Pedro Páramo is a 1967 Mexican drama film directed by Carlos Velo. It was entered into the 1967 Cannes Film Festival. It is based on the short novel of the same name by Juan Rulfo, with a screenplay partly by Carlos Fuentes.
Contents
Cast
John Gavin as Pedro Páramo
Ignacio López Tarso as Fulgor Sedano
Pilar Pellicer as Susana San Juan
Carlos Fernández as Juan Preciado
Julissa as Ana Rentería
Graciela Doring as Damiana Cisneros
Augusto Benedico as Padre Rentería
Beatriz Sheridan as Eduviges Diada
Claudia Millán as Dolores Preciado
Rosa Furman as Dorotea la Cuarraca
Joaquín Martínez as Abundio Martínez
Jorge Russek as El Tilcuate
Eric del Castillo as Perseverancio
Amparo Villegas as Madre Villa
Graciela Lara
Alfonso Arau as Saltaperico
Production
John Gavin was best known for appearing in films produced by Ross Hunter. He had a Mexican mother and said he made this film "so I could make something I was proud of". He was first asked to make the film by Fuentes in 1962. Gavin:
In Mexico, Pedro Páramo is as important as Don Quixote is in Spain. This may sound grandiose but it can be compared with Dante's Divine Inferno or Goethe's Faust. It is the journey of a young man in search of his father but, as an allegory, it is man in search of himself... It's the biggest Mexican film ever made.
Co-star Ignacio López Tarso described the decision to cast Gavin as a serious mistake: "The cast was very good, except for the main character."
Release
The film was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967 and released in Mexico and the US the same year.
Reception
Despite the high expectations that surrounded its release, the film was not a success. It was poorly received at Cannes and Rulfo himself described it as "a very bad film". Velo said he was frustrated with the result because, despite its magnificent script and stupendous actors, it was "subjected to a flattening in its production, to a hateful level of industrial mediocrity".