“Cowboys we are, and cowboys we shall be.”
So said Pancho Villa to his old compadre and military advisor Felipe Angeles in 1918. Villa had fallen from the heights as commander of the Division del Norte after several crushing defeats in 1915. He had eluded Pershing’s Punitive Expedition, sent to capture him after he raided the U.S. town of Columbus, New Mexico in March 1916.
He was back to doing what he did best — leading a guerrilla band made up largely of tough vaqueros in lightning raids across Chihuahua. He couldn’t win the civil war that had erupted when his former revolutionary commander (and pompous asshole) Venustunio Carranza seized the reins of power — but he sure could make northern Mexico ungovernable.
That cowboy guerrilla revolutionary has become an iconic figure. This month’s True West Magazine features 50 photographs of Villa, and publisher/artist Bob Boze Bell has tackled a wild bunch of Mex Rev figures on the True West Blog. Check these out…
Pancho Villa — Cowboy Revolutionary.
Tomas Urbina — one of Villa’s compadres from the old bandit days. Villa would have him shot for absconding with a stash of gold and failing to support Villa with desperately needed reinforcements.
Rodolfo Fierro killed Urbina. Shot him to pieces, in fact. Fierro was known as The Butcher. He was a killer of the worst sort, but he was loyal and Villa prized that virtue above all others.
There’s plenty of good Mexican Revolution art out there these days. I am particularly taken with the work of James Goodridge.
I love how the subject of the painting — The Gunrunner — is lurking in the background.
Urban combat in the Mexican Revolution.
Cowboys we are, cowboys we shall be…
Pick up True West this month. It’s a dilly. I bought two — one to keep and one to cut out all them cool pix of the Cowboy Revolutionary.
john maddox roberts says
The picture of Fierro does him an injustice. As awful as he was, Fierro was a damn good-looking man. He’d have made a great movie villain – the ruthless killer that women swoon over.
JimC says
True dat — and that’s how he’s portrayed in James Carlos Blake’s “The Friends of Pancho Villa” and his “Under the Skin”.
Wayne says
Charles Bronson played Fierro in Villa Rides, directed by Buzz Kulik and staring Yul Brynner as Villa and Robert Mitchum as a gringo pilot hired by Villa. It included a scene where Fierro experimented to see how many lined up captive enemy soldiers a single pistol bullet would go through. I believe the same story was told in Blake’s superb book. Mitchum and Bronson were good in their parts, but Brynner was terribly miscast. The locations and action scenes were great, but Brynner as Villa? I think Sam Peckinpah had a hand in the script.
JimC says
You’ve got it nailed on all counts. And you’re prescient. I have a piece in the can on Fierro, including a clip from Villa Rides! It’ll be up on July 5.
Wayne says
Too bad we live on opposite sides of the country; I’d love to talk books and films with you over a pitcher of Dos Equis.
Wayne
JimC says
Hell yeah.