Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

We Were Strangers

We Were Strangers is a 1949 American adventure drama film directed by John Huston, starring Jennifer Jones as China Valdez and John Garfield as Tony Fenner.^[1] Set in 1933 Havana during the regime of dictator Gerardo Machado, the plot centers on Valdez, whose brother is executed by the secret police, teaming with Fenner, an American engineer, and other revolutionaries to dig a tunnel from her home to a cemetery in order to plant a bomb targeting Machado during a state funeral procession.^[2]^[1] The film, produced by Columbia Pictures, draws loosely from historical resistance efforts by the ABC group against Machado's authoritarian rule and elements of Robert Sylvester's novel Rough Sketch.^[3] Released amid the early Hollywood blacklist period, it elicited controversy for its endorsement of insurgent tactics against dictatorship, with columnist Hedda Hopper denouncing it as "communist filth" and "the heaviest dish of Red theory" due to the involvement of left-leaning figures like Huston and Garfield, who faced HUAC scrutiny.^[4]^[5] Despite mixed contemporary reviews and commercial underperformance, the film has been noted for its tense thriller elements, atmospheric direction, and prescient critique of repressive governance, earning a 73% approval rating from critics in retrospective aggregations.^[2]^[6]

Historical Context

The Machado Dictatorship in Cuba

Gerardo Machado, a veteran of Cuba's independence wars, was elected president on May 20, 1925, under the Liberal Party banner, promising infrastructure modernization and anti-corruption measures amid a post-World War I sugar boom that boosted national revenues.^[7] His initial administration pursued extensive public works projects, including the construction of the Central Highway spanning 1,129 kilometers from Pinar del Río to Santiago de Cuba, financed largely through foreign loans totaling over $100 million by 1929, which increased Cuba's external debt from $85 million in 1925 to $235 million by 1930.^[8] These initiatives, while modernizing transportation and urban facilities, exacerbated fiscal strain as sugar prices fluctuated and corruption allegations surfaced, with contracts awarded to politically connected firms at inflated costs, widening economic disparities between urban elites and rural workers.^[9] By 1928, facing term limits, Machado orchestrated constitutional amendments via a compliant Congress, extending his presidency to 1935 and suppressing rival parties, which ignited organized opposition from students, intellectuals, and labor groups decrying the erosion of democratic norms.^[7] He suspended habeas corpus and other constitutional guarantees in January 1928, empowering security forces to arrest dissenters without trial, and established the Porra—a paramilitary secret police unit notorious for bludgeon beatings, torture in facilities like La Princesa prison, and extrajudicial assassinations of over 500 opposition figures by 1933, including public intellectuals and union leaders.^[10] ^[8] Martial law was declared on August 10, 1931, following clashes between regime supporters and protesters, further entrenching repression as rural guards and urban enforcers conducted raids, with documented cases of summary executions and forced disappearances fueling cycles of retaliatory violence.^[11] The global depression after 1929 amplified grievances, as sugar production collapsed from 5.6 million tons in 1929 to 1.9 million tons in 1932, causing unemployment to surge above 50% in Havana and real wages to plummet by 40%, while Machado's debt-financed spending continued, prioritizing patronage over relief and alienating workers who faced evictions and food shortages.^[12] Opposition coalesced in groups like the clandestine ABC society, which from 1931 executed bombings targeting government offices—over 100 incidents documented—and assassinations of Porra agents, prompting regime crackdowns that killed at least 100 strikers during a partial 1930 union shutdown and escalated into the 1933 general strike paralyzing ports and factories.^[13] ^[7] This brutality, rooted in Machado's reliance on coercive control to maintain power amid economic contraction, eroded institutional legitimacy and primed broader revolutionary unrest, as empirical records of arbitrary detentions exceeding 10,000 by 1932 underscored the regime's causal shift from electoral mandate to outright authoritarianism.^[14]

Real-Life Revolutionary Efforts

The ABC secret society, formed in 1931 by middle-class intellectuals, students, and professionals, emerged as a clandestine opposition force against President Gerardo Machado's increasingly authoritarian rule.^[15]^[7] Organized in hierarchical cells to evade detection, the group employed tactics of targeted violence, including bombings and assassinations aimed at regime officials and symbols of power, to sow terror and erode Machado's control.^[16]^[17] These actions, part of a broader wave of unrest fueled by economic depression and political repression, intensified pressure on the dictatorship without initial reliance on mass mobilization alone. Key figures such as Antonio Guiteras, a young revolutionary advocate for armed resistance, coordinated student and youth elements within the anti-Machado front, emphasizing direct confrontation to dismantle the regime's repressive apparatus.^[18] Guiteras's efforts complemented the ABC's operations, fostering alliances that amplified sabotage and strikes, though his influence peaked more prominently in post-overthrow governance. The cumulative effect of these violent disruptions—coupled with a paralyzing general strike in August 1933—forced Machado's resignation and flight on August 12, 1933, marking the immediate success of targeted anti-tyranny tactics in precipitating regime collapse.^[19]^[13] In contrast to the film's portrayal of an American-led plot, the United States maintained a policy of non-intervention during the crisis, dispatching Ambassador Sumner Welles to mediate a peaceful transition rather than endorsing or aiding revolutionary actors.^[20]^[21] Welles brokered Machado's exit amid the strike but avoided military involvement, reflecting Washington's reluctance to invoke the Platt Amendment amid rising anti-imperialist sentiment and domestic priorities. This neutrality underscored that Cuban groups like the ABC drove the upheaval through indigenous violent resistance, not foreign orchestration. The overthrow yielded short-term chaos rather than stable reform: Machado's successor, provisional President Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, lasted only until the Sergeants' Revolt on September 4, 1933, when army non-commissioned officers under Fulgencio Batista ousted him, installing Ramón Grau San Martín.^[20] Batista's ensuing dominance paved the way for his own authoritarian grip in later decades, demonstrating how revolutionary violence against one tyrant can enable another's rise and perpetuate instability, absent robust institutional safeguards.^[22]

Narrative Elements

Plot Summary

In 1933 Cuba, under the repressive regime of President Gerardo Machado, China Valdez witnesses the brutal public execution of her brother Manolo by secret police after he distributes anti-government leaflets. Consumed by vengeance against Police Chief Lorenzo, who ordered the killing, China joins an underground revolutionary cell and recruits American engineer Tony Fenner, whose family suffered at the regime's hands, to lead the operation.^[2]^[23] Fenner assembles a disparate group of compatriots, including Cuban nationalists and expatriates, to execute a high-risk plan: tunneling from the Colón Cemetery beneath Lorenzo's headquarters to detonate explosives during a state funeral procession, aiming to decapitate the secret police apparatus. Disguised as mourners for a fabricated relative, the team gains burial rights and begins laborious excavation amid red clay soil, navigating narrow shafts, supply shortages, and the need for secrecy. Interpersonal strains emerge as suspicions of infiltration arise, forcing moral reckonings over potential collateral damage and the killing of collaborators, while the group evades intensified regime crackdowns.^[2]^[23] The narrative escalates through betrayals within the cell and close calls with detection, culminating in the tense activation of the plot, where individual sacrifices underscore the revolutionaries' commitment to dismantling tyranny, though success proves costly and incomplete.^[2]

Cast and Roles

Jennifer Jones portrayed China Valdés, a Cuban woman driven by personal vengeance within the revolutionary group.^[24] Contemporary reviews, such as Bosley Crowther's in The New York Times, critiqued her performance for lacking understanding and passion, appearing stiff and frigid.^[25] John Garfield played Tony Fenner, an American returning to lead the underground efforts.^[24] His depiction of calculated perseverance was highlighted in the same New York Times review for its inherent tension, suiting the role's undercover demands.^[25] Pedro Armendáriz appeared as Armando Ariete, one of the core revolutionaries.^[24] Gilbert Roland portrayed Guillermo Montilla, contributing to the ensemble's range of committed figures through elements of humor and bravado.^[24]^[26] Supporting actors included Ramón Novarro as the police chief antagonist.^[27]

Production Details

Development and Scripting

We Were Strangers originated from an episode titled "China Valdez" in Robert Sylvester's 1948 novel Rough Sketch, which drew on the author's experiences as a New York Mirror reporter covering real revolutionary incidents in Cuba during the 1930s.^[28] Sylvester's work provided the foundational incident of a plot to assassinate Cuban president Gerardo Machado, loosely fictionalized to incorporate elements of the historical Alphabet (ABC) organization's underground efforts against the dictatorship.^[25] Director John Huston, seeking to explore themes of anti-tyranny resistance post-World War II, selected this material to craft a narrative emphasizing the moral complexities and logistical realities of revolutionary action, diverging from Sylvester's episodic structure to build a cohesive thriller focused on causal chains of conspiracy and betrayal.^[29] The screenplay was co-written by Huston and Peter Viertel, who conducted on-location research in Havana to infuse authenticity into the script's depiction of Cuban society and clandestine operations.^[29] Viertel, in his memoir Dangerous Friends, detailed their collaborative process, noting Huston's insistence on grounding the story in verifiable historical tactics employed by the ABC, such as tunnel networks and targeted killings, to avoid romanticized portrayals and highlight the pragmatic ethics of overthrowing authoritarian rule.^[30] This approach reflected Huston's broader post-war intent to produce politically realist films that privileged empirical accounts of resistance over propagandistic narratives, even as the subject matter risked alienating studio executives amid rising anti-communist sentiments in Hollywood.^[31] Independent producer Sam Spiegel, through his Horizon Pictures banner, secured financing from Columbia Pictures for the project, marking Huston's entry into self-financed production despite the commercial uncertainties of a film critiquing dictatorship without explicit ideological alignment.^[28] Huston's creative control allowed for script revisions that prioritized dramatic tension derived from real causal dynamics—such as informant risks and inter-group distrust—over sensationalism, setting the stage for a narrative that traced the revolutionaries' plan from inception to potential fruition based on documented ABC strategies.^[29]

Filming Locations and Challenges

The principal photography for We Were Strangers occurred primarily at Columbia's Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood, California, where interiors and key scenes involving the lead actors were staged to control production elements.^[32] Second-unit crews captured exterior backgrounds and establishing shots in Havana, Cuba, utilizing real locations such as Morro Castle, the University of Havana steps, and the Colón Cemetery to evoke the 1933 setting under Gerardo Machado's regime.^[32] ^[33] This location strategy enhanced visual authenticity by incorporating genuine Cuban architecture and street life, which integrated via rear projection to heighten the film's tense revolutionary atmosphere without exposing the principal cast—Jennifer Jones and John Garfield—to on-site risks or travel logistics.^[34] However, the separation necessitated technical compromises, including process shots that occasionally strained the illusion of seamless integration between studio foregrounds and Havana footage.^[28] Filming the Cuban exteriors proceeded under the government of President Carlos Prío Socarrás in 1948, prior to Fulgencio Batista's return to power, with no documented disruptions from political authorities despite the film's sympathetic portrayal of anti-dictatorial insurgency.^[28] Logistical hurdles arose from coordinating bilingual crews and equipment transport to Havana, though these were mitigated by limiting principal operations to Hollywood, allowing the production to complete within the standard schedule for a Columbia Pictures release in May 1949.^[1] John Garfield's emerging respiratory issues, later fatal, did not publicly delay principal work, as reshoots or pacing adjustments remained unnoted in contemporary accounts.

Technical Aspects

The film's cinematography was handled by Russell Metty, who utilized black-and-white photography to evoke the shadowy intrigue of the revolutionary conspiracy and the atmospheric Cuban locales, including location footage shot in Havana.^[28]^[35] Metty's work aligns with noir influences through high-contrast lighting and framing that heighten suspense in clandestine scenes, though the film eschews experimental techniques in favor of conventional depth-of-field compositions suited to the adventure genre.^[36] The musical score, composed by George Antheil, underscores the narrative's tension with motifs that build a pervasive sense of underlying terror, complementing the plot's high-stakes plotting without relying on orchestral bombast typical of period dramas.^[37] Antheil's contribution, drawing from his modernist background, integrates rhythmic pulses to mirror the revolutionaries' covert operations, enhancing the noir-adventure tone through subtle dissonance rather than overt leitmotifs.^[28] Editing by Al Clark maintains narrative momentum across the 106-minute runtime, with rhythmic cuts in action sequences—such as the tunneling efforts and street ambushes—preventing lulls while preserving spatial coherence in the film's blend of intrigue and confrontation.^[35] Technical elements overall feature few innovations, adhering to 1940s Hollywood standards like mono sound recording and practical effects for period authenticity, with props and costumes researched to reflect 1930s Cuban contexts amid the Machado regime's era.^[28]

Thematic Analysis

Anti-Tyranny and Revolutionary Ethics

The film portrays targeted assassination as a morally defensible recourse against a dictatorship that institutionalizes murder, as exemplified by the protagonists' tunnel-based bombing plot aimed at Machado's chief of police during a 1933 funeral procession, intended to decapitate the repressive apparatus without broad civilian harm. This approach echoes the ABC revolutionaries' real-world tactics, which included selective killings of officials after Machado's forces responded to protests with mass arrests and executions under the "ley de fuga" policy, rendering non-violent dissent ineffective and necessitating escalatory force to precipitate the regime's collapse on August 12, 1933.^[13]^[38] Character development underscores personal loss as a catalyst for ethical commitment to revolution, with China Valdés driven by her brother's summary execution to orchestrate the infiltration disguised as a grieving family, while American interloper Tony Fenner transitions from pragmatic detachment to active participation upon witnessing the regime's brutality. Such arcs critique bystander passivity as enabling tyranny, positing that individual inaction sustains systemic violence, a theme reinforced by the group's rejection of collaborators who prioritize self-preservation over collective liberation.^[23] The narrative's ethical framework aligns with causal reasoning that tyranny persists absent disruption of its enforcers: Machado's extension of power beyond his 1925-1929 term via martial law and political killings created conditions where ABC-style precision strikes—contrasting the regime's indiscriminate "official assassinations"—proved instrumental in mobilizing broader unrest, including the 1933 general strike that forced exile.^[8]^[13] Yet the film's heroic framing of these methods exhibits prescience tinged with irony, as the 1949 depiction predates Fidel Castro's 1959 victory through parallel guerrilla sabotage and targeted eliminations against Fulgencio Batista—itself a post-Machado strongman—only for Castro's regime to impose a half-century dictatorship marked by comparable repression, revealing how revolutionary violence, while effective against one oppressor, risks replicating authoritarian structures under ideological guise.^[15]^[39]

Portrayal of American Intervention

In We Were Strangers, the character Mike Mason, portrayed by John Garfield, embodies a pragmatic American outsider who integrates into the Cuban revolutionary cell after his brother is executed by the Machado regime's secret police in 1933. As an engineer familiar with explosives and urban infrastructure, Mason proposes and executes the core plan: tunneling from a cemetery plot owned by a regime collaborator to the presidential palace, aiming to assassinate Police Chief Ariza and ignite a broader uprising.^[28] His expertise symbolizes targeted foreign support that bolsters local efforts without overt domination, driven by personal loss rather than official U.S. policy, though his outsider status underscores cultural frictions—his calculated efficiency clashes with the Cubans' fervent idealism and impulsiveness, as seen in disputes over risk and loyalty.^[25] The film eschews explicit anti-American rhetoric, framing Mason's alliance as symbiotic: his technical acumen enables the plot's feasibility, while the revolutionaries provide the ideological fire and insider knowledge, culminating in mutual sacrifices during betrayals and shootouts. This depiction aligns with director John Huston's post-World War II perspective, informed by his wartime documentaries on allied coalitions against authoritarianism, portraying anti-tyranny collaboration as viable despite asymmetries.^[28] Huston's script emphasizes individual agency over geopolitical maneuvering, with Mason rejecting mercenary temptations to commit fully to the cause.^[40] Critics at the time and later noted the portrayal's simplifications of U.S.-Cuba relations, centering an American figure in a quintessentially local revolt and employing English dialogue among diverse actors, which glossed over historical U.S. economic dominance and non-interventionist stances under the Hoover administration.^[25] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times observed the narrative's propagandistic zeal for revolution but faulted its evasion of nuanced motives, potentially idealizing outsider aid amid real-world complexities like American business interests in Cuban sugar.^[25] Nonetheless, the film's restraint in avoiding imperialist tropes—Mason operates independently, not as a proxy—offers a counter to more jingoistic Hollywood fare, though it risks understating causal barriers in foreign-local partnerships.^[40]

Critiques of Political Nuance

The film's depiction of secret police brutality, exemplified by the Porra's tactics of arbitrary arrests, torture, and assassinations, effectively conveyed the regime's repressive violence, which historical accounts confirm included systematic targeting of dissidents through terror squads.^[41]^[42] This unflinching focus on tyrannical excess and the revolutionaries' defiant resolve positioned We Were Strangers as an early cinematic critique of dictatorship, predating broader Hollywood engagements with insurgent heroism amid post-World War II anti-communist pressures.^[40] Critics, however, have faulted the film for its reductive binary framing of unified protagonists against a monolithic oppressor, which elides the ideological fragmentation within the anti-Machado coalition. In reality, opposition encompassed not only the ABC's clandestine cellular structure but also the Directorio Estudiantil Universitario's student activism and the Confederación Nacional Obrera de Cuba's labor mobilizations, groups that diverged in tactics from bombings and strikes to negotiations, often clashing internally rather than forming the film's cohesive cell.^[12]^[43] The script's triumphant arc further glosses over post-revolutionary realities, ignoring how Machado's ouster via general strike on August 12, 1933, yielded not stable democracy but factional chaos: a short-lived Pentarchy provisional government dissolved by Fulgencio Batista's army coup on September 4, perpetuating instability and underscoring revolutions' propensity for cascading tyrannies absent institutional safeguards.^[13]^[12] This omission fueled period accusations of propagandistic intent, with outlets decrying the justification of civilian-endangering tactics—such as the plot's cemetery bombing—as ideologically slanted without causal depth on upheaval's unintended outcomes.^[28]^[40]

Reception and Commercial Performance

Contemporary Reviews

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times lauded the film's atmospheric tension in depicting the revolutionaries' clandestine tunneling under a cemetery, describing it as "staggeringly pictorialized" with "ghoulish" details captured brilliantly by director John Huston, alongside John Garfield's portrayal of perpetual strain and Gilbert Roland's genuine emotional depth as a Cuban laborer.^[25] However, Crowther faulted the contrived plot mechanics, including a hackneyed romance between Garfield's character and Jennifer Jones's Cuban counterpart, and the secret police chief's implausibly inept sleuthing, which rendered the narrative a "passionless action film" lacking the "white-hot emotion" needed for high tragedy akin to Hemingway's works.^[25] Variety acknowledged Huston's direction as a "finished job" nearing his finest efforts, with effective performances sustaining the thriller's momentum despite the script's overt political didacticism that risked preachiness and audience detachment.^[44] In contrast, The Hollywood Reporter condemned the picture as "the heaviest dish of Red theory ever served to an unsuspecting public," interpreting its anti-dictatorial plot—drawn from historical Cuban resistance against Machado—as thinly veiled communist advocacy amid 1949's intensifying domestic scrutiny of leftist themes in Hollywood.^[35] Collectively, 1949 critiques balanced praise for the film's noir-infused suspense and visual grit against reservations over its formulaic adventure structure and ideologically laden messaging, which some saw as subordinating dramatic nuance to revolutionary exhortation.^[25]^[35]

Box Office Results

We Were Strangers was released in the United States on April 27, 1949, by Columbia Pictures.^[1] The film generated modest box office earnings, estimated at approximately $900,000 worldwide, but failed to recoup its costs, marking a financial loss.^[45] This represented John Huston's first commercial disappointment following the success of his prior directorial effort, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), which earned over $4 million in gross revenue.^[46] The underperformance occurred amid a post-World War II shift in audience preferences toward escapist entertainment, with the film's politically charged narrative on revolution and intrigue potentially limiting its appeal to broader mainstream viewers.^[47] Competition from lighter fare and established hits further constrained its theatrical run, contributing to marginal returns despite the star power of Jennifer Jones and John Garfield.^[28]

Modern Reassessments

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, We Were Strangers garnered renewed appreciation as an underrated examination of revolutionary insurgency against authoritarian rule, with critics highlighting its bold depiction of Cuban resistance to Gerardo Machado's dictatorship in 1933.^[48] A 2005 retrospective praised the film's prescience in portraying tactics like suicide bombings and coordinated assassinations as tools of political upheaval, elements that echoed later real-world conflicts while constrained by 1949 Hollywood conventions such as English dialogue and rear projection.^[49] This reassessment positioned it as a gritty precursor to more documentary-style insurgent narratives, valuing its authenticity in Havana locations and local customs despite production limitations.^[49] The film's anti-tyranny ethos, centered on a plot to tunnel under a cemetery for a mass uprising and expose regime atrocities like torture, has been lauded for its unflinching commitment to failed heroism amid overwhelming odds.^[49] Modern analyses, including those from 2023, describe it as a "highly underrated study in revolutionary terrorism," where protagonists drill into societal underbelly to strike oppressive forces, though hindered by casting choices like Jennifer Jones in a lead role unsuited to revolutionary fervor.^[48] Comparisons to The Battle of Algiers (1966) underscore its influence in directly confronting revolution's moral ambiguities, including civilian casualties, rather than romanticizing success.^[49] Persistent critiques, however, fault the narrative's idealism for simplifying the 1933 ABC uprising's complexities, potentially overlooking class-based motivations in favor of broad anti-dictatorial fervor.^[3] Academic re-viewings note its endorsement of armed tactics, even at the cost of innocents, as radical for its era but risking reinforcement of volatile political stereotypes when revisited amid Cuba's post-revolutionary history.^[4] Right-leaning perspectives affirm its core validation of resistance to corruption, prescient in light of subsequent dictatorships, while left-oriented readings argue it underemphasizes socioeconomic warfare driving such revolts.^[50] These balanced evaluations affirm the film's enduring relevance as a politically charged artifact, rediscovered for its empirical grit over escapist tropes.^[49]

Legacy and Influences

Cultural and Historical Impact

The film's extensive location shooting in Havana during 1948 captured authentic scenes of the city's landmarks, including the University of Havana, Morro Castle, and everyday street life, providing a rare visual record of pre-revolutionary Cuba under Fulgencio Batista's influence, mere months before Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement gained momentum.^[33] This on-location footage, depicting a 1933 setting amid the Machado regime's repression, documents architectural and social elements of 1940s Havana that persisted from the earlier era, serving as an inadvertent historical archive of a soon-to-vanish urban milieu inaccessible to later filmmakers after the 1959 revolution restricted foreign productions.^[51] In cinematic terms, We Were Strangers stands as an early Hollywood example of organized revolutionary plotting against a Latin American autocrat, framing anti-tyranny efforts through individual sacrifice and tactical ingenuity rather than ideological collectivism, a narrative stance that contrasted with the communist endorsements in some mid-20th-century depictions of hemispheric upheavals.^[3] Its release amid the post-World War II Red Scare underscored tensions in portraying political violence, with contemporary critics decrying its perceived sympathy for insurgents, yet it avoided glorifying communism by rooting the plot in historical events like the ABC organization's 1933 assassination attempt on Machado's education minister.^[4] Despite these elements, the film's commercial underperformance—grossing under $2 million against a $2.5 million budget—and polarized reviews limited its immediate cultural footprint, relegating it to marginal status in mainstream perceptions of Cuban history or revolutionary cinema.^[34] Scholarly reassessments, however, have highlighted its prescience in exploring terrorism's aesthetics and politics, cautioning against overattributing screen narratives to real-world incitement while noting its neglect amid broader Red Scare suppressions of leftist-leaning content.^[52] This academic interest sustains a niche appreciation among film historians studying John Huston's oeuvre and early Cold War-era Hollywood constraints, though it has not permeated popular discourse on Cuba's revolutionary legacy.^[40]

Alleged Influence on Lee Harvey Oswald

Marina Oswald testified before the Warren Commission that her husband, Lee Harvey Oswald, watched the film We Were Strangers twice in October 1963, along with other movies depicting assassinations, viewing them with particular interest.^[53]^[54] The film's plot centers on Cuban revolutionaries who dig a tunnel from a cemetery to the home of dictator Gerardo Machado, intending to plant a bomb and assassinate him during a funeral procession. Some commentators, including author John Loken, have alleged that Oswald adapted elements of this scheme—specifically the cemetery-adjacent tunneling for a targeted killing—for his unsuccessful April 10, 1963, attempt to murder retired Major General Edwin Walker, a prominent anti-communist figure whom Oswald regarded as a fascist threat. This purported influence lacks causal plausibility due to the timeline: Oswald's confirmed viewing occurred six months after the Walker incident, precluding the film as a direct blueprint for planning or execution.^[55] Furthermore, Oswald's method diverged substantially from the movie's; he fired a single rifle shot from approximately 100 feet away through Walker's living room window while the general studied at his desk, with the bullet grazing Walker's arm after he instinctively ducked upon hearing the noise.^[55] No tunnel, cemetery proximity, or explosive device featured in the attack, which relied instead on marksmanship practiced with his Mannlicher-Carcano rifle—the same weapon later linked to the Kennedy assassination. Marina Oswald attributed her husband's motive to ideological animus, recounting that he explicitly labeled Walker "the leader of America's fascists" and justified the attempt as necessary to curb right-wing extremism.^[55] The alleged parallel underscores an irony: Oswald, whose writings and actions reflected Marxist sympathies and admiration for Fidel Castro's revolution, repurposed a narrative of anti-dictatorial resistance against a conservative target, suggesting misapplication of the film's revolutionary ethos rather than coherent ideological alignment. Empirical evidence of Oswald's motives emphasizes his pro-Cuban activism, including his June 1963 distribution of Fair Play for Cuba Committee leaflets in New Orleans and attempts to secure a Cuban visa in September 1963, over speculative cinematic triggers.^[55] No verifiable connection ties the film to Oswald's November 22, 1963, assassination of President Kennedy; claims of it serving as an emotional catalyst or rehearsal remain unsubstantiated, with primary records indicating Oswald's actions stemmed from personal grievances and perceived political necessities rather than media-inspired rehearsal.^[55] The Warren Commission's investigation concluded the Walker attempt demonstrated Oswald's capability for premeditated violence but found no accomplices or broader plot influencing either shooting.^[55]

References

[1]
We Were Strangers (1949) - IMDb
Rating 6.6/10 (1,514) In 1930s Cuba, a bank clerk and an American mercenary assist a revolutionary group in a plan to kill the President.
[2]
We Were Strangers | Rotten Tomatoes
Rating 73% (11) When her brother is murdered, China Valdez (Jennifer Jones) swears revenge on the corrupt Cuban government he had been protesting.
[3]
Huston: We Were Strangers (1949) - cinematelevisionmusic
Jan 26, 2019 · We Were Strangers is a loosely fictionalised account of the ABC, the revolutionary organisation that arose in opposition to the Cuban government of Gerardo ...
[4]
Re-viewing John Huston's We Were Strangers (1949) - jstor
Hollywood blacklist, condemned We Were Strangers as communist filth. The movie was 'the heaviest dish of Red theory ever served to an audience outside the ...
[5]
John Huston: a prolific filmmaker with some brilliant works - WSWS
Aug 7, 2007 · Huston went on to make We Were Strangers in 1949, starring Jennifer Jones and John Garfield, who was being hounded by the HUAC at this time.
[6]
FSM Board: George Antheil – WE WERE STRANGERS (1949)
Released in April 1949, “We Were Strangers” flopped at the box office. The film received mixed reviews. It proved to be as controversial as Huston had ...
[7]
The Machadato and Cuban Nationalism, 1928-1932
Feb 1, 1975 · However, in 1925, when Machado's pliant Congress prohibited the creation of new parties and fixed party control in members of Congress, reform ...
[8]
Cuba Under President Machado By Russell Porter - jstor
manipulate elections. 4. That he has prevented open op- position by prohibiting free speech, free press and ...
[9]
Negotiating the Hotel Nacional de Cuba:Politics, Profits, and Protest
Mar 1, 2019 · Government corruption and social inequality largely define the legacy of the machadato, but the regime's attention to urban reform and building ...
[10]
[594] The Ambassador in Cuba (Guggenheim) to the Secretary of State
... constitutional guarantees are suspended and the country is under martial law. An organization called “El Partido de la Porra” (Bludgeon Party), consisting ...
[11]
2. Cuba (1902-present) - University of Central Arkansas
On August 10, 1931, President Gerardo Machado proclaimed martial law after clashes occurred between supporters of the CP and PL. Sumner Welles of the U.S. ...
[12]
[PDF] The Machadato and Cuban - Nationalism, 1928-1932
The present work is a study of the origins of the various strains of. Cuban nationalism as they developed during the movement against. President Gerardo Machado ...Missing: martial | Show results with:martial
[13]
Cubans general strike to overthrow president, 1933
For two years prior to this campaign there was a violent struggle to oust dictator Gerardo Machado: running gun battles, bombings, political assassinations.
[14]
Cuba Under the Machado Regime - jstor
The opposition's charges against. Machado are largely substantiable. First, after the most solemn, publicly made and reiterated pledges not to continue himself ...
[15]
"THIS DAY IN CUBAN HISTORY - A.B.C." - Cuba Center
Dec 6, 2018 · A.B.C. – A prominent clandestine organization opposing the dictatorial regime of Gerardo Machado ... 1931, principally to punish the regime ...
[16]
MACHADO A TARGET IN CUBA FOR YEARS; Demand for His ...
Assassinations and bombings marked the terror on both sides, and many were killed ... A.B.C. The students and the Menocal groups alone remained aloof ...
[17]
This Day In Cuban History - Gerardo Machado y Morales, (Born ...
“La Mediación” failed, but a general strike and the defection of the armed forces (the beginning of the Revolution of 1933) persuaded Machado to flee the ...
[18]
Cuban President remembers revolutionary leader Antonio Guiteras
May 8, 2023 · Founder of several revolutionary organizations, he promoted the armed struggle against the tyranny of Gerardo Machado (1925-1933) and, after ...
[19]
This Day in Cuban History - August 12, 1933. Machado's Downfall
On August 12, 1933, with the Cuban army's support, the U.S. Ambassador Benjamin Sumner Welles, presented Gerardo Machado a plan for his resignation as President ...Missing: ouster | Show results with:ouster
[20]
Chronology of U.S.-Cuba Relations - Cuban Research Institute
1928: President Gerardo Machado unconstitutionally extends his reelection term to six years, provoking armed insurrections. 1930: The U.S. Hawley-Smoot ...Missing: martial | Show results with:martial
[21]
US Diplomacy and the Downfall of a Cuban Dictator: Machado in 1933
They had refused to consider shortening Machado's term. Asked about the possibility of military intervention under the Platt. Amendment, Welles did not deny it ...
[22]
Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973) | American Experience - PBS
As a young sergeant in 1933, he led non-commissioned officers in a rebellion against dictator Gerardo Machado in alliance with students and labor leaders. Later ...
[23]
We Were Strangers (1949) - The Motion Pictures
Jun 6, 2016 · Manolo Valdes (Tito Renaldo) is an outspoken opponent of President Machado's regime in Cuba and is working to bring revolution to his country ...Missing: summary | Show results with:summary<|separator|>
[24]
We Were Strangers (1949) - Full cast & crew - IMDb
Cast ; Jennifer Jones · China Valdés ; John Garfield · Tony Fenner ; Pedro Armendáriz · Armando Ariete ; Gilbert Roland in Crisis (1950). Gilbert Roland · Guillermo ...
[25]
'We Were Strangers,' Starring Jennifer Jones and Garfield, Is New ...
A fancied attempt at insurrection against the dictatorial regime of President Machado in Cuba back in 1933 is wrought by Director John Huston into a dark, ( ...<|separator|>
[26]
We Were Strangers | Cast and Crew - Rotten Tomatoes
Cast & Crew ; John Huston · Director, Screenwriter ; Jennifer Jones · Actor ; John Garfield · Actor ; Pedro Armendáriz · Actor ; Gilbert Roland · Actor.
[27]
We Were Strangers Cast and Crew - Cast Photos and Info | Fandango
Jennifer Jones: China Valdez; John Garfield: Tony Fenner; Pedro Armendáriz: Armando Ariete; Gilbert Roland: Guillermo; Ramon Novarro: Chief ...<|separator|>
[28]
We Were Strangers (1949) - Turner Classic Movies - TCM
A Cuban American returns to his homeland during the Revolution and becomes involved in an assassination. It is a drama/adventure film.Missing: summary | Show results with:summary
[29]
Peter Viertel: Screen-writer and bon viveur | The Independent
Dec 21, 2007 · When John Huston asked Viertel to write the screenplay for We Were Strangers (1949), a film about Cuban revolutionaries, they journeyed to ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[30]
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042035/trivia
[31]
Peter Viertel | Movies | The Guardian
Nov 6, 2007 · Returning to Hollywood, he worked for the first time for Huston by co-writing We Were Strangers (1949), an excellent drama set in revolutionary ...
[32]
We Were Strangers (1949) - Filming & production - IMDb
Filming locations ; Havana, Cuba. (2nd unit backgrounds and exteriors only) ; Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, ...
[33]
Cuba in the Movies - Once upon a screen...
Sep 22, 2019 · In 1949 John Huston's We Were Strangers featured Havana as the backdrop with several notable sites like Havana University, Morro Castle, and ...
[34]
We Were Strangers (1949) - Another Old Movie Blog
Aug 4, 2008 · The film shows many outdoor shots of Havana, which evokes the story's setting well. However, the principle actors remained in Hollywood ...Missing: filming | Show results with:filming
[35]
AFI|Catalog
We Were Strangers (1949). 105-106 mins | Drama | May 1949. Cast: Jennifer Jones, John Garfield, Pedro Armendáriz [ More ]. Director: John Huston. Writers: Peter ...
[36]
WE WERE STRANGERS - Dennis Schwartz Reviews
... (Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican actor). Manolo's sweet bank worker sister China ... (Gilbert Roland). But the plan blows up in their face when the family of ...Missing: roles | Show results with:roles
[37]
r
Aug 6, 2014 · The musical score by George Antheil is<br />. splendid and creates the mood of underlying<br />. terror. "We Were Strangers," with its<br />.
[38]
CUBA'S STRUGGLE: WHAT LED TO THE CRISIS; Machado's ...
Soon after the 1931 insurrection, President Machado announced that he had no intention of resigning or of reforming the Constitution, that he was going to ...
[39]
Watch Fidel Castro | American Experience | Official Site | PBS
Jan 31, 2005 · ... dictator Gerardo Machado. JORGE DOMINGUEZ, PROFESSOR OF ... assassinate our people, no one made a campaign against Cuba. NARRATOR: An ...
[40]
Hollywood's Changing Takes on Terrorism: Re-viewing John ...
The article focuses on a neglected film about Cuban terrorism made during the post-Second World War Red Scare, John Huston's We Were Strangers. Huston's ...
[41]
Gerardo Machado, Cuban President - History of Cuba
His secret police, known as the "Porra," went furiously after the opposition, and their brutality became another reason to oppose Machado. In 1931, the old ...
[42]
CUBA: Loot The Palace! - Time Magazine
A dead city, hushed by the terror of a brutal massacre, was the capital of Cuba last week ... The dreaded Porra, President Machado's secret terror squads ...
[43]
[PDF] The History Of Cuba - WordPress.com
The ABC, the DEU, the. URC and the CNOC responded to Machado's increasing violence with more violence of their own. ... Police arrested and brutalized many.<|separator|>
[44]
We Were Strangers | Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes
Explore critic and audience reviews for We Were Strangers on Rotten Tomatoes ... Grim historical thriller. Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Mar 4, 2008. Bosley ...
[45]
https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0574592/
[46]
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki
Gross revenue. $4,095,000. External links. IMDb page · Source. More. The ... The Treasure of the Sierra Madre at Box Office Mojo · Literature on The ...
[47]
No. 1512 | The New Yorker
Huston had directed one picture, “We Were Strangers,” for Horizon, but it had lost money. He was scheduled to direct another—“The African Queen,” based on ...
[48]
Key Largo (1948) - film freedonia
Aug 8, 2023 · Huston immediately followed it with We Were Strangers, a highly underrated study in revolutionary terrorism only really hindered by the ...
[49]
DVD Savant Review: We Were Strangers
Feb 12, 2005 · Unlike thrillers that just happen to take place during a revolution, We Were Strangers is mainly about violent resistance to an abusive ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[50]
We Were Strangers (1949) - User reviews - IMDb
John Huston directed this 1948 thriller about a group of revolutionaries trying to overthrow the brutal right wing Cuban Regime in 1933.Missing: Mike | Show results with:Mike
[51]
I Finally got the chance to watch Humberto Solas' epic cuban film in ...
May 4, 2025 · Here's the machine-gun riddled climax! We Were Strangers -The Shoot Out-1949 ... The film was shot in oppulent Havana, Cuba before Castro came to ...This film is from my archives and never before seen. Enjoy! - Facebook9 March 1994), best known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish film ...More results from www.facebook.comMissing: pre- | Show results with:pre-
[52]
Re-viewing John Huston's We Were Strangers (1949) - Sage Journals
Jul 27, 2016 · The article focuses on a neglected film about Cuban terrorism made during the post-Second World War Red Scare, John Huston's We Were Strangers.<|control11|><|separator|>
[53]
Testimony of Marina Oswald - The Kennedy Assassination
Since the Commission is inquiring fully into the background of Lee Harvey Oswald ... Do you recall films that he saw called "Suddenly," and "We were Strangers" ...
[54]
Following the Footsteps of an Assassin - The Washington Post
Oct 29, 1983 · ... We Were Strangers, starring John Garfield, was about the overthrow of the Machado regime in Cuba in 1933. Marina Oswald told the Warren ...
[55]
Chapter 7: Lee Harvey Oswald - National Archives
Aug 15, 2016 · The attempt on General Walker's life deserves close attention in any consideration of Oswald's possible motive for the assassination and the ...Missing: Strangers | Show results with:Strangers