The time of action of the western Two Mules for Sister Sara (Two Mules for Sister Sara, 1970), which has now become a classic, is perfectly described by Joseph Brodsky in his “Mexican Divertissement” – a time that almost coincided with the Civil War in the USA. The very years in which Sergio Leone’s “dollar trilogy” takes place. Therefore, it does not seem accidental that in the image of a lone cowboy, an adventurer of the purest test, in pursuit of gold, not afraid to find himself even in the depths of war on foreign territory, none other than Clint Eastwood appears on the screen again. True, none of those who created it in the real landscapes of Mexico exactly 55 years ago was involved in the original idea of this film story.
In 1967, the first version of the script of this tape was created by Budd Boettiker, who lived in Mexico for a long time and is known for his class B westerns. The main characters of the conceived story were supposed to be a cowboy and a nun traveling through Mexico against the backdrop of the dramatic events of the French intervention of the 1860s. And they were supposed to be played by the stars of the fifties, Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, who had faded a little by that time. In 1957, they already embodied a similar extravagant duet in the great John Huston’s film “God Knows, Mr. Allison,” where a nun and a Marine hid from the Japanese on a small atoll during World War II.
That is, Bettiker, without further ado, slyly suggested, as it were, a versification of that plot in a different historical setting. He was also supposed to act as the director of this tape. But something didn’t work out at the level of producing the film, and Martin Rakin, who acquired the rights to the production, commissioned Albert Maltz, a famous writer and screenwriter included in the Hollywood blacklist during McCarthyism, to rewrite the story. After being expelled from the dream factory, he settled in Mexico and had a good command of the textured material, but, most importantly, he completely transformed the original idea (let’s not spoiler what – it will be clearly visible to those who watch the film to the end).
In the new scenario version, the legendary Elizabeth Taylor was eager to play the role of a nun. It was she who introduced Clint Eastwood to the plot during the filming of the military adventure thriller “Where the Eagles Nest.” The Hollywood diva herself did not take part in it, but accompanied her great husband Richard Burton on the set, in a duet with whom Eastwood played one of the first major roles in Hollywood, having conquered him through Leon’s spaghetti westerns.
So a lone cowboy appeared in the film in the image of Clint, but his companion was not the Cleopatra of world cinema, but the wonderful, albeit quarrelsome on the set, Shirley MacLaine. So this magnificent screen duo appeared, and Don Siegel became the director of the tape. Perhaps his participation in the project ensured the success of his previous work – the crime thriller “Coogan’s Bluff” with the participation of the same Eastwood. Along with Sergio Leone, for Clint, it was Don Siegel who was the master from whom the future director of Unforgiven and other westerns that became classics of world cinema took directing lessons.
Let’s add to the lengthy preamble that the composer of the tape, probably also at the suggestion of Clint Eastwood, was maestro Ennio Morricone, without whose music it is impossible to imagine Leone’s masterpiece westerns and many other movie mags of the Italian and world screen.
“Two Mules for Sister Sara” was a joint film production of one of the Hollywood majors Universal Pictures and one major Mexican studio, which attracted not only the lion’s share of the cast, but also the cameraman Gabriel Figueroa, who shot many pictures of the Mexican period of the work of the genius of cinematic realism Luis Bunuel. However, the second operator of the tape was also Hollywood’s three-time Oscar-winning mastodon Robert Surtees, who had previously worked with Eastwood and Siegel on the production of Coogan’s Bluff.
And as for the story about the western itself, it’s better to see it at least once than to read mountains of books about it. And after watching it once, I’m sure I’ll want to do it again. After all, this movie is one of those that are guaranteed to give a good mood and look great in the company of friends. However, there may probably be those who, for some reason, will not coincide with this extraordinary film. How did this happen, for example, with his original screenwriter Budd Boettiker, who, after seeing the tape, asked Siegel how he could make “such a terrible movie”? To which the director ironically remarked that there is no more wonderful feeling — to wake up in the morning and know that you have a check in the mail. But, jealous of his friend’s success, Boettiker retorted: and even better, waking up in the morning, to be able to look at yourself in the mirror without remorse. It’s up to you, friends, to decide who was right in this dispute. But do it the hard way and include in your next viewing list “Two Mules for Sister Sara”. And with the westerns of Don Siegel (who shot wonderful films in different genres) I am sure we will meet again in this section.
