Bandidas |  | Directors: Espen Sandberg, Joachim Rønning
Actors: Penélope Cruz, Salma Hayek, Steve Zahn, Dwight Yoakam, Denis Arndt
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $0.98
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Seller: firstvideo
Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 11460
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 93 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: FOXD2240318D
UPC: 024543403111
EAN: 0024543403111
ASIN: B000K7VHNW
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: January 9, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Determined to avenge their fathers' deaths, Sara and Maria vow to take back the ill-gotten gains of robber baron Tyler Jackson with the help of a former banker and criminologist.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 5-FEB-2007
Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com
First screened in Europe and scheduled for limited release in the U.S., Bandidas can now be viewed by all fans of the visually stunning duo, Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek. Set in Mexico 1888, Bandidas  is a Western spoof about two women, Maria Alvarez (Penelope Cruz) and Sara Sandoval (Salma Hayek), who seek to avenge the tragedies befallen both their fathers under robber baron, Tyler Jackson (Dwight Yoakam). Jackson, employed by the Bank of New York, is sent to Mexico to buy land and open banks to the detriment of local culture. Jackson kills Sara's corrupt father, Don Diego, while bandits burn down Maria's home. The two ladies band together for the community's cause. Under the tutelage of Bill Buck (Sam Sheperd), Sara and Maria develop bank robbery skills. When criminologist, Quentin Cooke (Steve Zahn), hunts them, they convert him with their strong moral sense and good looks. Like any Thelma and Louise-ish tale of women who take charge, Maria and Sara are foil characters who eventually become an invincible, sisterly team. This comedy is built around their bickering. For Sara, with European education and penchant of designer clothing, Maria is a hick who lacks refinement, yet Maria, horse whisperer, can fire a gun. The slapstick is overkill, for example when Sara wonders whether a bandana is Gucci or Prada. However, viewers will love Penelope Cruz on horseback and the two actresses practice-kissing their foe in a brothel. Bandidas is a light film with some laughs and mucho sex appeal. -- Trinie Dalton Beyond Bandidas 
More Films from Salma Hayek | 
More Films from Penelope Cruz | 
More Comic Westerns | Stills from Bandidas
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 56
 Salma and Penélope make this - just - worth a spin February 6, 2010
Muzzlehatch (the walls of Gormenghast)
Just the combination of Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek is enough to get me to see almost anything, and putting 'em in a western, well, that just makes it all the more delicious. Theoretically. This 2006 film, written and produced in part by French trash-auteur Luc Besson, not one of my favorite filmmakers at all, was a complete flop on release - I'm not sure it even got a theatrical run in the USA - and hasn't exactly gotten great marks from critics. But, y'know, the ladies...and it was cheap, and I was in the mood for more Penélope after the latest Almodóvar film, so here goes.
And...it's not really that bad, though it is somewhat dull and watered-down and juvenile and certainly lacking in originality. Let's start with the rating; I'm not one to usually complain about such things, but PG-13? No nudity and very little real violence? In a western starring the two hottest Latinas around? What, are we supposed to be so enchanted by their silly, bitchy bantering with each other, and the slapdash storyline of the two empowered women taking back their country that we forgive the lack of bone-crunching, blood-drenched body count and the covered-up nature of the two bodacious bosoms?
Well, almost, at least for a moment here and there. Our story: rich educated Sara (Hayek) teams up with poor farm girl Maria (Cruz) to rob the banks taken over by the evil gringo Jackson (Dwight Yoakam, of course) who is bent on grabbing the whole wealth of Mexico on the pretext that he's the head of some big American bank consortium or some such thing. That part of the film was just so silly from the get-go that I figured, why care? What gets the two ladies together is that Jackson has killed Sara's father and wounded Maria's, and there is apparently nobody in all of northern Mexico who can stand up to him and his gang of a couple dozen thugs.
And neither can they, until they're led to ex-bank robber Bill Buck (Sam Shepard, fine as always though it could have been anybody) who teaches them everything there is to know about shooting and escaping and such in a couple of weeks. And when they run into criminologist Quentin (Steve Zahn), hired by Jackson to solve the bank robberies, they quickly convince him - via blackmail in a scene that offers the closest this film ever has to sex - that the mustache-twirling Jackson (a Snidely Whiplash clone if you know what I mean) is a lying thief and the duo becomes a trio from which no bank is safe!
The chemistry between the two leading ladies is great, it's obvious they're close friends and had fun shooting this, and everybody seems to be having fun, which goes a long way for me with a stupid flick like this. The photography by Thierry Arbogast, Besson's regular DP, is all sun-drenched late summer, overlit and golden, which usually irritates me but it works ok in this filmed-on-location Mexican setting; the music by Eric Serra is, not surprisingly, an unmemorable Ennio Morricone pastiche and there are many moments when directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg are clearly trying to go for a spaghetti feel, though the film always feels too fluffy and toned-down to ever get there. The action sequences are pretty so-so, with a lot of slow-mo in the final gunfight, though surprisingly not much otherwise.
So, it's not really good or bad - if you're a fan of the two leading ladies, or just in the mood for some harmless dumb fun, you could do a lot worse. It's certainly better than Salma's previous western WILD WILD WEST. The audio commentary featuring both actresses just riffing on stuff is plenty of fun, too.
Fun, rollicking western with a twist. December 27, 2009
S. Spears (Florence, MA)
Bandidas is a highly entertaining, fun ride. It takes place in Mexico, during the Mexican revolution in the 1800s. Two drop-dead gorgeous young women (played by Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek), decide to team-up and rob banks. This is quite a twist, from the usual macho western movie formula. The women commit robberies out of vengeance, in order to save land stolen from the Mexican people, by a villainous land baron.
The violence in the film is ubiquitous, as it is in most westerns. However, the violent tone of the movie, is leavened with a jaunty, slap-stick humor. Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek, play the bank robbing duo more like a squabbling Laverne and Shirley, rather than Butch and Sundance. They have hilarious cat-fights with each other, as they try to learn to work together as a team.
There's lots of incredible stunts throughout the film. Some are even performed by the horses, ridden by the characters. This is one of the few westerns I've seen, in which the steeds are as important to the plot, as the humans are. This factor highlights the overall lighted-hearted ambiance, running throughout the course of the film.
The serious business of justice and revenge is pursued with gusto, by the beautiful, bank-robbing two-some. But along the way, the viewer is treated to lots of belly-laughs. Watching this film, is a great way to get your funny-bone tickled, while rooting for the good guys (in this case gals), to triumph over evil.
 Awesome! November 18, 2009
Donald E. Barger
This is truly a sleeper! I haven't enjoyed a movie this much for a very long time!
These two ladies should do more movies together, what a raphor they seem to have!
I give this 5 out of 5 stars!!!
Terrific November 5, 2009
Kate Smith (NYS)
This movie is the best! I rented it a long time ago and decided I wanted to own it.
good September 19, 2009
perry f hopkins (ohio)
liked it there was no blood or bad words used in it something that most of the family could watch togeather
Showing reviews 1-5 of 56
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