Arruza (film)

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Arruza is a 1968 documentary film about Carlos Arruza directed by Budd Boetticher. It took 10 years to be completed.

Boetticher left Hollywood at the height of his success to make a film about Arruza. "I wanted to do something nobody else in the world could do," he says. "I thought, "I'll make a picture about bullfighting, and I'll use Carlos playing himself."... I had to do that picture. I tossed the whole Hollywood thing over because I couldn't see any other time ever when the best bullfighter in the world, who is the best friend of a well-known motion picture director, could make a picture together."^[1]

He recalled "it should have been just a short project, but it turned into a seven-year nightmare."^[1]

Production started May 5, 1958^[2] and took 10 years to complete.^[3] Boetticher spent the first three years filming bullfights with Lucien Ballard and Carlos Carbajal.^[2]

During filming, Boetticher fought with the Mexican government and unions; ran out of money twice (once in 1961); was evicted from hotels; and put into prison and a sanatorium.^[3][2] Arruza died in May 1966.^[2] Following a surge in interest in Arruza, John Sturges acquired a 25% interest in the film in 1967 to enable the film to be completed, with Arruza's heir's owning 30% and Boetticher the rest.^[3][2] Crone, the editor, died in June 1966.^[2] Shooting was completed in February 1967.^[2]

Jason Robards performed the initial narration but another version features Anthony Quinn.^[2]

The film premiered at the San Francisco Film Festival on October 25, 1968, and Boetticher was invited to screen the film at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

The film had an official world premiere on May 22, 1971, in Tijuana, Mexico,^[2] close to the fifth anniversary of Arruza's death.^[3] The film opened in Los Angeles on May 24, 1972.^[2] The film's release was delayed because Boetticher says "I wasn't satisfied with it. I didn't want it to come out until I was completely happy with it. It's still a picture I can go and look at now and say, "boy, I'm glad I made that."^[1]

• Arruza at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Arruza at IMDb
• Essay on film at Senses of Cinema
• Arruza at TCMDB
• Review of film at New York Times
• Arruza at Film Fanatic

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