OK, let's say up front that many of the complaints about "Old Gringo" you may have read in the national (and international) press are on the mark - Jane Fonda is too old for her role, the film lacks the necessary heart and passion to make it come alive and the pacing is extremely sluggish.
But there is some entertainment value to this adaptation of the Carlos Fuentes novel "Gringo Viejo," which speculates as to the fate of Ambrose Bierce, an American journalist who disappeared into Mexico in 1913, when he was 71.
He reportedly had wanted to join up with Pancho Villa, and the film has Bierce (played by Gregory Peck) meeting Gen. Arroyo (Jimmy Smits), one of Villa's men, and following him, spouting philosophy and advice along the way.
To create a romantic triangle involving these two characters, there is an American spinster, Harriet Winslow (Fonda), who has been hired by an aristocratic family as a governess. Arroyo has his soldiers pose as patrons of the family to take Winslow to their lavish hacienda, but it is merely a ruse to get Arroyo on the premises.
Once at this place of ostentatious wealth, the film bogs down and never quite recovers as Arroyo becomes obsessed with his past, Bierce mourns his own past and Winslow becomes an object of conquest to them both.
Despite flamboyant battles, fireworks, love scenes and executions, however, "Old Gringo" smolders and smolders but never catches fire.
Still, there is wonderful period detail and two very memorable performances, those by Peck and Smits.
Gregory Peck, in his twilight years, is crusty, soft-hearted and articulate as the journalist who has come to Mexico to die on his own terms, and his combination of frailty and gusto is welcome every time he appears on the screen.
Smits is perfect as the hot-tempered, illiterate Mexican revolutionary who thinks in obsessive immediate terms rather than taking into consideration the broader perspective. And Fonda is good in her role, her usual mannered reactions seeming quite appropriate for the uptight woman she plays. And her age probably wouldn't even be an issue if it were not so obvious that in some scenes her face is photographed with a soft-focus lens, while other actors are not.
Argentinian director Luis Puenzo, who also co-wrote and directed the superb "Official Story," has perhaps seen too many American westerns, since the battle scenes are overly familiar and the transition scenes almost nonexistent. And his script (co-written with "Official Story" collaborator Aida Bortnik) gives all the best lines to Bierce, while the other characters float in a sea of flowery, sometimes quite silly dialogue. There is also an especially ill-conceived voice-over narration by Fonda that is redundant and unnecessary.
"Old Gringo" is rated R for sex and nudity mainly, with quite a bit of violence and a profanity or two.