The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

“The true story of one man who made a difference.”

A lawman lies dead in Texas in 1901, and a misunderstanding over a translated word is all anyone can point to. Gregorio Cortez (Edward James Olmos), a Mexican American farmer, takes to horseback with a posse behind him, while Sheriff Frank Fly (James Gammon) and a reporter, Blakely (Bruce McGill), each tell the story their own way. Robert M. Young shoots the dry brush country in flat, sun-bleached light and keeps the camera at the distance of a witness.