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The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

cover of Ballad of Gregorio
by Robert M. Young
1982

In this film set in 1901 and based on a true story, Edward James Olmos plays a young Mexican named Gregorio Cortez. Cortez  killed a sheriff in Gonzales, Tex. and flees, chased by a 600 man posse led by the Texas Rangers. Ultimately captured, his trial had essentially a pre-determined outcome. In the trial, it was revealed that an interpreter had inadvertently distorted the sheriff's meaning and turned an inquiry into a threat. The real Cortez served 12 years of a 50 year sentence, getting out only after a Governor's pardon.

Recommended by YWCA Madison