Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

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  • 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


    Memorable Quotes


    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


    [extendedmedia]

    [/extendedmedia]

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 2 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Two Mules for Sister Sara is an American-Mexican western film
    starring Shirley MacLaine (billed above Clint Eastwood in the film's credits, but not on the poster)
    set during the French intervention in Mexico.
    The film was released in 1970 and directed by Don Siegel.



    It was to have been the first in a five-year exclusive association between
    Universal Pictures and Sanen Productions of Mexico.
    The film marked the second of five collaborations between Siegel and Eastwood,
    following Coogan's Bluff (1968).
    The collaboration continued with The Beguiled and Dirty Harry
    (both 1971) and finally Escape From Alcatraz (1979).



    The plot follows an American mercenary who gets mixed up with a nun and aids a group of Juarista rebels
    during the puppet reign of Emperor Maximilian in Mexico.
    The film featured both American and Mexican actors
    and actresses, including being filmed in the picturesque countryside near Tlayacapan, Morelos.


    I personally thought this film was fun and I agree with the User Review,
    it shouldn't be missed


    User Review

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited once, last by ethanedwards ().

  • I have always loved this film and always loved Shirley MacLaine, One of my left of field movie crushes.
    Clint pretty much spoofs his man with no name role and the whole thing could have been a cheesy mess had it not been for the two leads and the expert direction of Don Siegel.
    Clint Eastwood has always cited as Don Siegel as his greatest mentor.
    Another interesting nugget of Western film info is that the story was written by no other than Budd Boetticher, the director of the fantastic later Randolph Scott Westerns.

    "Pour yourself some backbone and shut up!"

    Edited once, last by Dooley ().

  • It's high on my list! There's not too many C.E. movies i don't like!


    Couldn't agree more. Come to think of it there are very few other actors I can think of whose body of work holds up as well as Clint Eastwood's.

    "Pour yourself some backbone and shut up!"