22 August 2013

Ricardo Rodríguez

Spanish Actor Ricardo Rodríguez appeared in several Eurowesterns of the 1960s. In Der Letze Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk (Harald Reinl, 1965) he played the evil Magua, leader of the Huron tribesmen.

Ricardo Rodriques in Der Letzte Mohikaner
German postcard, no. 63 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk (1965). Caption: "Magua weiss, dass auch sein Ende da ist. Der alte Häuptling spricht ihm die Stammesehre ab und gewährt ihm drei Trommelwirbel Vorsprung zur Flucht. Doch Magua rührt sich nicht. Nach dem dritten Trommelwirbel stricken ihn die Pfeile der Bogenschützen nieder. Neben Unkas findet er den Tod." (Magua knows that his end is here. The old chief speaks to him from the tribal honor and grants him three drum roll lead to flee. But Magua does not move. After the third drum roll the arrows of the archers knit him down. Besides Uncas he finds death.)

Indians
We did not find any private information about Ricardo Rodríguez (also Rodrigues). He made his first film appearance as ‘8th gendarme’ in The Ceremony (Laurence Harvey, 1963), a crime drama starring Laurence Harvey and Sarah Miles.

This debut was soon followed by small roles as an Indian in Eurowesterns like the excellent Spanish western Antes llega la muerte/Hour of Death (Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent, 1964), and Aventuras del Oeste/Seven Hours of Gunfire (Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent, 1965), starring Rik van Nutter as Buffalo Bill and Adrian Hoven as Wild Bill Hickok.

Rodríguez also appeared in Dos pistolas gemelas/Two Guns for Two Twins (Rafael Romero Marchent, 1966) starring the twin Pilar and Emilia Bayona (aka Pili y Mili) and Sean Flynn. Flynn, the son of Erroll Flynn and Lily Damita, disappeared a few years later, during the Vietnam war.

Joachim Fuchsberger, Ricardo Rodriguez, Der Letzte Mohikaner
German postcard, no. 20 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner with Joachim Fuchsberger.

Ricardo Rodriguez, Der Letzte Mohikaner
German postcard, no. 26 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner.

Eurospyfilm
Ricardo Rodriquez then portrayed Magua, the evil leader of the Huron tribesmen in the German-Italian-Spanish Western Der Letze Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk (Harald Reinl, 1965), based on James Fenimore Cooper's famous novel The Last of the Mohicans. For the German version his voice was synchronized by Gerd Duwner.

Apart from the Eurowesterns, he also appeared in another popular European film genre of the 1960s, the Eurospyfilm. An example is Asso di picche operazione controspionaggio/Operation Counterspy (Nick Nostro, 1966). In the 1970s followed parts in films like La Leyenda del alcalde de Zalamea/The Legend of the Mayor of Zalamea (1973, Mario Camus) with Francisco Rabal.

Rodriquez last feature film was the hard boiled cop/jungle action pic from Sergio Leone collaborator Aldo Sambrell, La Última jugada/Last Chance (Aldo Sambrell, 1975) in which Ricardo Rodríguez was credited as Richard Roader. According to IMDb reviewer Sorsimus: "A strange mixture of euro crime cinema and jungle war... Short, fast paced and reasonably sleazy, viewed in the right frame of mind, this one should be good for a couple of laughs. The biggest shortcoming must be Sambrell's directing, which has so little regard for coherence, that the film becomes almost a surreal experience."

In 2004 Ricardo Rodríguez finally appeared in the short Historia de un destino/History of a Destiny (Diego Sanchidrián, 2004).

Karin Dor and Ricardo Rodriguez in Der Letzte Mohikaner
German postcard, no. 25 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner with Karin Dor.

Ricardo Rodríquez in Der Letzte Mohikaner
German postcard, no. 57 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Lezte Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk (1965).


German trailer for Der Lezte Mohikaner (1965). Source: Hightower1979 (YouTube).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

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