Two Mules for Sister Sara

Two Mules for Sister Sara
Directed byDon Siegel
Screenplay byAlbert Maltz
Story byBudd Boetticher
Produced byMartin Rackin
Carroll Case
StarringShirley MacLaine
Clint Eastwood
CinematographyGabriel Figueroa
Edited byRobert F. Shugrue
Juan José Marino
Music byEnnio Morricone
Color processTechnicolor
Production
companies
The Malpaso Company
Sanen Productions
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • May 28, 1970 (1970-05-28) (Dallas)
  • August 13, 1970 (1970-08-13) (Mexico)
Running time
114 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Mexico
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.5 million[1][2]
Box office$4.7 million (rentals)[3]

Two Mules for Sister Sara is a 1970 American-Mexican Western film in Panavision directed by Don Siegel and starring Shirley MacLaine and Clint Eastwood[4] set during the French intervention in Mexico (1861–1867). The film was to have been the first in a five-year exclusive association between Universal Pictures and Sanen Productions of Mexico.[5] It was the second of five collaborations between Siegel and Eastwood, following Coogan's Bluff (1968). The collaboration continued with The Beguiled and Dirty Harry (both 1971) and finally Escape from Alcatraz (1979).

The plot follows an American mercenary who gets mixed up with a nun and aids a group of Juarista rebels during the puppet reign of Emperor Maximilian in Mexico.[6][7] The film featured both American and Mexican actors and actresses, including being filmed in the picturesque countryside near Tlayacapan, Morelos. Ennio Morricone composed the film's music. Two Mules for Sister Sara was a moderate financial success and received a warm critical reception.

  1. ^ McGilligan (1999), p. 183
  2. ^ Hughes, p. 21
  3. ^ Eliot (2009), p. 117-118
  4. ^ MacLaine was billed above Clint Eastwood in the film's credits, but not on the poster.
  5. ^ Issuu – You Publish
  6. ^ Frayling (1992), p. 7
  7. ^ Smith (1993), p. 76