The film ends with Franciscan Father Serra(Michael Rennie) ringing a set of bells that has just arrived from the awaited San Antonio, thus negating the planned abandonment of the primitive initial Spanish settlement in Upper California, at San Diego, due to lack of supplies and reinforcements. He's ringing them for joy and as a demonstration of their hoped for use in calling converted Native Americans(NAs) to prayer. However, they might have been rung to commemorate all those Spaniards who died in this initial expedition into the unknown of Upper California, and to all those NAs in CA who would die from introduced diseases and mistreatment by the Spanish, and to those Spanish who would die at the hands of those many NAs in this region who wanted the Spanish to leave.
I hate the title and the implication that this expedition was mostly about looking for gold to steal from the CA natives. Historically, it was motivated by the fear of King Carlos III that some other European power would soon claim this territory before the Spanish got around to establishing some sort of presence there. The 'Seven Cities of Gold' was, of course, a fable, originating from NAs 2 centuries before, that Coronado wasted his time chasing. Of course, the present expedition was an equal failure in this respect. The opening narration suggests that this film is also the story of the Spanish 'conquest' of CA. Again, it's not. It's merely the story of the founding of the first Spanish mission in Upper CA, which would be burned to the ground within a year by NAs, to be rebuilt.
The character Captain Portola(Anthony Quinn), Father Serra, and Graves, are based on those historical persons who were most instrumental in planning and executing this venture. The incident where Portola initially meets Serra in a village, and offers a declined invitation to ride to Mexico City, is based on the historical Serra insisting on walking from Vera Cruz to Mexico city, upon his arrival from Spain. As dramatized, he also walked the whole way on the present expedition. His long-term limp and problem with a snake bite-infected leg is historically true, as is the episode in which it much improved after a muleteer used his traditional treatment for mule leg wounds. Serra and others did stay at the hastily built mission at San Diego Bay, while Portola took the others northward, with the idea of establishing another mission in Monterrey Bay. He didn't find this bay, historically, because of heavy fog, continued north , and made the much more significant discovery of San Francisco Bay. Strangely, this discovery isn't acknowledged in the film until the very end!
The main character of Jose Mendoza(Richard Egan), as Portola's second in command, is fictional, seemingly serving mainly to take part in the tragic incident with the NA princess Ula(Rita Moreno). This reminds me of the incident in 'Hudson Bay', in which Radisson orders the execution of a member of the British royal family, who broke his rule against providing the NAs with liquor, resulting in the death of one. The difference is that Mendoza volunteers his punishment by the Native Americans, who tear his heart out, in Aztec fashion. Or perhaps the idea was that his 'crime' involved matters of the 'heart'. The way it's presented, Ula would seem the more guilty one, as the clear instigator of a marriage proposal with the objecting Mendoza. Nonetheless, her tribe doesn't see it that way, so Mendoza has to 'bite the bullet' to avoid a massacre. Odd that Egan is given first billing, when his character is clearly much less important than those of Quinn and Rennie, and he hardly makes a convincing-looking Spaniard!
There's the strange episode where Serra wanders off to examine some plants, and Mendoza comes looking for him. They get lost in a sand storm after scaring off some NAs, then see a cabin and enter to find a man, woman and young child. They fall asleep and awake out in the bush after the storm. Mendosa reports this as a dream. But Serra says it wasn't a dream, implying it was a miracle....Previously, Serra seemingly saved the expedition by merely offering strings of beads to a hostile group of NAs: another apparent miracle. I guess the point is that, through Serra's faith, God will insure the success of this mission.
Just before the expedition began, Serra gives a speech in which he predicts that the soldiers will try to steal the gold and other valuables of the NAs, then kill or enslave them to further enrich themselves, as past expeditions of this sort had often done. In fact, many of the missions Serra founded would decimate the NAs through disease dissemination and often render them virtual slaves. The change in policy of the new Spanish king from supporting the Jesuits as the advance guard of Spanish culture in northern Mexico and California, to replacing them with Franciscans and military-civilian colonists spelled the death knell for the many NA tribes in CA. The screenplay makes no mention of this critical change in Spanish policy.
Not available on DVD, I caught it on the Fox channel. Filmed in cinemascope, mostly in Mexico.
I hate the title and the implication that this expedition was mostly about looking for gold to steal from the CA natives. Historically, it was motivated by the fear of King Carlos III that some other European power would soon claim this territory before the Spanish got around to establishing some sort of presence there. The 'Seven Cities of Gold' was, of course, a fable, originating from NAs 2 centuries before, that Coronado wasted his time chasing. Of course, the present expedition was an equal failure in this respect. The opening narration suggests that this film is also the story of the Spanish 'conquest' of CA. Again, it's not. It's merely the story of the founding of the first Spanish mission in Upper CA, which would be burned to the ground within a year by NAs, to be rebuilt.
The character Captain Portola(Anthony Quinn), Father Serra, and Graves, are based on those historical persons who were most instrumental in planning and executing this venture. The incident where Portola initially meets Serra in a village, and offers a declined invitation to ride to Mexico City, is based on the historical Serra insisting on walking from Vera Cruz to Mexico city, upon his arrival from Spain. As dramatized, he also walked the whole way on the present expedition. His long-term limp and problem with a snake bite-infected leg is historically true, as is the episode in which it much improved after a muleteer used his traditional treatment for mule leg wounds. Serra and others did stay at the hastily built mission at San Diego Bay, while Portola took the others northward, with the idea of establishing another mission in Monterrey Bay. He didn't find this bay, historically, because of heavy fog, continued north , and made the much more significant discovery of San Francisco Bay. Strangely, this discovery isn't acknowledged in the film until the very end!
The main character of Jose Mendoza(Richard Egan), as Portola's second in command, is fictional, seemingly serving mainly to take part in the tragic incident with the NA princess Ula(Rita Moreno). This reminds me of the incident in 'Hudson Bay', in which Radisson orders the execution of a member of the British royal family, who broke his rule against providing the NAs with liquor, resulting in the death of one. The difference is that Mendoza volunteers his punishment by the Native Americans, who tear his heart out, in Aztec fashion. Or perhaps the idea was that his 'crime' involved matters of the 'heart'. The way it's presented, Ula would seem the more guilty one, as the clear instigator of a marriage proposal with the objecting Mendoza. Nonetheless, her tribe doesn't see it that way, so Mendoza has to 'bite the bullet' to avoid a massacre. Odd that Egan is given first billing, when his character is clearly much less important than those of Quinn and Rennie, and he hardly makes a convincing-looking Spaniard!
There's the strange episode where Serra wanders off to examine some plants, and Mendoza comes looking for him. They get lost in a sand storm after scaring off some NAs, then see a cabin and enter to find a man, woman and young child. They fall asleep and awake out in the bush after the storm. Mendosa reports this as a dream. But Serra says it wasn't a dream, implying it was a miracle....Previously, Serra seemingly saved the expedition by merely offering strings of beads to a hostile group of NAs: another apparent miracle. I guess the point is that, through Serra's faith, God will insure the success of this mission.
Just before the expedition began, Serra gives a speech in which he predicts that the soldiers will try to steal the gold and other valuables of the NAs, then kill or enslave them to further enrich themselves, as past expeditions of this sort had often done. In fact, many of the missions Serra founded would decimate the NAs through disease dissemination and often render them virtual slaves. The change in policy of the new Spanish king from supporting the Jesuits as the advance guard of Spanish culture in northern Mexico and California, to replacing them with Franciscans and military-civilian colonists spelled the death knell for the many NA tribes in CA. The screenplay makes no mention of this critical change in Spanish policy.
Not available on DVD, I caught it on the Fox channel. Filmed in cinemascope, mostly in Mexico.