The southern border between the United States and Mexico (of which Arizona comprises a significant part) had been a contentious, hot button political and social issue for many years before this specific topic was part of my ASU class discussion board in the early 2010s. For many Americans it became THE primary issue which propelled Donald Trump back into the White House in the landslide 2024 presidential election. Here is what I wrote about this issue then:
The various film genres from Hollywood’s “Golden Age” which had reached its zenith by the late 1940s, had differing attitudes and portrayals of the border the US shares with Mexico and our neighbors who live below. Our lecture had discussed the Pan-American Good Neighbor policy that Washington was eager to cultivate with Mexico, the Caribbean, and other Latin American countries during the tumultuous World War Two period. Of course, as American popular culture was so influential throughout the entire hemisphere, the cooperation of Hollywood went a long way towards achieving the desired alliance.
However, these results were mixed as splashy Technicolor musicals such as Holiday In Mexico (MGM, 1946) tended to glamorize the region and portray Latin America as an endless carnival of fun and frivolity for well-to-do American tourists. Westerns though, generally continued to have a different view of “south-of-border” as lurid, flamboyant epics like Duel In The Sun (also 1946) illustrated rather too well. From viewing this very entertaining but (at times) overwrought melodrama – we get the distinct impression that any blending of Anglo and Hispanic cultures (especially where sexuality and /or marriage is concerned) cannot be anything good and careens straight towards disaster.
Of course, two brothers…one good and one bad are both in competition for the forbidden, treacherous “Mexican Spitfire” proves that Duel In The Sun is another re-tread that was played out in seemingly countless B-picture variations. In this narrative the audience is presented with an A-list cast, blazing color landscapes, and a sumptuous, big studio budget which was reportedly in the $6,000,000 range — an absolutely breathtaking sum for that era. Even long after Duel In The Sun, Westerns still had that stubborn tendency to portray the border in a bad light of greasy and grubby bandits, heartless Latina vamps, and all sorts of other violent and perfidious characters which would populate through any number of films.
Among these better known cinematic offerings are The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948) where bandits still terrorized the countryside in the wake of yet another Mexican Revolution. They Came To Cordura (1959) revolves around a U.S. Cavalry detachment pursuing and trying to capture Pancho Villa in Mexico. The Wild Bunch (1969) is an ultra-violent tale of American outlaws trying to score one more train robbery during the World War One era – but they get caught up in a firestorm of bloodshed and revolution instead. The Appaloosa (1966) is concerned mainly with Mexican horse thieves and other complications that arise for the hero (Marlon Brando) to sort out. The Wrath Of God (1972) pertains to a bank robber (Robert Mitchum) who disguises himself as a Catholic priest where more bloody mayhem ensues with all the negative stock character types thrown into the mix.
The above mentioned are just a sampling of the films which portray “south-of-border” in an unflattering light. While Hollywood is not the purveyor of these portrayals as it once was, the news media has certainly picked up the slack (especially the local Arizona news outlets) which constantly feature distressing and fearsome stories of human trafficking, drug smuggling, deaths from exposure in the harsh desert climate and terrain as desperate immigrants attempt to cross it. There is the highly publicized case of a murdered border agent – the Bryan Terry story being a glaring example of this – and on it goes. The overall image of the border has not shown any improvement over the decades – and if anything has worsened.
