TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARA
PRODUCED BY CARROLL CASE/ MARTIN RACKIN
DIRECTED BY DON SIEGEL
THE MALPASO COMPANY/ SANEN PRODUCTIONS
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Information from IMDb
Plot Summary
Set in Mexico, a nun called Sara is rescued from three cowboys by Hogan,
who is on his way to do some reconnaissance, for a future mission
to capture a French fort.
The French are chasing Sara, but not for the reasons she tells Hogan,
so he decides to help her in return for information about the fort defences.
Inevitably the two become good friends but Sara has a secret
Written by Rob Hartill
Full Cast
Shirley MacLaine ... Sara
Clint Eastwood ... Hogan
Manuel Fábregas ... Colonel Beltran (as Manolo Fabregas)
Alberto Morin ... General LeClaire
Armando Silvestre ... 1st American
John Kelly ... 2nd American
Enrique Lucero ... 3rd American
David Estuardo ... Juan
Ada Carrasco ... Juan's Mother
Pancho Córdova ... Juan's Father (as Poncho Cordoba)
José Chávez ... Horatio (as Jose Chavez)
Pedro Galván (as Pedro Galvan)
José Ángel Espinosa 'Ferrusquilla' (as Jose Angel Espinosa)
Aurora Muñoz
Xavier Marc
Hortensia Santoveña (as Hortensia Santovena)
Rosa Furman
José Torvay (as Jose Torvay)
Margarito Luna
Javier Masse
Writing Credits
Budd Boetticher (story)
Albert Maltz (screenplay)
Original Music
Ennio Morricone
Cinematography
Gabriel Figueroa
Robert Surtees
Trivia
The Finnish title of the film is "Kourallinen dynamiittia",
which translates into English as "Fistful of Dynamite".
This is actually the alternative English title of dollar-trilogy
director Sergio Leone's film Duck, You Sucker.
While in Austria filming Where Eagles Dare, Clint Eastwood was approached
with the script by Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton's wife at the time,
with the notion of starring together in the film.
However, Universal Pictures was unwilling to pay Taylor's high salary.
Shirley MacLaine did not get along during the shoot either with Clint
Eastwood or with director Don Siegel, with whom she openly fought.
The name of the saloon translates to "The Black Cat".
Sister Sara's second mule was actually a burro.
Spoilers
Shirley MacLaine wrote that since this was filmed in Mexico, it took
substantial time to send the film to California for processing
and return it for dailies.
When MacLaine finally saw the dailies, she was appalled
at how overstated her false eyelashes looked,
as she was playing a hooker posing as a nun.
She regretted that she could not remove them for the rest of the filming
because the footage would not match.
Goofs
Anachronisms
The story takes place during the European intervention in Mexico which
lasted from 1861 to 1867. Hogan is using a Colt Peacemaker pistol,
which did not come into use until 1873.
The film takes place before 1867. However Dynamite was not easily available in the US
until at least 1868, being invented in 1867 by Nobel.
A common error in cowboy/frontier films.
"Sister" Sara clearly has used modern mascara, and eye liner.
Not only the Colt 1873, but also rest of the small firearms in the movie -
rifles as Bertie 1907, Winchester 1873 and Gras 1974 and a revolver
Colt New Service - are anachronistic to the story plot, taking place in the 1860s
(the French intervention in Mexico).
Sara says how the French soldiers will celebrate singing "The Marseillaise".
That song became the French national anthem about 20 years later, when
the republican regime searched for revolutionary symbols of state and
dissociation from country's monarchical past.
In the tunnel scenes, Hogan and friends are using hand-held carbide lamps.
Carbide was not produced in any quantity until 1892, and carbide lamps were
not invented until several years later.
Character error
When the first French column is tracking Sara & Hogan in the stream, several
French soldiers can be seen staring intently into the stream bed as if looking
for signs of the horses they're following. But these men are FAR back in the
column, so the bed is already muddy & churned from the preceding soldiers,
making it impossible for them to see anything useful.
Hogan becomes very agitated when he sees Sara wasting water, as if he
thinks it's scarce. But minutes later, they travel down a flowing stream.
So even if a frontiersman/soldier/mercenary like Hogan couldn't detect that
much water so close by, his horses certainly could, and he'd notice their
behavior. So he had to know there was plenty of water nearby.
Continuity
When Sara and Hogan are hiding from the French soldiers in the abandoned
building, Hogan's cheroot changes length inconsistently between shots.
When "Sister" Sara is climbing the train trestle there is a closeup of her boots
slipping on the on the bracing. The next shot shows a view upward from
underneath her and her boots are now black sneaker type shoes.
Factual errors
The train trestle that is "blown up" is an open deck trestle that would be fully
supported by the stone towers or "bents". The wooden bracing that Sara
climbs would not be needed or serve any purpose other than to give her a
way to climb.
Revealing mistakes
While Hogan and Sara are supposed to make love in the tub, the camera
shows Hogan's hat. We can clearly see on the hat the shadows of the
actor's hands who are spilling water out of the tub to make it appear as if
they were making love.
Early in the picture, near the end of the lady in distress scene, "Sister" Sara
motions with her arm while explaining the things the dead men did to her,
and we can see that her underarms are recently shaven; this couldn't have
happened to a woman "in the middle of nowhere" who hasn't been in an area
where she could have shaved for a long time.
In the train trestle scene, in the moments prior to the dynamite explosion
and resulting crash of the train, there are no wires/cables visible above the
trestle. But when the train is seen approaching, wires or cables are clearly
visible overhead. When the train crashes off the trestle, you can see some
of these cables being used as "pulls" to help tumble the train off the bridge.
The tarantula at the end of the opening credits is obviously nailed to the
ground.
At about minute 14-15, Hogan returns from lookout, and scrambles down a
hill toward a small stream. Visible through the trees at the top of the screen
is a modern highway
Filming Locations
Cuaútla, Morelos, Mexico
Jantetelco, Morelos, Mexico
Six Points Texas, Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA
Tlayacapan, Morelos, Mexico
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