The Tijuana Story (1957)

The Tijuana Story: Directed by László Kardos. With Rodolfo Acosta, James Darren, Robert McQueeney, Jean Willes. In Tijuana, a brave Mexican newspaper editor tries to expose the mob and the local official corruption at his own risk.

“u0026quot;The Tijuana Storyu0026quot; is far from a great film, but it is entertaining and well made…and also treats most Mexicans quite well for an American film from this era.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAccording to IMDB, this movie and the crusading newspaper man, Rodolfo Acosta, are based on Manuel Acosta Meza, a reported in Tijuana was who murdered the year before the film debuted. The film is about a crusade led by Acosta to rid the city of organized crime. Now he was NOT trying to rid the city of all crime and vice (after all, it is Tijuana) but he tried to get the mobsters out of town by exposing their graft in his paper. But you know this can only go on so long before the mob has had enough and decide to kill him.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe mobster portion of the film is excellent and I liked how the film showed the good and evil in the town….as well as American mobsters who were pulling the strings of the local creeps. In other words, itu0026#39;s not some sort of anti-Mexican film taking cheap shots.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat wasnu0026#39;t so great was the portion with the young James Darren. While a fine actor and singer, here it really looks as if they had two different movies and chopped the Darren portion out of one film and stuck it in the other. His actions really had nothing to do with the mobsters and his characters end seemed baffling and ill-suited for the film. If I ever meet the man, Iu0026#39;d love to ask him about this….surely his part was either chopped to pieces or added in at the last minute. Regardless, it just didnu0026#39;t fit.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn balance, despite this Darren portion the film is exciting, well made for a low-budget film and well worth seeing.”