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That Old Gringo never reaches its full emotional impact as a
film doesn't really matter, because it fulfills in so many
other ways, it is undoubtedly destined to become a film
classic. Old Gringo is basically a love story, almost a love
triangle, told in epic proportions against the back drop of
the Mexican Revolution. Seldom are such complex characters
drawn together under such compelling circumstances.
Because of the 1913 setting and locale there
is considerable animal action with cattle, pigs, chickens and
horses. For the battle scenes, trained falling horses were
brought into Mexico from The States and American Humane was
there for most of the scenes involving horses. However,
there's an important scene involving the shooting of General
Arroyo's horse that was filmed during the transition in AHA's
Los Angeles office. Because no humane representative was
present we spoke with Gregory Peck who was present during the
entire filming of this scene and Mr. Peck described in great
detail how the shocking effect was achieved, and he assured us
that the horse, Twister, was not harmed. In addition to Mr.
Peck's assurance, AHA went to the California ranch where
Twister is kept so that we could observe him recreate his
specialty fall. Twister performed beautifully and is in
excellent condition.
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