Themes: Political Unrest, Interracial/Cross-Cultural Romance, Love Triangles
Main Cast: Jane Fonda, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Smits, Patricio Contreras, Jenny Gago, Jim Metzler
Release Year: 1989
Country: US
Run Time: 119 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In this historical drama based on Carlos Fuentes' novel, Harriet Winslow (Jane Fonda) is a naive woman who, hoping to broaden her horizons, accepts a job as a governess in Mexico in 1913. However, Harriet unknowingly finds herself thrown into the middle of the Mexican revolution, where she attracts the attentions of two very different men: an elderly American gentleman (Gregory Peck) who has come to Mexico to die, and Tomas Arroyo (Jimmy Smits), a general with Pancho Villa's army of rebels who is fighting for the freedom of his people. The American's attraction to Harriet is more intellectual (though he unmistakably finds her attractive), while Arroyo holds a greater romantic allure to Harriet, who is still a stranger to the ways of love. In time, she gains a new sense of freedom and self-knowledge in Mexico, but while the victories of Villa's forces bring out an unseemly arrogance in Arroyo, Harriet makes a surprising discovery about the Old Gringo -- that he is in fact the fabled author Ambrose Bierce, who vanished years before. Old Gringo was the first American film for director Luis Puenzo, and the next-to-last for star Jane Fonda. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Gabriela Roel - La Luna; Anne Pitoniak - Mrs. Winslow; Pedro Armendariz, Jr. - Pancho Villa; Sergio Calderon - Zacarias; Guillermo Rios - Monsalvo; Stanley Grover - Consul Saunders; Josefina Echanove - Clementina; Maya Zapata - Dolores; Jose Olivares - Trinidad; Carlos Cardan - Matias Salazar; Victor Carpinteiro - Hilario; Pedro Damien - Capt. Ovando; Samuel Valadez de la Torre - Pedrito; Alicia del Lago - His Wife; Laurel Lyle - Librarian; Richardson Morse - Editor; Salvador Sanchez - Floreal; Steve Spencer - Assistant Consul; Jessica Tandy; Abel Woolrich - Tall Soldier; Jorge Zepeda - Administrator of Hacienda; Mario Arevalo - Casimiro; Maria Luisa Coronel - Maria; Arturo Rodriguez Doring - Mexican Journalist; Mark Kelty - Journalist; Juan Antonio Llanes - Assistant Hotel Clerk; Evangelina Sosa Martinez - Guadalupe; Roberto Sosa Martinez - Lucio; Maria Victoria Mondragon - Old Woman; Fernando Moya - Hotel Clerk; Roberto Ortiz - Federal Officer; Martin Palomares - Wounded Man; Rene Pereyra - Short Soldier; Hector Rivera - Ataulfo; Jose Juan Rodriguez - Old Man; Stewart Smith - Journalist with Glasses; Amelia Zapata - Juana; John Williams - Journalist; Paul Williams - Cinematographer
Credit
Scott Ritenour - Art Director, Ana Merida - Choreography, Enrico Sabbatini - Costume Designer, Luis Puenzo - Director, Glenn Farr - Editor, Juan Carlos Macias - Editor, William M. Anderson - Editor, David Wisnievitz - Executive Producer, Lee Holdridge - Composer (Music Score), Lee C. Harman - Makeup, Alberto Lopez - Makeup, Bruno Rubeo - Production Designer, Stuart Wurtzel - Production Designer, Felix Monti - Cinematographer, Lois Bonfiglio - Producer, Steven A. Saklad - Set Designer, Tom Warren - Set Designer, Jesus Duran Galvan - Special Effects, Mickey Gilbert - Stunts, Aida Bortnik - Screenwriter, Luis Puenzo - Screenwriter, Carlos Fuentes - Book Author
