100 Rifles

Arizona bank is robbed by a mixed-heritage Yaqui named Yaqui Joe. A relentless lawman named Lydecker pursues him across the border into Mexico. In Mexico, General Verdugo, waging war on the Yaqui people, imprisons Joe. Lydecker tries to intervene and ends up behind bars himself. The two men escape their captors and slip into the rugged hills, where Lydecker encounters Sarita, a fierce Yaqui freedom fighter. As danger closes in, perspectives shift and loyalties blur. What begins as a tense chase becomes a test of character as old enmities collide with shared survival, and an uneasy bond forms amid a landscape of conflict. The chase unfolds across sunburnt mesas and dust filled towns where old grudges flare and a fragile hope for peace hovers over the pair.

Directed by Tom Gries, 100 Rifles arrived in 1969 as an adaptation of Clair Huffaker's novel with additional material by Robert MacLeod. The film pairs Jim Brown and Raquel Welch with Burt Reynolds in adventurous Western terrain. It favors practical stunts and rugged scenery.

Box office data for 100 Rifles is not widely documented, though the film drew audiences to a late 1960s Western with a high profile cast worldwide.

Despite not becoming a franchise staple, the film is notable for bringing together a Black leading man and a starlet in a Western setting, signaling a shift toward more diverse casting in adventure cinema. Its rugged visuals and cross border clashes resonated with late 60s counterculture. Its brisk pace still keeps audiences engaged.

Critically the film offered a brisk action story with social undertones, exploring loyalty and shifting alliances amid war and prejudice. The dynamic between Lydecker and Sarita raises questions about duty, justice, and how personal connections complicate moral choices. The film's themes echo in later cross-cultural action stories. That resonance helped shape attitudes toward cross-border storytelling in later Westerns.