The Missing One

If there was a prize for bad dubbing, then this early 1970s Mexican hacienda western/melodrama would deservedly stand on the podium. Farcical voices, over-the-top sound effects and grating, absurd musical cues; it’s all here. The original Spanish language track lends the film more gravitas, but still not enough to raise the bar even to the level of mediocre. Arturo Martinez’s unexciting direction, plus the dreary clichéd revenge-driven plot consign this film firmly to the forgotten pile of both the western genre and Mexican cinema.

Valente Rojas Jr., a bullied, timid child, witnesses his father’s brutal death — shot in the back by the two heads of the Beltran and Landeros families. He’s raised by and guided by his godfather but when he reaches maturity, and against his godfather’s advice, Valente (Valentín Trujillo) sets out on his own to get revenge.

Entering a nearby township controlled by the bullying Beltran/Landeros partnership, he quickly catches the eye and heart of the attractive but dominant Julia Beltran (Verónica Castro), winning a dance with her at a local fiesta. However, his mission of vengeance is thwarted when he discovers that out of the two murderous Beltran/Landeros patriarchs, only Landeros is still alive, but now a wheelchair bound mute.

Valente is later attacked and beaten by a group of thugs, led by the sons, Albert Landeros (Fernando Balzaretti) and Jorge Beltran (Octavio Galindo), only to be rescued from certain death by Julia and the furtive but helpful Luciana (Patricia Aspíllaga). After recovering at Luciana’s, and against her better judgement he decides to take out his vengeance on the two sons of the Beltran/Landeros families instead.