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Thursday, July 9, 2026

Behold A Pale Horse (1964)

A guerilla leader (Gregory Peck) has been on the run since the Spanish Civil War. A police captain (Anthony Quinn) has been after him for fifteen years without any success. But when the ex-revolutionary learns his mother (Mildred Dunnock) is on her deathbed, he is forced into the open. Based on the novel KILLING A MOUSE ON SUNDAY by Emeric Pressburger (yes, the partner of Michael Powell) and directed by Fred Zinnemann (A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS). One of Zinnemann's duds, he directs at a funereal pace. Overlong, too much time is wasted on the activities of a child (Carlo Angeletti) and the movie could have easily been cut by about fifteen minutes. As the Spanish guerilla, Peck is as miscast as he was in THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL but he's not as much fun here. The whole thing seems pointless. Omar Sharif, who plays a priest in the film, reputedly called it, "a bad movie by a great director". I don't think anyone would disagree with him. With Raymond Pellegrin, Paolo Stoppa, Christian Marquand, Daniela Rocca, Rosalie Crutchley and Michael Lonsdale.

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