But, unknown to Quinn, young priest Sharif has inexplicably agreed to take a message to Peck from his mother in the hospital that warns him of the trap. The problem is that when Peck doesn't fall into the trap right away AND his mother dies, Quinn needs to keep this a secret-otherwise the plan will come to nothing. An interesting twist, as Americans in general were pro-Republican (or ambivalent). Now considering that Peck has killed and robbed rather senselessly since the war ended, he does deserve to be captured, so in some ways you actually are rooting for the Fascist police to capture him. Police chief Quinn now plans to use this approaching death as a chance to lure Peck into a trap. Now, after 20 years, Peck is living in France and his mother back in Spain is dying. For this, he is now a wanted criminal-not just an ex-Republican soldier. However, Peck's character refuses to give up the fight and apparently spent the next 20 years making violent incursions into his native land. At the end, when the Republican forces lost, the surviving fighters are shown turning in their arms and immigrating to France. The film begins with a quick summary of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. He was a wonderful actor, certainly, but here he was badly miscast.as was Sharif. But surely there must have been some expatriates or at least people who seemed more Spanish than Gregory Peck. Now part of this could be because Franco did NOT like the film and probably wouldn't have allowed anyone living in Spain to be in the film. And having Muslim-convert Omar Sharif playing a Spanish Catholic priest.! All this is really strange and it's a shame they didn't let any Spaniards play these roles.
Gregory Peck?! At least Anthony Quinn kinda looks Spanish (heck, he's played just about every nationality there is plus half his background is Mexican). Although the people in the film are supposed to be Spanish, none of the major actors in the film are from Spain.
Trivia: General Franco, leader of the Nationalists side during the Spanish Civil War and Dictator of Spain for thirty-six years (1939-1975) banned this movie from playing in Spain.Reviewed by MartinHafer 6 / 10 Zinnemann made some exceptional suspense films-sadly, this is only okay. The stage is set for the final battle between the two men. After twenty years Vinolas ( Anthony Quinn) believes he has finally has come up with a plan that will bring about the destruction of Artiguez ( Gregory Peck).
Vinolas of the Guardia Civil, the national Spanish police, played by Anthony Quinn.
Gregory Peck plays Manuel Artiguez, a die-hard Republican (the side that lost) who lives in exile in Southern France, but continues to conduct raids into Northern Spain even though the war has been over for twenty years. No doubt one of the things that hurt it at the box-office (in the United states) was it was a story about the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), an event that most Americans know little about. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann ( High Noon, From Here to Eternity, The Day of the Jackal). Behold A Pale Horse is a 1964 movie that has faded into obscurity.