The Secret Life of Hernando Cortez (excerpt) (1968)
By John Chamberlain
Underground classic The Secret Life of Hernando Cortez, directed by sculptor John Chamberlain. For the first time in decades New York audiences will have an opportunity to see this visually lush and humorous improvisation starring Taylor Mead in the role of Spanish conqueror, Hernando Cortez, and the divine Ultra Violet as his consort, the daughter of Aztec emperor Montezuma. The filmmaker and producer met at Max's Kansas City, they asked themselves 'what kind of film could we make if we brought our stars to the Yucatan and invented a narrative, while visiting places that Hernando Cortez had been...’ Cortez was a Spanish soldier who assembled several armies in the new world between 1518-1521 to oppose the Aztecs, killing their last emperor and effectively ending the civilization. The film mixes common activities in an uncommon way; there is a blood sacrifice and a symbolic scene where a mountain lion eats an antelope in a tree. Aided and abetted by the local population, Cortez with his consort, delivers proclamations on his campaign, and we get an inside look at their private lives. The filmmaker has a cameo role as a Clark Gable type, Blackie Norton, who gets shot by a firing s…
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