Cisco Kid Western Movie Collection

Based on a rather ruthless character from an O. Henry short story, the Cisco Kid became a heroic figure in a string of movies, radio dramas and long-running TV show for more than three decades.  Several actors took turn under the sombrero but Gilbert Roland and Duncan Renaldo are  the most recognizable, with the latter cementing his reputation during the 156-episode TV run.  VCI entertainment has collected 13 movies across 5 dvds as the Cisco Kid Western Movie Collection, organizing the material by “Kid,” with seven films from Renaldo and the remaining from Roland. 

Before the advent of television, movies made their own episodic installments to capitalize on hot intellectual properties.  And The Cisco Kid bounced between several mediums, landing on the big screen in short features running just over an hour in length.  Monogram Pictures first post-war adventures starred Duncan Renaldo, a Romanian born actor who passed himself off as a sort of Robin Hood, righting wrongs and bringing justice to small villages throughout Mexico.  Paired up with his loyal but lazy sidekick Pancho (a sublimely enjoyable Martin Garralaga), the duo swapped partners with actor Gilbert Roland from 1945 – 1950. 

 

Embracing the Mexican culture in song, dance and scenery (if not in dialect), the Cisco Kid films are family-friendly shoot-em-ups that travel outside of the usual white cowboy trails.  Cisco more often uses his wits to take down his foes, passing himself off as a government official in South of the Rio Grande (1945) or a murdered rancher in The Cisco Kid Returns (1945), the gunplay itself is usually bloodless and cliched.  But the series wholeheartedly embraces the “exotic” local residents, giving Mexican performers a spotlight they rarely had in Hollywood productions.  Of course, that involves putting up with an offensively hackneyed Mexican accent (“To shoot Cisco in the back…that is the suicide!) but viewed through a modern lens the series is bound to come up short somewhere

 

Although Roland was born in Mexico, it’s Renaldo who comes across as a more authentic hombre.  His relatively squat appearance and subtle charm is less affected than Roland matinee idol aspirations.  But your mileage may vary.  VCI’s set gives you plenty of time to make up your mind, running over 780 minutes in total with each feature presented in varying degrees of quality.  It doesn’t look like there has been any restoration done, but each movie is perfectly watchable with nothing more than a few audio issues and then.

 

 

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