Heading to Mexico for the first time since 1945’s The Three Caballeros, this next film became one of my delightful discoveries. I’d never seen it prior to this project and I’m so glad I had the opportunity. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.
Update: In February 2022, I started a video version of the DFP on Tiktok. You can find the video below. Thoughts expressed in the video may be different than what are expressed in the blog post, due to the time difference in posting.
A Brief Summary
Pablito is a young boy in Mexico, working with his stepfather, Chato, for General Torres. His love for Conquistador, the General’s prized jumping horse, gets him into trouble when he has to save the horse’s life by running away with it. With his stepfather in pursuit, he travels through several towns before losing the horse himself. When he locates Conquistador inside a bullring, it will take courage to get them both to freedom. Includes an injured girl, a festival mask, and a unique bridle.
What works
- So there’s this scene somewhat early on in the film. Pablito was laying on the floor and Chato comes in to talk to him about the special ‘training’ (adding a nail-spiked bar to the jumping wall) he gave Conquistador earlier in the day. Now after watching this film for the first time during the initial run of the DFP, I thought this scene showed Chato’s gentler side. That he cared just a little bit for Pablito and did actually look out for him during non-working hours. No, my friends. Chato’s soft, kind voice lied to me. I paid extra attention to the dialogue and his gentle tone made his words that much crueler. It was wonderful (from a villain’s point of view.
- Chato was probably my favorite character to watch because while he is a villain the entire time, he has different ways of showing it that I enjoyed. When he’s first introduced, he’s very courteous to the General (ahem, I’d call it brown-nosing), but curt to other riders and to Pablito. But that’s not even what gets him into trouble. That part’s actually rather simple. He’s greedy. He’s the trainer of the General’s prized horse, Conquistador, and starts betting right and left that Conquistador will win the upcoming trials. But surprise, surprise, he doesn’t have the money to pay them back, causing his level of desperation to grow as he hunts down Pablito and Conquistador. It’s his desperation that makes him so fun to watch because it alters what could have been normal (albeit professional) interactions and puts him on the run almost as much as Pablito.
- At times throughout the film, both General Torres and Chato demonstrate similar levels of anger. However, the reasoning behind their anger changes how their character is viewed.
- With the General, his anger comes first from Conquistador failing to do the high jump at the trials, then after his daughter, Celita, is injured from a fall off of Conquistador and finally when he finds out that Pablito has run off with the horse. He had lashed out in panicked anger as he was carrying his injured daughter, wanting Chato to get rid of Pablito and to destroy Conquistador, which then prompted Pablito to escape with the horse. But other than those moments, he’s actually not a bad guy. He’s a respected general, a doting father and his forgiveness of Pablito at the end is one of the best moments in the film.
- Chato, on the other hand, is cruel throughout the film, caring only for himself and his interests. As his desperation grows, he gets worse. In fact, he was so eager to carry out the General’s orders to destroy the horse because it meant that no one would ever find out that he was the reason behind Conquistador’s failure at the trials.
What may or may not work
- The diction. For most of the film, the characters speak at a natural pace. Every so often, however, they over-enunciate their lines, slowing down the speed at which the words are spoken. It’s not terrible and it doesn’t happen that much, but it happens enough that it sticks out, pulling me for just a moment out of the story.
- Pablito is on the train with Conquistador and the station man, Garcia, has called the General to inform him of his horse’s location. When Chato arrives at the station, Garcia tells him there’s not much time and that he wants his reward money. Then the train departs leaving them behind as Pablito and Conquistador head to San Miguel. I’m sorry, what? Getting reward money takes time, unloading a horse takes time. Now I get it, it’s funny that it leaves so quickly and it helps move the story along. So for that, I like how it happens. But if Garcia is so intent on getting the reward money (and after meeting his wife, it’s understandable why he’s insistent), why didn’t he make it so there was time to get the horse off the train and actually get the money? There’s hardly any tension during that scene because there’s no time for tension to build up.
Honorable Mentions
- A drunk man walks up against Conquistador’s rear end. He lifts his hat, “Excuse me, senorita” and continues on his way.
- Pablito and Conquistador are walking through a market at breakfast time. Pablito says to Conquistador “I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse.” At which point, he turns and says, “Oh sorry, I mean a cow. I’m so hungry, I could eat a cow.”
Side Questions
- Chato is Pablito’s step-father but what happened to his parents? How did he end up solely in Chato’s care?
- Why doesn’t Pablito realize that half of his problems come from him telling EVERYONE that his horse is Conquistador, belonging to General Torres?! Not only that, but he tries to leave the Padre because he’s afraid that Padre will make him go back to the General and that the Padre’s friends will tell the General. He’s honest, which is good, but no one else seems to tell him “you probably shouldn’t say that this is the General’s horse” which doesn’t really make sense.
What I learned from watching this film
- I know I talked a lot about Chato but he just gave me so much to focus on. He was reappearing throughout the film as he chased after Pablito, getting closer and closer until finally he was caught by the men who he owed money to. His story arc was so satisfying! He was a bad guy, doing bad things and seemingly getting away with it until finally he just couldn’t. Oh man, I was thrilled. It can be a hit-or-miss sometimes if a character’s ending is one that the audience will be content with, even happy with, ESPECIALLY if it’s a villain. But Chato’s ending? Two thumbs up for that.
- Something else that I really enjoyed was that while Pablito was the main character, there were things he couldn’t do without an adult’s help. Now, this is nothing against Pablito. There were several obstacles, mainly regarding Conquistador’s health and injuries, where Pablito just didn’t have the knowledge or training to fix on his own. Those obstacles gave him a chance to ask for help, learn from others and to grow as a character. By the end of the film, he was standing taller (metaphorically, if not literally) than he had at the beginning, and had earned his happy ending.
If you’ve seen The Littlest Outlaw, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!
Rewind to the beginning of the Disney Film Project
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