El compadre Mendoza

Director Fernando de Fuentes
Year 1934
Country Mexico
Runtime 1h 25m
Language Spanish
Format 35mm
TMDB View entry
Synopsis

Initially a movement to overthrow the dictator Porfirio Díaz, by 1913 the Revolution had devolved into a factional civil war, with various leaders vying for power. During this chaotic period, Rosalío Mendoza (Alfredo del Diestro again), a wily, well-to-do rancher, thrives by opportunistically supporting whichever faction appears at his hacienda’s doorstep. When troops loyal to Emiliano Zapata arrive, Mendoza befriends their general, Felipe Nieto (Antonio R. Frausto). They become so close that the Mendozas name their first child after Nieto, and he becomes the boy’s godfather. But what will Mendoza do when a rival faction offers him a huge sum of money to betray Nieto? In a national survey of film critics and historians in 1994, EL COMPADRE MENDOZA was voted the third best Mexican film ever made.