Line #7 Film/AndStarringPanchoVillaAsHimself


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/and_starring.jpg]]
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3	A 2003 Creator/{{HBO}} original movie written by Larry Gelbart and directed by Creator/BruceBeresford.
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5	Running short of money for UsefulNotes/TheMexicanRevolution, General Pancho Villa (Creator/AntonioBanderas) approaches Hollywood filmmaker Creator/DWGriffith (Creator/ColmFeore) to make a movie about his life.
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7	Griffith sends the young Frank Thayer (Creator/EionBailey) to strike a deal in which the needs of war and truth must give way to the rules of entertainment. Creator/KyleChandler plays Creator/RaoulWalsh, an up-and-coming young director and member of Griffith's [[invoked]]ProductionPosse, who is tabbed to make Pancho Villa's movie.
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10	!!This film contains the following tropes:
11	* ActionGirlfriend: Villa has one as his mistress.
12	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: InUniverse; Pancho Villa isn’t happy about the changes made to his BackStory to make him more acceptable to an American audience.
13	* AnArmAndALeg: Drebin loses an arm.
14	* AndStarring: Invoked in the title.
15	* AutobiographicalRole: Pancho Villa does a cameo AsHimself at the end of ''The Life Of General Villa'', as an elderly ruler in Mexico City after the Revolution has been won, pondering WasItReallyWorthIt. The answer is yes to save his beloved Mexico from tyranny.
16	* BadassBandolier: Naturally, given that Pancho Villa was probably the TropeMaker.
17	* BathtubBonding: Villa and Thayer in a rock pool.
18	* BeenThereShapedHistory: Frank Thayer decides it’s not a bad thing to be a “footnote to a legend”.
19	* BigDamnHeroes: In ''The Life of General Villa'', the title character charges in to save his family from rape by the evil Federals. The real Villa implies he wasn't so lucky.
20	* BookEnds: Thayer and his cameraman miss the opportunity to film Villa acting JustLikeRobinHood. So they set up the camera when it looks like the same thing will happen again, only to witness Villa BoomHeadshot a grieving widow after she spits on him.
21	* BrokenPedestal: Thayer regards Villa as a heroic revolutionary, but seeing him coldly execute a grieving widow changes his mind.
22	* ChildSoldier: Villa conscripts children into his army. Which doesn't stop the moviemakers from lambasting the Federals for shooting them.
23	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: This film came out at a time when the media coverage of the First Gulf War was being criticised for having more entertainment value than accurate reporting.
24	* DontTellMama: Drebin tells Thayer not to let his mother know what business he's in.
25	* DoubleEntendre: When Drebin recruits the prostitutes as extras he quips, "Ladies, this work you do standing up."
26	* DoubleStandard: ''The Life Of General Villa'' emphasises that Federal troops have killed [[WouldHitAGirl women]] and [[WouldHurtAChild children]] – never mind those same women and children were armed rebels attacking them at the time.
27	* DramaticNecklaceRemoval: After Thayer sees Villa execute the widow, he tears off the medal Villa gave him and throws it at Villa’s feet.
28	* DyeingForYourArt (InUniverse): Villa muses that the woman sent to play his mother is blonde. She’s a brunette for the movie, of course.
29	* EyeContactAsProof: A journalist tells Thayer that [[AxCrazy Villa will kill a man just for looking at him]]. When Thayer is sent to negotiate with Villa, he keeps avoiding his gaze until Villa complains that he can’t trust a man who won’t look him in the eye.
30	* FiringSquad: Villa [[KickTheDog throws a scare]] into the actors and producers with a fake execution.
31	* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Villa's image is changed by the filmmakers for RuleOfDrama and to make him more acceptable to American audiences. He’s portrayed as a landowner to alleviate concerns that he’s a socialist revolutionary, and the scene where he murders a grieving woman is not included in the movie.
32	* HollywoodTactics: Literally! Villa originally intends to attack Torreon with the sun behind his troops, so the Federal defenders will be BlindedByTheLight. But that means the cameras can’t film the attack. So his troops charge towards the sun and get massacred by the Federals who can see them clearly. Villa then attacks at night, promising to recreate the battle for the cameras the next day.
33	* HorsebackHeroism:
34	** Villa is skeptical about Creator/RaoulWalsh, the American actor sent to portray him, and so the two men compete in showing off their horseriding and shooting skills. Fortunately Walsh is good enough to satisfy Villa.
35	** During the train ambush, Thayer sets up his cameras under fire, points them back at the train and shouts "ACTION!" Cue Villa and his cavalry riding out of the rail cars straight into battle.
36	* ImprovisedArmour: Wheat bags are used to protect the bulky hand-cranked cameras and their exposed operators.
37	* IronicEcho: Thayer says “Onward and upward” on seeing his love interest [[GoldDigger Teddy Sampson]] gracing the arm of someone higher up the HorribleHollywood hierarchy.
38	* ItWillNeverCatchOn: The idea of a movie lasting more than an hour.
39	* LargeHam: Any of the actors in ''The Life of General Villa'', which was a necessity in a SilentMovie.
40	* MakingTheMasterpiece: The film documents the production of ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_of_General_Villa The Life of General Villa]]'', a 1914 docudrama that, per this film's title, featured the real Villa playing himself.
41	* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Jewish-American mercenary [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Dreben Sam Drebin]].
42	* RealityIsUnrealistic:
43	** The initial footage of Villa's ragtag army is treated with derision by potential investors. So the moviemakers provide uniforms, hire an actor to play Pancho Villa, and start inventing scenes for RuleOfDrama.
44	** A scene is filmed of the gallant rebels returning home to the enthusiastic greeting of their womenfolk. Only the women are shy and awkward on camera, so prostitutes are used instead.
45	* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized
46	-->"You know what it is to say to a whole country: 'Let me make everything that's wrong, right for you. Let me carry you all on my shoulders.'? Eventually you begin to [[TheChainsOfCommanding resent the weight]]."
47	* {{Retraux}}: As there are only a few clips and publicity shots left from ''The Life Of General Villa'' (which was lost forever in a studio fire) scenes were recreated for the movie.
48	* ShootTheTelevision: Villa is shown a newsreel of President Diaz giving a BalconySpeech, promising the crowd he'll destroy Villa, who draws his pistol and puts a bullet through the screen, right over Diaz's head.
49	* ShowWithinAShow: The SilentMovie ''The Life of General Villa''.
50	* ShroudedInMyth: Thanks to ''The Life Of General Villa'', Pancho Villa continues to serve as an inspiration for the Mexican people after his assassination.
51	* SpitefulSpit = BoomHeadshot
52	* TemptingFate: The rebels are issued with surplus Confederate uniforms from the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, which the Americans hope isn't a bad omen, given that they lost.
53	* WarForFunAndProfit: Villa is able to finance his revolution, and gets favorable publicity to counter the press campaign being run against him by the Hearst media empire. In turn Creator/DWGriffith gets the first feature-length movie.

Context Film / AndStarringPanchoVillaAsHimself