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Chino
Chino
	US theatrical release poster
Directed by	Duilio Coletti; John Sturges
Screenplay by	Clair Huffaker
Based on	The Valdez Horses; by Lee Hoffman
Produced by	John Sturges; Dino De Laurentiis
Starring	Charles Bronson; Jill Ireland
Cinematography	Armando Nannuzzi
Edited by	Luis Álvarez; Vanio Amici
Music by	Guido De Angelis; Maurizio De Angelis
Production; companies	Produzioni De Laurentiis International Manufacturing Company; Coral Producciones Cinematográficas; Universal Productions France
Distributed by	Intercontinental Releasing Corporation
Release date	September 14, 1973 (Italy);
Running time	98 minutes
Countries	France; Italy; Spain
Language	English

Chino (Italian: Valdez, il mezzosangue, UK theatrical title: Valdez the Half Breed) is a 1973 Western film starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Marcel Bozzuffi, and Vincent Van Patten. The original English language title shown at the beginning of the film was The Valdez Horses, the same title as the 1967 novel by Lee Hoffman on which the movie is based. Hoffman was awarded the 1967 Western Writers of America Spur Award.

It was an Italian-Spanish-French co-production filmed in Spain, with Italian and French funding.^[1]

Plot

Chino Valdez (Bronson) is a lonely horse breeder, whose life is thrown into turmoil when a young runaway (Van Patten) turns up at his door looking for work and, later, he falls in love with a beautiful woman (Ireland) whose brother (Bozzuffi) hates him.

Cast

Charles Bronson as Chino Valdez
Jill Ireland as Catherine Maral
Marcel Bozzuffi as Maral
Vincent Van Patten as Jamie Wagner
Fausto Tozzi as Cruz
Ettore Manni as Sheriff
Corrado Gaipa as Padre
Melissa Chimenti as Indian Girl

Production

Director John Sturges was unhappy with the finished film and considered the casting of Jill Ireland a fatal mistake. Six months after finishing the movie, Producer Dino De Laurentiis gathered the actors and crew to return for re-shoots and inserts. With Sturges no longer available, veteran Italian director Duilio Coletti was hired to complete the work. His name is listed as director on some European prints as a result.^[2]

Reception

Critical response

Time Out magazine said of the film, "Bronson suffers from galloping symbolism as Valdez, a wild horse-taming Mexican halfbreed representing different things to different people. Overall, he is the mustang, caught in a wild West which is being tamed and fenced in by white settlers... Despite a few dodgy moments when one really fears for Valdez' co-optability by Ireland's well-kept fragility, the film maintains its contradictory stance right through to a bitter-sweet ending. Valdez leaves, sans wife, sans house, but on his own terms, and after ensuring that if he can not tame the wild horses no one else will.^[3]

References

^ Chino at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films.
^ Lovell, Glenn (2008). Escape Artist: The Life and Films of John Sturges. The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 277–278. ISBN 978-029922834-7.
^ TimeOut. Staff film review, no date. Accessed: June 22, 2013.