Ballad of Gregorio Cortez 08/18 Blu-ray (Rental)

Forced to run from the Texas Rangers after a heated misunderstanding leads to the death of a lawman, Mexican American farmer Gregorio Cortez sets off in desperate flight, evading a massive manhunt on horseback for days. Producer-star Edward James Olmos, seeking to shed new light on a historical incident that had been enshrined in a corrido (folk song), enlisted director Robert M. Young, a longtime practitioner of socially engaged realism, to helm this trailblazing independent film, a landmark of Chicano cinema. Shifting its perspective between the pursuers and the pursued, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez is a thrilling chase film and a nuanced procedural that peels away the layers of prejudice and myth surrounding Cortez, uncovering the true story of an ordinary man persecuted by the law and transfigured by legend. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • New interview with actor and producer Edward James Olmos • New interview with Chon A. Noriega, author of Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema • Cast-and-crew panel from 2016 including Olmos; director Robert M. Young; producer Moctesuma Esparza; cinematographer Reynaldo Villalobos; and actors Bruce McGill, Tom Bower, Rosana DeSoto, and Pepe Serna • PLUS: An essay by film scholar Charles Ramírez Berg