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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1960s
    Movies - 1960s Movies - V 2 Mins Read

    Viva Maria (1965)

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    France’s two top female stars, Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau play the two Marias – a singer and the bomb-flinging anarchist orphaned daughter of an Irish rebel – who get mixed up with dashing rebel leader Flores (George Hamilton) and take up the cause of the peasants in South America.

    Along with a colourful cast of acrobats, jugglers, a strong man and a magician, the ladies adventure across San Miguel, until imprisoned by sadistic dictator Rodriguez (Carlos López Moctezuma). Maria II falls in love with handsome freedom fighter Flores (George Hamilton), which further spurs Maria I to break out her sharp-shooter and bomb-making skills as the ladies become the unlikeliest of revolutionary heroines.

    vivamaria_633

    Their striptease act gets more daring with each performance – including one where the audience disrobes before they do!

    It’s a shame about George Hamilton and his OTT Spanish accent (“Aye yam driven to fight injoostice”), but an array of eccentric characters include Mexican horror regular Claudio Brook as the troupe’s ingenious gunsmith, whom Maria I shocks by advising how to build a gun that shoots around corners; the little boy whose constant attempts to cop an eyeful of the Marias in action results in a slap from his mama, and a magician who clips hand grenades to his trained pigeons.

    Shot by a French director in Eastmancolor and Panavision on location in Mexico, Viva Maria attempted to emulate the visual quality of Hollywood movies, while at the same time wittily sending up the kind of super-production it is.

    The gaiety of this large-scale production is in complete contrast to director Louis Malle’s previous film, the downbeat Le Feu Follet.

    Some critics deplored this foray by Malle into commercial cinema.

    Maria I
    Brigitte Bardot
    Maria Fitzgerald O’Malley (Maria II)
    Jeanne Moreau
    Flores
    George Hamilton
    Mme Diogène
    Paulette Dubost
    Diogène
    Gregor von Rezzori
    Werther
    Poldo Bendandi
    The Great Rodolfo
    Claudio Brook
    Rodríguez 
    Carlos López Moctezuma
    Juanito Diogène
    Jonathan Eden
    Father Superior
    Francisco Reiguera
    Janine
    Adriana Roel
    Don Alvaro
    José Baviera
    Dictator of San Miguel
    José Ángel Espinoza
    Father of Maria II
    Fernando Wagner
    Pablo
    Roberto Pedret

    Director
    Louis Malle

    Video

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    For fans of the radio series Round The Horne (1965 - 1968) - starring the inimitable Kenneth Williams - there are several full episodes on Spotify. Some of the humour is still pretty close to the edge, even by modern standards. Bona! 

https://open.spotify.com/show/7DIM1wfGKwDis0uzsjHeP7?si=pG0_U0TjRKGzVDvrePs4vA

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