INJUSTICE DONE TO DEFECTIONS BY IRISH TROOPS.Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic A fascinating chapter of American history is bunglingly bun·gle v. bun·gled, bun·gling, bun·gles v.intr. To work or act ineptly or inefficiently. v.tr. To handle badly; botch. See Synonyms at botch. n. re-created in ``One Man's Hero.'' With dialogue so trite that it ranges all the way from ``You're more woman than any other woman I've ever met'' to ``You're a disgrace to that flag and the freedom it stands for,'' cheap action film producer-turned-director Lance Hool tries to tell the complicated story of the San Patricios San Patricio is Spanish for Saint Patrick. As a name it may have several meanings:
They were a group of Irish-American soldiers, many of them recent immigrants, who switched sides during the U.S.-Mexico War of the 1840s. As the title indicates, they were and remain heroes to the Mexican people, but were understandably considered traitors by Washington's victorious troops. Hool and writer Milton S. Gelman touch on the variety of issues that led to the defections: America's near-institutionalized anti-Irish and Catholic prejudices of the time, the severe disciplinary standards of the U.S. Army, the famine-era conscripts' general resentment of English-derived Protestants. But it all gets muddled mud·dle v. mud·dled, mud·dling, mud·dles v.tr. 1. To make turbid or muddy. 2. To mix confusedly; jumble. 3. To confuse or befuddle (the mind), as with alcohol. in a stupid melodrama melodrama [Gr.,=song-drama], originally a spoken text with musical background, as in Greek drama. The form was popular in the 18th cent., when its composers included Georg Benda, J. J. Rousseau, and W. A. Mozart, among others. about the Patricios' leader, John Riley (Tom Berenger), falling in love with a bandito chieftain's (Joaquim de Almeida) ``more than any other woman'' woman (Daniela Romo Daniela Romo (born August 27, 1959) is a Mexican singer, actress and TV host. Biography Daniela Romo was born Teresita Presmanes Corona in Mexico City to Teresa Corona. Her parents never married, and Daniela and her sister Patricia were raised by their grandmother. ). The film recounts Mexico's series of losing battles with adequate but hardly inspired combat footage, and the fates of captured Patricios are graphically depicted. But this very one-sided and simple-minded depiction of a potentially rich and troubling story is its own kind of injustice. The facts The film: ``One Man's Hero'' (R; violence). The stars: Tom Berenger, Joaquim de Almeida, Daniela Romo. Behind the scenes: Directed by Lance Hool. Written by Milton S. Gelman. Produced by Lance and Conrad Hool and William J. Macdonald William J. MacDonald may refer to:
Running time: Two hours, one minute. Playing: Citywide. Our rating: One and one half stars |
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