Word: ballads
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...BALLAD OF GREGORIO CORTEZ is at once a Western, a tale of the first Hispanic hero, and a portrait of turn-of-the-century America, and on all three of these levels it works impressively well. Equally impressive is the filmmaker's dedication in producing this unusual movie with a $1.3 million budget, a fraction of the cost of the typical Hollywood release...
...Mexican-American cowhand accused of killing a sheriff in 1901. Cortez was eventually captured and sentenced to 50 years in prison, though his attorney proved later that the confrontation and killing had been a mistake--the result of a misinterpretation of Spanish. Cortez' struggle became a legend, and a ballad hailing him is still sung in the Rio Grande Valley...
...Film distributors have tended to feel justified in rejecting scripts because "there's no Hispanic market." They cite the example of the last Hollywood film about Chicanos--Zoot Suit--which brought Hispanic audiences out in Los Angeles but did not do well in other parts of the country. The Ballad's final release is due to a dedicated effort on the part of several Chicano artists who had made it in mainstream film. The credits include an amazingly large number of Spanish surnames--Moctesuma Esparza, producer; Edward Olmos, lead; Raymond Villalobos, cinematographer; David Ochoa and H. Frank Dominguez, executive producer...
...what's old, in the case currently under consideration, is very new indeed for Linda Ronstadt, 37, whose lovelorn voice has provided rock 'n' roll with some of the best ballad singing of the decade just past. Now, turning to other decades long past and currently in musical disfavor among her peers, Ronstadt has found a fresh direction. What's New, released last week by Asylum, avoids all the obvious routes. Powered by the celestial arrangements of Nelson Riddle, the album is not a sentimental journey, a dizzy camp-out or a show-biz grandstand play...
...long and sometimes bumpy ride. Her pal J.D. Souther, a pretty fair hand at writing a ballad himself (Prisoner in Disguise), liked to play Frank Sinatra's 1958 album for her, Only the Lonely. She also listened a lot to the extensive collection of vintage records owned by another friend, Author Pete Hamill. But it was not until the summer of 1980, listening one weekend to a Mildred Bailey record ("She sounds very pure and sexy at the same time-a sexy Snow White") at the home of Producer Jerry Wexler, that Ronstadt first hit on the idea...