Synopsis

During the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s, a peasant named El Vasco (Tomas Milian) starts a revolt in his central Mexican town by killing the army colonel in charge. Rebel leader and self-appointed General Mongo (Francisco Bódalo) soon arrives on the scene and recruits El Vasco into his revolutionary gang. However, Mongo is more interested in gaining fortune for himself than for his country. Yodlaf Peterson (Franco Nero), a Swedish mercenary, arrives in Mexico to sell guns to General Mongo. The safe containing the money is locked and only Professor Xantos (Fernando Rey) knows the combination. Xantos is the leader of a student counter-revolution that opposes violence, and is held in a prison by the United States army, after he tried to find funding from the US and did not agree to give the monopoly of his country's entire oil wealth in return. El Vasco dislikes the suit-wearing Peterson and calls him a "penguin", but at the suggestion of General Mongo, the two reluctantly join forces and set out to capture Xantos. Their task is made harder by the American army looking for rebel leader Pancho Villa and a wooden-armed American named John Svedese (Jack Palance), who wants to exact revenge on Peterson, his former business partner. Peterson had left John to die after he was crucified, and his pet hawk had to peck his right hand off to save him. In order to maximize their personal gain and to support Xantos' rebel fighters, El Vasco and Peterson have to double cross Mongo. They receive help from Lola (Iris Berben), the leader of Xantos' rebel group, who El Vasco falls for, and her group of young teenage revolutionaries.—Larry B.

Downloaded times
Dec 31, 2023 at 03:17 AM