Several years ago one of the local colleges had a 1-night only screening of a movie from South America that was allegedly based on a true story. I did not get to see it and I don’t remember the title, but I do know the story. Somewhere in a rural part of this South American nation, several of the wealthier members of society are having a party that gets overrun by bandits, who hold people hostage and demand a ransom. The authorities are called in, and the local townspeople gather around to watch the events unfold. The typical “Mexican Standoff” occurs. Then somebody has an idea. The police chief makes a deal with the bandits. If the bandits cast out all their weapons and free the hostages, the police agree to throw away all of their weapons as well. As soon as all the hostages are freed, the police agree to turn their backs and NOT watch the bandits leave, and they also promise NOT to try to stop them or follow them. In good faith the cops all throw their weapons far away. The bandits do the same and free the hostages and the cops turn their backs. NOW THIS is where it gets bizarre. As the bandits exit the home, the townspeople come upon them with clubs and sticks and rocks and begin attacking the bandits and bludgeoning them to death. Since the police have their backs turned, NOBODY IN AUTHORITY can see what is occurring or who is doing what to whom! The bandits end up dead, but since there are no witnesses to this crime, no one is ever arrested. SO my questions are as follows: What is the movie title? Is the story based on an actual incident? When did this happen? Where? Have any details ever come out on this? It’s a fascinating tale but it reeks of an urban legend. I appreciate any answers anyone here on the Board may be able to provide.
It has elements of a true crime book I edited years ago (and can no longer recall title or author). I only remember that the police were totally inept about a family of criminals who terrorized the town, and finally some citizens did the cops’ job for them. This was portrayed as some horrific action that would forever curse the town.
Thanks, your story sounds fascinating as well. It reminds of the murder of Kenneth Rex McElroy that occurred in Skidmore, Missouri. A town bully and his family of hooligans terrorized the townspeople for ages, but then one day the locals had had enough and he got shot in front of the entire town, with “no witnesses to the crime.”
That being said, I would still like information on that incident in South America.
I’ve heard something similar along these lines: the bandits have run out of ammo and decide to start ransacking the priceless antiques & art works in an attempt to find some weapons. The cops and hostages are horrified by this, so the authorities arrange for more ammo to be delivered to the bandits so that the standoff can continue!
I have no clue where I heard this, though
I think you are thinking about an incident during one of the Greek-Turkish wars: a unit of Turkish soldiers are trapped on the Acropolis in Athens. They take shelter in the Parthenon, and when they run out of bullets, they threaten to knock down the building to get to the lead cores of the pillars, and the Greeks are so horrified that they agree to let the Turks flee unharmed.
Did a bear fall on anyone?
That’s the one!
Is the point of this movie the same as of that book–that the townspeople are evil for “taking the law into their own hands” when the law itself has done its job inadequately, ineptly, or not at all?
Well if the Turks didn’t have any bullets to fight with why didn’t the Greeks just go in and capture or kill them? 
They’d have knoked down the Parthenon. The Turks still had some weapons, enogh to potentially destroy one of the great architectural wonders of the world. As it happened, the Turks later used the building as a gunpowder magazine; the powder exploded, rendering the Parthenon the ruin we see today.
There are quite a few Spanish language movies with standoffs between the rich and the people and the police. If you are really interested search Netflix for all Spanish language movies and read the blurb. Or, if you are reasonably sure of the date you might simplify the search a bit. On Netflix you need to find a ‘list’ option which is not always easy. Then click on date once or twice to rearrange the sorting sequentially. GreenCine has a better search than Netflix but a smaller selection.
Since I didn’t see the movie I cannot honestly say what the point of it was. I am going to speculate that both the hostage incident in South America and the murder in Skidmore, MO are simply tales of what happened and left at that. On the one hand we could say that the townspeople in both instances were wrong for resorting to vigilante justice; by the same token we could also say that the locals never would have felt the need to resort to vigilantism had the law done what it was supposed to do instead of what it sometimes actually does. I think that this would especially be true in the story of McElroy’s murder but not so much in the incident in South America. From what I recall, McElroy had faced numerous juries over the years but he had a top notch attorney that knew every loophole in the book to get him off.
Here’s more on McElroy. Charged 21 times; convicted only once: Ken McElroy - Wikipedia. Good riddance to a bad dude.