User Reviews

New York-trained actor Robert Loggia portrays real-life western hero Elfego Baca, "The Man Who Couldn't Be Killed"...and the unlikely match between performer and role turns out to be a sensational one. Loggia is adroit and convincing as a Mexican-American gunfighter for justice in Old West New Mexico, here making a citizen's arrest on a drunken gringo and gaining the ire of his buddies, who form a lynch-mob; Baca defends himself from the bloodthirsty gang for thirty-three legendary hours while holed up in a shack, eventually emerging unscathed and with a new awareness of how to go after injustice: by studying to become an attorney. Not a vivid recreation of history, but smart and appealing, with a clear-cut take on who the bad guys are and why they must be brought in (nothing is implied, but that's acceptable in this format). A shootout set in and around a hotel is noisy and extended for little purpose, and the supporting characters aren't really fleshed out (they're just mouth-pieces to set the plot in motion). However, charismatic Loggia cuts quite a figure in a star-making lead performance; he never forces his charm--nor his character's authority--and his deft, crafty touch makes Elfego Baca just as likable as another Disney hero from television, Don Diego Vega, a.k.a. Zorro.