Pancho Villa by Bob Boze Bell.
The third episode in the Frontier Partisans Podcast series on the Mexican Revolution is up. You can listen to it here, on Spotify, and on most other podcasting platforms. This episode is the first of three on Pancho Villa, probably the most recognizable figure from the Mexican Revolution — at least to U.S. citizens.
Villa was the classic bandit-turned-revolutionary — a larger than life figure and the subject of folklore and folk song in his own lifetime. It’s almost impossible to untangle fact and folklore around his early life, but his revolutionary career played out in the glare of the modern spotlight. He was a modern celebrity and an old-school folk hero at the same time — as well as a vision of terror for his many enemies. Was Villa a hero or a villain? A freedom fighter or a terrorist? Yes.
I have a long history with Pancho Villa. My interest in him and in the Mexican Revolution really caught fire when I picked up a copy of Clifford Irving’s magnificent roman a clef Tom Mix & Pancho Villa when I was in my early 20s. That’s a book that every Frontier Partisan should read. Piquant, erotic, swashbuckling, poignant… it’s just a great big, wooly yarn that satisfies on multiple levels — including being solid on the complex history of the Mexican Game of Thrones.
I chased Villa’s trail through countless books, including the thousand pages of Friedrich Katz’s magnum opus The Life & Times of Pancho Villa. I put 60,000 words into a Mexican Revolution novel of my own before realizing I was just trying to recreate the joys I felt in reading Irving’s book. Villa made a chapter in Warriors of the Wildlands.
I don’t relate to Pancho Villa the way I do to other Frontier Partisans like, say, Simon Kenton, or Frederick Courteney Selous, or Denys Reitz. I have a friend whose family history in Chihuahua and Durango was turned upside down due to Villa’s brutality in the guerrilla war late in the Revolution, when Villa was in a state of moral as well as military decline. It’s hard to hear family stories like that and retain any kind of admiration for the man. Yet, the fascination remains. He was a complex, mercurial individual operating in a complex and deadly environment, and was many things simultaneously — a human tempest born of lightning and thunder.
He was the ultimate Cowboy Revolutionary.
Pancho Villa at the work he truly loved.
Matthew says
Great podcast!
The Mexican kid I mentioned knowing in junior high who hated Geronimo was a big fan of Villa. He once gave a very sanitized recounting of Villa’s triumphs.
You mentioned in the last post doing an episode or series on Charlie Siringo. That might be interesting.
Ugly Hombre says
Villa was a friend to Americano’s- until. Well, you know the drill.
What’s that line in T.W.B.? “You side with a man, you stay with him or else yer some kind of a animal”.
Enraged Villa went into Columbus burnt it down and got the hell shot out of his men.
I don’t admire Villa either, but he was a tough smart hombre who seems to me had the best interests of Mexico at the core of his actions in the beginning. Have to admit it.
Still.. I wish George had made him the third notch on his Colt. Now that, would have been a helluva gun fight.
JimC says
One thing you can say for Villa — he was a fighter. He could have gone into very comfortable exile in Cuba and he didn’t. He kept fighting until he got a good deal for his men.
Ugly Hombre says
Yes Sir, I think that’s true. Seems he lived by his own code.
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2021/08/18/colt-pancho-villa-discovered/
The Mexican Revolution is also a favorite period of history, fun to think about last gasp of the old Colt and the Winchester in full scale war. Also 1911 .45’s, C96, Mauser’s etc. & any thing else that could shoot including bows and arrows. I have a 1900 Colt that could have ended up in Mexico a .38 40*. It had ‘hash marks’ on the grips same spot at Georges. I showed the brown gutta perch grips to a old timer and said it was “probably 5 jack rabbits or shake tail’s”. He said “Nope somebody got shot.” lol wth knows? no one ever will. Jim Martin shot with a E.L Warner in the early days of cowboy practical pistol- who rode with Villa.
Forget writing a book- do a screen play. Good chance you could sell it. Not much chance of getting a good movie made about the Revolution though. Or any western movie. But, lots of good scripts get bought. You might get lucky.
* It got changed into a .38 Special probably by some body who watched to much Raw Hide or Gun Smoke in the 50’s.
JimC says
There is a 2011 Mexican miniseries titled El Cncanto del Aguila that looks quite good — the casting in all the historical roles is spot-on, at least as far as looks go. I’ve watched clips, but unfortunately it’s not available with subtitles, and I can’t keep up with the Spanish. As movie people knew from the beginning, it was one helluva cinematic war…
Wayne says
Just for fun, find a DVD of And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself. It’s based on the true story of a silent era commercial film about the revolution made on location that has been lost. Antonio Banderas did a pretty good job as Villa and the late Alan Arkin was wonderful as an ageing, one-armed machine gun expert from NYC. Although a sort of comedy/romance coming of age story about a budding director, the movie didn’t ignore the brutality of the revolution. My favorite scene was during an assault on an enemy stronghold when one of Villa’s Indio supporters passes across the screen armed with a bow and arrows. Pretty cool!
JimC says
Arkin played Sam Dreben, who was a real deal Jewish soldier of fortune who fought in the Revolution and some other ructions in Central America.
Wayne says
Thanks for the tip about Sam Dreben. Just read the Wikipedia post on him. What a character! I want to read a biography.
Quixotic Mainer says
The image of Villa and his 8 compadres splashing their horses across the Rio Grande to throw down the gauntlet is truly, despite the modern dilution of the word; epic.
I have been giving my favorite weird western; The Dark Tower, a re read this summer. The kingdom that the protagonist comes from was overthrown by a stage robber who established himself as a bandit chieftain and rebel while calling for social reforms. Definitely had shades of Villa and Orozco, though the outlaw turned social revolutionary is hardly confined to Mexico.
JimC says
I really should delve into The Dark Tower…
Quixotic Mainer says
It’s a mighty grim part of Fennario, but you won’t regret the trip!
Fletcher Vredenburgh says
I’m a Zapata man, myself, but I get the appeal (not sure that’s the right word) of Villa
JimC says
Zapata is more admirable all around.
Josie says
I told you years ago I was writing a novel about Fierro, which, of course, included Villa. I have actually finished it. I doubt if it is your cup of tea since it’s a romance, but here is the link. A different look at Fierro. 😉
https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Woman-Novel-Mexican-Revolution-ebook/dp/B0C9FJWVX6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MBTJU0B83DMU&keywords=josie+wilson&qid=1688840242&sprefix=jodie+wilson%2Caps%2C117&sr=8-1
JimC says
Wonderful! Congratulations.