I love watching Robert Mitchum films....the guy, despite his protests to the contrary, was a genius at making acting look so simple. Because of this, I always try to watch his movies....including "The Wonderful Country". Sadly, however, this isn't a particular noteworthy....not a bad film but certainly among Mitchum's lesser roles.

The story is mildly interesting...but there is A LOT of plot...probably too much for one film. Mitchum plays a man who's lived in Mexico a long time and works with one of the 'generals' who fought over Mexican territory in the late 19th century. He's sent on a mission to retrieve guns for the general...but ends up breaking his leg in the States. It's a compound fracture and his mission is a loss. Then, while in the States you learn his backstory--most importantly why he ran off to Mexico in the first place. Now there IS a lot more plot...including an unlikely and poorly fleshed out romance, an angry Mexican general, a plot to kill Mitchum's character, marauding Apache Indians in Mexico and more. None of it seemed especially compelling.

Overall, a mildly interesting tale...at best. Not bad but the writing sure could have been better.

By the way, watch carefully if you watch it. Late in the film, one of the greatest pitchers in history is in a small role. Larry 'Satchel' Paige plays a Cavalry sergeant...and it's nice that the film acknowledges the contribution of black soldiers/cavalry....as in real life, about a third of them were black Americans...though you rarely see them represented in films.

The Wonderful Country finds Robert Mitchum as a gunslinger, a pistolero working for the local Mexican governor Pedro Armendariz. He had to flee Texas years ago after a shooting and Armendariz gave him shelter and work.

Despite that Mitchum is sent across the border on a gun buying trip. Unfortunately he takes a bad fall from a horse and winds up with a broken leg. While on the mend in that bordertown and after, Mitchum finds himself in a series of situations that call him to question what he's been doing and just where he can call home.

One of those situations is Julie London, wife of army major Gary Merrill who's got a bit of a past herself. She throws quite a few complications in Mitchum's past.

The Wonderful Country is a nicely put together western shot on location in Durango. It was one of the first westerns to use that town in Mexico, a whole lot more in the sixties would follow.

Besides those already mentioned the performances to watch for in this film are those of Charles McGraw as the frontier doctor and that of Satchel Paige as the cavalry sergeant. A year later John Ford would come out with Sergeant Rutledge about a black cavalry sergeant and the men around him, but I do believe that baseball immortal Satchel Paige was the first in Hollywood to portray a black cavalry man in a major motion picture.

McGraw is something else. He's the doctor who tends to Mitchum's broken leg and befriends him, but then gets one big pang of jealousy about Julie London that leads to tragedy. In real life McGraw was as much the hellraiser as he is in the film.

The Wonderful Country had the good fortune to be partially scripted by Tom Lea so his vision of the characters in his own novel remained pretty much intact. This was the only one of two novels by that writer/artist to be filmed.

That's as good a reason as any to see a very fine western.

American gunman Martin Brady (Robert Mitchum) is helping to run guns for the Castro brothers in Mexico. He breaks his leg in Texas and gets treated by Dr Stovall. U.S. Army Major Colton tries to recruit Brady to convince the Castros to join his fight against the Apaches in Mexico. Captain Rucker wants to recruit him for the Texas Rangers. The guns go missing and Brady is held responsible by the Castros. He falls for Colton's wife Ellen.

The story is a little too sprawling. From Mexico to America and from the Castros to the Buffalo soldiers, the story is doing a lot and has a lot to do. This could be a simpler story. It could be the fight between the Castro brothers. It could be the Buffalo soldiers who don't take over until the midway point. It could be the love triangle with Ellen. It shouldn't be everything and everywhere while being a simple western. My biggest difficulty with the story is his return to the Castros without the guns. I would think that he would search far and wide for the guns, and not return to the Castros without them. I am surprised that he wasn't tortured but the fight between the brothers is a good surprise. Overall, the story meanders a little too much but compelling enough. The look of it is terrific. The cinematography is to be congratulated. On top of everything, Brady should be dead or dying at the end of the movie. It's the type of movie which requires a dark finish.