The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez
Forced to run from the Texas Rangers after a heated misunderstanding leads to the death of a lawman, Mexican American farmer Gregorio Cortez sets off in desperate flight, evading a massive manhunt on horseback for days. Producer-star Edward James Olmos, seeking to shed new light on a historical incident that had been enshrined in a corrido (folk song), enlisted director Robert M. Young, a longtime practitioner of socially engaged realism, to helm this trailblazing independent film, a landmark of Chicano cinema. Shifting its perspective between the pursuers and the pursued, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez is a thrilling chase film and a nuanced procedural that peels away the layers of prejudice and myth surrounding Cortez, uncovering the true story of an ordinary man persecuted by the law and transfigured by legend.
Special Features
- New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New interview with actor and producer Edward James Olmos
- New interview with Chon A. Noriega, author of Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema
- Cast-and-crew panel from 2016 including Olmos; director Robert M. Young; producer Moctesuma Esparza; cinematographer Reynaldo Villalobos; and actors Bruce McGill, Tom Bower, Rosanna DeSoto, and Pepe Serna
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Charles Ramírez Berg
New cover by Juan R. Fuentes
Special Features
- New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New interview with actor and producer Edward James Olmos
- New interview with Chon A. Noriega, author of Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema
- Cast-and-crew panel from 2016 including Olmos; director Robert M. Young; producer Moctesuma Esparza; cinematographer Reynaldo Villalobos; and actors Bruce McGill, Tom Bower, Rosanna DeSoto, and Pepe Serna
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Charles Ramírez Berg
New cover by Juan R. Fuentes
Cast
- Edward James Olmos
- Gregorio Cortez
- James Gammon
- Frank Fly
- Tom Bower
- Boone Choate
- Bruce McGill
- Reporter Blakely
- Brion James
- Captain Rogers
- Alan Vint
- Mike Trimmell
- Timothy Scott
- Sherriff Morris
- Pepe Serna
- Romaldo Cortez
- Michael McGuire
- Sherriff Glover
Credits
- Director
- Robert M. Young
- Screenplay by
- Victor Villaseñor
- Adapted by
- Robert M. Young
- Based on the book With His Pistol in His Hand by
- Américo Paredes
- Produced by
- Moctesuma Esparza
- Produced by
- Michael Hausman
- Executive producer
- David Ochoa
- Executive producer
- H. Frank Dominguez
- Director of photography
- Ray Villalobos
- Music composed and adapted by
- W. Michael Lewis
- Music composed and adapted by
- Edward James Olmos
A scene from The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez
