# Are there any Mexican-American War movies?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 22, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967 "2007-12-22T20:52:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/1 "2007-12-22T20:52:51Z")
The [Mexican-American War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War) was one of the most important wars in U.S. history – its outcome extended U.S. territory all the way to the Pacific – but I can’t recall seeing a single movie about it. (Alamo movies don’t count – the [Texas Revolution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_revolution) was a different war.)
---
### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2007, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/2 "2007-12-22T21:00:48Z")
None that come to mind.
But then, there are huge chunks of important and interesting American history that are overlooked by Hollywood. Name a movie about The Trail of Tears, for example, or the Seminole Wars.
---
### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/3 "2007-12-22T21:12:35Z")
Anything about how we put down the Filipino freedom fighers after we won the Phillippines from Spain after the Spanish-American War? Not exactly a bright spot on the record, but that would have made it _more_ attractive to the “rebellious” 1960s-1970s filmmakers if any of them knew history.
There is rather little on WWI, which makes more sense\*, and I think _Charlie Wilson’s War_ is one of the few movies about what we did during the Cold War besides Vietnam and Korea.
\*(Not that it’s justified. However, WWI is usually glossed over in history classes as the prequel to WWII. It is _much_ more important than that, seeing as how WWI killed the monarchies of Europe and put Democracy on the fast track to success once the initial kinks were worked out.)
---
### Author:  [@gatorman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gatorman)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/4 "2007-12-22T22:36:45Z")
Wasn’t there an “Epic” movie made about the Alamo a few years back? I never bothered seeing it…
---
### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2007, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/5 "2007-12-22T23:18:14Z")
[One Man’s Hero](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120775/maindetails):
> [@](#):
>
> “One Man’s Hero” tells the little-known story of the “St. Patrick’s Brigade” or “San Patricios,” a group of Irish immigrants who deserted to Mexico after encountering religious and ethnic prejudice in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. The plot centers around the personal story of John Riley, an Irishman who had been a seargent in the American Army who leads the brigade, as he leads his men in battle and struggles with authorities on both sides of the border.
---
### Author:  [@Saratoga\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saratoga_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/6 "2007-12-22T23:20:46Z")
You could take just one actor, Gary Cooper, and in his filmography alone find movies on just about every one of the events mentioned, with the exception of the Trail of Tears.
WWI films were fairly common in the silent era, with _Wings_ and _The Big Parade_ as the most well-known. A more recent WWI film is _Flyboys_, about the Lafayette Escadrille. For Coop, there was _A Farewell to Arms_ (1932) and _Sergeant York_ (1941). He also made one about the Seminole Wars, called _Distant Drums_ (1951). For Mexican Wars, Coop made one about the Mexican insurrection against the French in 1866, called _Vera Cruz_, and one about Pershing’s punitive expedition into Mexico in 1917, called _They Came to Cordura_. (Ok, I haven’t found one yet about the 1844-45 Mexican War).
For the Philippine Insurrection, Coop made _The Real Glory_ (1939), about training Philippine soldiers on Mindanao to fight the Moros in 1906.
---
### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/7 "2007-12-23T02:33:52Z")
The war occurred between the last two Zorro movies, and was kind of a glaring omission (One of several).
---
### Author:  [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/8 "2007-12-23T02:36:46Z")
Do Pancho Villa movies not count, too? If they do, I keep wanting to rent “And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself” with Antonio Banderes. It just looks fun.
---
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/9 "2007-12-23T02:40:44Z")
The war serves as backdrop for some early chapters in the novel and episode 2 of the mini-series _North and South_.
---
### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/10 "2007-12-23T02:48:53Z")
[QUOTE=Saratoga Sam]
You could take just one actor, Gary Cooper, and in his filmography alone find movies on just about every one of the events mentioned, with the exception of the Trail of Tears…(Ok, I haven’t found one yet about the 1844-45 Mexican War).
[/QUOTE]
Well, it wasn’t a very cinematic war. Take the final battle of Cahuenga (which occurred after the war had ended, but they didn’t know). Both armies faced each other in the area of Los Angeles where Universal Studios is now located. The combat consisted of one canon being fired, which hit a donkey. Then Mexico surrendered.
---
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2007, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/11 "2007-12-23T02:59:52Z")
[QUOTE=guizot]
Well, it wasn’t a very cinematic war. Take the final battle of Cahuenga (which occurred after the war had ended, but they didn’t know). Both armies faced each other in the area of Los Angeles where Universal Studios is now located. The combat consisted of one canon being fired, which hit a donkey. Then Mexico surrendered.
[/QUOTE]
Then it should be good material for a comedy! 🙂
---
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2007, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/12 "2007-12-23T03:01:11Z")
[QUOTE=Tenebras]
Do Pancho Villa movies not count, too?
[/QUOTE]
[Villa’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_villa) rebellion was **way** later.
---
### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2007, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/13 "2007-12-23T03:05:54Z")
The movie Ravenous takes place during the Mexican-American war and includes scenes from it at the beginning.
Marc
---
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2007, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/14 "2007-12-23T04:35:14Z")
[QUOTE=guizot]
Well, it wasn’t a very cinematic war.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t know. You could probably work up a good three-hanky film about Los Niños Héroes.
---
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2007, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/15 "2007-12-23T04:44:54Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth]
WWI is usually glossed over in history classes as the prequel to WWII. It is _much_ more important than that, seeing as how WWI killed the monarchies of Europe and put Democracy on the fast track
[/QUOTE]
I have always viewed it as the rise of Communism and the set up for WWII. You are correct, considering the fall of the Austro Hungarian Empire, the loss of the English (qualified) ruling class and the fall of Turkey. No more Wilhelm II approaching Nicholas II with the “Admiral of the (my side your side) sea.”
Of course it changed the ways wars were fought; horses and infantry charges were out, machine guns, tanks and aircraft were in.
---
### Author:  [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/16 "2007-12-23T05:01:33Z")
There was always **Viva Villa** and **Zapata** (or was it **Viva Zapata**?).
But an interesting one for me was **Old Gringo** with Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda and Jimmy Smits as Villa, and of course, there is always **Villa Rides** with Yul Brenner (as Villa interestingly enough), Robert Mitchem and Charles Bronson.
---
### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/17 "2007-12-24T17:41:31Z")
**carnivorousplant** : Your view seems to be the modern conventional one that keeps people from looking at WWI as much as they look at WWII. There are other reasons, the main one being that WWI veterans are nearly gone but WWII veterans are still a viable market, but also WWI, in isolation, was a great big stupid clusterfuck of a family feud with no reason behind it comprehensible to a rational mind. No wonder the 1920s went Absurdist.
But, again, it was still more than that: WWI proved that America would not remain absolutely isolationist and that it could be decisive on a world stage, both in peace and in war. The fact Wilson screwed up the peace and the League of Nations was nothing more than a dinner club is secondary to the fact Wilson was allowed such a large role in the first place. It was the beginning of the culmination of Theodore Roosevelt’s plan to put America on the forefront.
And this is still a European-centric view. What about the Chinese Civil War? That ran, kind of on and off, from 1911-1949 (the fall of the last Dynasty to the expulsion of the Republic of China to Taiwan, interrupted by some various periods of peace and the unification of China against Japan during WWII). Any serious English-language movies about that period of time? Killing off a major empire and putting a large fraction of the world’s population on boil for almost a half-century should rate a few epics.
---
### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/18 "2007-12-24T17:46:43Z")
[QUOTE=TV time]
There was always **Viva Villa** and **Zapata** (or was it **Viva Zapata**?).
[/QUOTE]
Villa was born about 40 years after the war ended, though.
---
### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/19 "2007-12-24T17:49:33Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth]
And this is still a European-centric view. What about the Chinese Civil War? That ran, kind of on and off, from 1911-1949 (the fall of the last Dynasty to the expulsion of the Republic of China to Taiwan, interrupted by some various periods of peace and the unification of China against Japan during WWII). Any serious English-language movies about that period of time?
[/QUOTE]
The Last Emperor.
---
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967/20 "2007-12-24T18:38:50Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth]
What about the Chinese Civil War?
[/QUOTE]
_The Sand Pebbles._
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-mexican-american-war-movies/430967.md?page=2)