Now Streaming: "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" on HBOmax
Lights...Camera...Revolution! Antonio Banderas stars in this incredible true story of the Mexican revolutionary who starred in Hollywood's first action epic. This HBO Films production explores the fine line between fact and fiction, revealing how Pancho Villa allowed a Hollywood crew to film him and his army as they battled the nationalist Huerta forces in 1914.
"And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself," focuses on how moviemakers D.W. Griffith and Harry Aitken filmed the life story of the fugitive through a number of documentary features including "The Life of General Villa." The features actually included footage on the battlefield. Larry Gelbart, who wrote the books for the musicals A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and City of Angels, wrote the screenplay which is directed by Bruce Beresford — who directed the film version of Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy. Gelbart also serves as executive producer.
In 1914, the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (Antonio Banderas) invites studios to shoot his actual battles against Porfírio Diaz army to raise funds for financing guns and ammunition. The Mutual Film Corporation, through producer D.W. Griffith (Colm Feore), interests for the proposition and sends the filmmaker Frank Thayer (Eion Bailey) to negotiate a contract with Pancho Villa himself. They become very close and along months, Frank makes the first feature five reels length movie, "The Life of General Villa", when the usual was two reels only. After edition, another reality about Pancho Villa is screened for the audience.
"And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" is a surprisingly good made for television movie. The story about the life of Pancho Villa is also homage to a lost movie. In accordance with the legend, the first five reels length movie would be "The Life of General Villa", directed in 1914 by Frank Thayer with Pancho Villa as himself. Truth, or legend, this interesting movie was nominated for Golden Globe, awarded with seven wins and another eighteen nominations. The cast is splendid, highlighting the performance of Antonio Banderas, who gives a great credibility to General Pancho Villa.
