It's 1909 Mexico City. Rural Indians from Morelos come to plead with longtime President Porfirio Diaz about a land baron who had stolen their land. Emiliano Zapata (Marlon Brando) tries to speak up against the condescending Diaz which gets him noticed. The villagers are attacked while trying to verify the boundary marker stone. He and his womanizing brother Eufemio Zapata (Anthony Quinn) become wanted men. The volatile illiterate Emiliano chases the determined Josefa (Jean Peters) who refuses to lower her standards. He accepts her father's help to get a pardon. However he rails against injustices and revolts with his brother. Pancho Villa revolts in the north all under the idealistic reformer Francisco Madero (Harold Gordon). The new government is too slow and filled with the same corrupt politicians. Madero offers to reward Emiliano with a ranch and demands that his men disarm. The treacherous General Victoriano Huerta (Frank Silvera) takes Madero captive and attacks the Zapatas.
Marlon Brando is barely passable as a Mexican Indian. He's doing mumble acting but this time with a flat accent. Anthony Quinn does better work and he simply has the more fitting look. Elia Kazan's directions are functional. It has moments of cinematic beauty. John Steinbeck taps into the discontent of the downtrodden. Brando is the key. He has the machismo and the sensitivity to care. He has all the acting power. He also has a silly mustache and the fake tan. I don't always buy him as an Indian and I wish Hollywood could have given the role to Quinn back then.
Marlon Brando is barely passable as a Mexican Indian. He's doing mumble acting but this time with a flat accent. Anthony Quinn does better work and he simply has the more fitting look. Elia Kazan's directions are functional. It has moments of cinematic beauty. John Steinbeck taps into the discontent of the downtrodden. Brando is the key. He has the machismo and the sensitivity to care. He has all the acting power. He also has a silly mustache and the fake tan. I don't always buy him as an Indian and I wish Hollywood could have given the role to Quinn back then.