| Viva Zapata! |
by Gregg Thompson
December 2003
Action, romance, betrayal and death — the 1952 “bio-pic” on the life of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata had it all. Fronting the irresistible story-line was a cast of rising Hollywood stars, the formidable directing talents of Elia Kazan and a script written by Pulitzer prize-winner John Steinbeck.
Marlon Brando starred as the moody and intense Zapata in the Darryl F. Zanuck-produced picture that garnered five Academy Award nominations and enormous box-office success for distributor 20th Century-Fox.
“I had started making notes on a film about Emiliano Zapata in 1944,” Kazan recalled. “I had made three trips to Mexico and done years of research and study.”
What Kazan admired was the political idealism and selfless determination of Zapata. “It was the first film I made from an idea that attracted me,” he said.
Kazan was good friends with Pulitzer-winning novelist John Steinbeck, who, like Kazan, had long been fascinated by the heroic character of Zapata. Both viewed the man and the legend as a story that had to be told. “What I needed most was someone who saw in Zapata what I saw in Zapata,” Kazan said.
In 1948 Kazan and Steinbeck began work on the script that would become “Viva Zapata!” Steinbeck was ecstatic. “There´s no other story I would rather do,” he told his movie agent Annie Laurie Williams.
Steinbeck was no stranger to Mexico or Mexicans; the California-born Steinbeck had attained a competent fluency in Spanish from his frequent visits to the country. His 1935 best-selling novel about California´s Mexican “paisanos,” “Tortilla Flat,” had first established his literary reputation.
In the 1940´s, Steinbeck wrote scripts for two films made in Mexico, including “The Pearl,” the first Mexican movie to be generally distributed in the United States. His Mexican journeys involved long road trips through Morelos, Zapata´s home state, where he tracked down people who had known the man or who remembered his times. The oral history Steinbeck recorded on his jaunts proved invaluable for the project he and Kazan were now embarked upon.
In 1949 Kazan and Steinbeck took the “Viva Zapata” script to Darryl F. Zanuck, the disputatious head-producer for 20th Century-Fox. Zanuck knew both men well, having produced Kazan´s Oscar-winning “Gentlemen Agreement” in 1947 and also Steinbeck´s “Grapes of Wrath,” the movie based on the 1939 novel for which Steinbeck had won the Pulitzer Prize.
Zanuck was at first lukewarm to the Zapata idea – his staunch Republicanism did not lead him to make films about revolutionaries. But Zanuck also had a keen eye for the unusual, says Hollywood writer Peter Manso. “If general wisdom dictated that something couldn´t be done, this…was usually enough for (Zanuck) to put a project into production.” Zanuck finally gave Kazan and Steinbeck the green light, considering that “Viva Zapata!” would turn out to be “just a big Western.”
Zanuck wanted Tyrone Power cast in the lead role of Zapata, but Kazan insisted on Marlon Brando, whom he had directed in the Broadway production of Tennessee William´s “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Kazan got his way, while acceding to Zanuck´s demand that Howard Hughes´ girlfriend Jean Peters get the supporting role of Josefa, Zapata´s wife.
Kazan and Steinbeck set off to scout locations near Cuernavaca, Morelos. But while Steinbeck was using his Mexican connections to round up a film crew, the project hit a snag – before production could begin the Mexican government insisted on vetting the script. Thirty years after the death of the revolutionary, Zapata was still a sensitive political subject.
Zanuck quickly backed off shooting the movie in Mexico, disappointing both Kazan and Steinbeck, who felt a Mexican location was intrinsic to the film. But Zanuck wouldn´t give in, and the movie was shot largely in Roma, Texas, chosen for its picturesque Spanish colonial church and authentic cobblestone town plaza.
Portraying Emiliano Zapata in the lead role presented the 28-year-old Marlon Brando with some career “firsts”. It was his first action film, his first in costume and importantly, his first role playing a character outside his own culture.
Director Kazan found Brando unfazed. “I told him the goal we had to reach, and before I would finish talking he´d nod his head and walk away. He had the idea, knew what he had to do, and was, as usual, ahead of me,” said Kazan. “Brando´s instincts went beyond his knowledge.”
Following his instincts earned Anthony Quinn an Oscar in his supporting role as Zapata´s older brother Eufemio. “The picture was very personal to me,” said Quinn. “You always look to a picture you can identify with…and this was my background.” Quinn was born in Mexico and his family had fought in the Mexican Revolution with Pancho Villa.
On the trip to Texas, Kazan had placed Quinn and Brando in the same train compartment. “He (Kazan) wanted us to be brothers, and we tried it,” Quinn recalled. But like tequila and red wine, the two actors didn´t mix well together. Quinn felt “very self-conscious” around Brando, in part, no doubt, because Brando talked more to his pet raccoon “Russell” – smuggled aboard in Brando´s kit bag — than he did to Quinn.
Kazan´s directing tactics didn´t help either – a fight scene between the brothers nearly turned into the real thing. Both actors had played the part of Stanley Kowalski in “Streetcar…” and Kazan told Brando that Quinn thought he (Quinn) had turned in the better role. Kazan then turned the tables and told Quinn, Brando felt the same about his performance. During the staged fight scene Brando ran amok. “He pulled my hair and I could have driven the f——g sword right through him,” Quinn said later. “He didn´t have to go that far.”
“Viva Zapata” was released in February 1952 and grossed $3,000,000 in less than a month. Reviews were favorable, although New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther doubted the historical accuracy of the film. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Actor, but Brando lost out to Gary Cooper in “High Noon.” |
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