Another CHE? No Way!
By Norm Schrager at October 14, 2008 | 10:47 pm | Print
Yes way. And you can watch it here… Read on.
Before Steven Soderbergh’s ambitious, two-feature Che (The Argentine and Guerilla), there was another film about Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. No, not The Motorcycle Diaries. The forgotten 1969 bomb Che! (I didn’t add the exclamation point, it’s in the title).
Che! was released in late June of ’69 with the tagline The Most Controversial Rebel of Our Time! (another exclamation point! Okay I added that one.)
Watch it below, courtesy Hulu, and check out our fun facts…
The cast!
:: Omar Sharif as Che Guevara
:: Jack Palance as Fidel Castro (Of course!)
:: Robert Loggia as Faustino Morales
Watch the movie full-screen on Hulu
The reviews!
:: Roger Ebert (1 / 4) — “The movie’s dominant quality is gutlessness.”
:: TV Guide (1 / 4) — “… trite political biography … Palance’s performance as Castro has to be seen to be believed.”
:: Film4 — “… a misfire on all cylinders.”
The place in history!
Che! was the second feature film to focus on Guevara; the first was a 1968 film known as El ‘Che’ Guevara, released in the US as Bloody Che Contra.
Che! was directed by the late Richard Fleischer, who would direct the war classic Tora! Tora! Tora! (more exclamation points) the following year. Fleischer would also helm a collection of guilty pleasure cornball, including Soylent Green, The Jazz Singer, Amityville 3-D and Conan the Destroyer.
Angry right-wing wackies protested the film… no, not because it was so bad, but because they felt it “glorified” Guevara’s life. Ebert mentions a bombing at a NY theater and a Memorial Day protest, and there were reports of Molotov cocktails hitting the screen in Chile and Argentina (not sure why there though…)
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Tworm, 1 year ago
A right wing domestic bombing! That’s amazing! And I love! the exce!mation marks!