production hit a snag when permission was denied to film in Spain by the Franco government. The production resorted to filming exterior shots across the border in France: Biarritz
Biarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....

 on la Côte Basque, and locations in Béarn
Béarn
Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...

 such as Pau, Gotein-Libarrenx
Gotein-Libarrenx
Gotein-Libarrenx is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.It is located in the former province of Soule.The steeple of the church is a trinitarian one.-External links:* Information available in Spanish...

, La Brèche de Roland
La Brèche de Roland
La Brèche de Roland is a natural gap, 40 m across and 100 m high, at an altitude of 2804 m in the steep cliffs of the Cirque de Gavarnie in the Pyrenees...

, and the basilica at Lourdes
Lourdes
Lourdes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in south-western France.Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous...

, as well as Studio St. Maurice in Vincennes
Vincennes
Vincennes is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.-History:...

.

Originally, Anthony Quinn had requested the role of Artiquez, but Zinnemann felt it would be type-casting him, and gave him the opposing role of the villain Viñolas.
As well, several Spanish refugees were used to play the parts of Franco's Guardia Civil officers. The American political activist Allard K. Lowenstein
Allard K. Lowenstein
Allard Kenneth Lowenstein, , was a liberal Democratic politician, a one-term congressman representing the 5th District in Nassau County, New York from 1969 until 1971. His work on civil rights and the antiwar movement has been cited as an inspiration by public figures including Congressmen, John...

 played a part in making contact between the filmmakers and anti-Franco Spanish exiles in France. Zinnemann felt it would be good for Peck to be able to meet actual political refugees living in France.

Filming began on June 13, 1963, and continued for a little over 100 days, running nearly a month over schedule. After Columbia previewed the film for US audiences, they decided that an intro was needed to provide background relating to the Spanish Civil War, so clips from the documentary about the war To Die in Madrid
To Die in Madrid
To Die in Madrid is a 1963 French documentary film directed by Frédéric Rossif. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.-Cast:* John Gielgud - Narrator * Irene Worth - Co-Narrator...

were interspersed with dialogue explaining the conflict.

Music and score

The score for Behold a Pale Horse was composed and conducted by Maurice Jarre
Maurice Jarre
Maurice-Alexis Jarre was a French composer and conductor.Although he composed several concert works, he is best known for his film scores, and is particularly known for his collaborations with film director David Lean. Jarre composed the scores to all of Lean's films since Lawrence of Arabia...

. The instrumentation consists mainly of Spanish-style guitar, woodwind instruments, harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

, and the harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

,.

The score was originally released by Colpix Records
Colpix Records
Colpix Records was the first recording company for Columbia Pictures–Screen Gems. Colpix got its name from combining Columbia and Pictures . It was founded by Jonie Taps and Harry Cohn in 1958, and was based in New York City. Paul Wexler headed the label. Stu Phillips was in charge of A&R...

 as an LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 (Colpix Records SCP 519) in the United States, and a two track EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 in France. In April 2007 Film Score Monthly
Film Score Monthly
Film Score Monthly is an online magazine founded by editor-in-chief and executive producer Lukas Kendall in June 1990 as The Soundtrack Correspondence List...

 re-released the score on a CD (including the two unique tracks from the EP) accompanied by the score to Damn the Defiant (catalog number FSM1004).

The main theme from the score was also featured on the CD Maurice Jarre at Abbey Road released in 1992 by Milan Records
Milan Records
Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan boasts an extensive electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases....

, with Jarre conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...

.

Reception and release history

Despite promotional tours by Peck (in the U.S.) and Zinnemann (London and Paris), the film did not have a large reception (the box-office receipts not being enough even to recoup the costs of production), according to Zinnemann, due to the fact that the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

 had slipped from the memories of its audience. The New York Times gave it a mixed review, being disappointed with the execution of the film, though impressed with its sets and actors, while Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

was generally impressed, calling it "among the better" of Peck's career.
Incensed by scenes showing Viñolas with a mistress, and taking bribes, the government of Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

 denied filming as well as distribution in Spain, causing problems for its distributor, Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

, who had all of their films refused distribution in Spain, and were compelled to sell their distribution arm in Spain. Columbia Pictures remained closed in Spain for several years, until agreeing to release several Spanish films
Cinema of Spain
The art of motion-picture making within the nation of Spain or by Spanish filmmakers abroad is collectively known as Spanish Cinema.In recent years, Spanish cinema has achieved high marks of recognition as a result of its creative and technical excellence...

 outside of Spain. Months prior to the release of the film, Columbia Vice President M. J. Frankovich estimated that the studio had lost "millions" in the year since they had decided to go ahead with production against the wishes of the Franco government.

According to Allmovie, the film was scheduled to be shown on national television in the United States, but was canceled at the request of the Spanish government.

Often compared to the previous year's Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company, Horizon Pictures, with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely...

, as it has two of the same lead actors, Zinnemann countered the comparison with “I don’t feel any obligation to be successful, success can be dangerous--you feel you know it all. I’ve learned a great deal from my failures.”

One of the film's stars, Omar Sharif, referred to it as a "bad film" by a "good director".

TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

said about the film in its review: "Pale Horse is a white elephant."

Behold a Pale Horse was first released on video in VHS form by Columbia Pictures as part of their "Columbia Classics" series on August 6, 1996. It was then released on DVD on February 22, 2005. The DVD release features subtitles in English, Korean, and Spanish, and widescreen (enhanced) viewing option at 1:85, or the anamorphic 16:9 option. The DVD has since been released in France as "Et vint le jour de vengeance", Spain as "Y llegó el dia de la venganza", Italy as "...E venne il giorno della vendetta", Germany as "Deine Zeit ist um", and Greece as "Η μερα της εκδικησης".

See also

  • 1964 in film
    1964 in film
    The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....

  • Assassinations in fiction
    Assassinations in fiction
    Assassinations have formed a major plot element in various works of fiction and have also attracted scholarly attention. In Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy: Transformations in Society and Culture, Stephen Gundle and Lucia Rinaldi analyze modern Italian assassinations in their historical...

  • List of American films of 1964
  • List of war films and TV specials
  • List of war films based on books (1927–1945)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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