MACHETE

Carlos Rivas and Mari Blanchard

MACHETE (1958). Produced, directed and co-written by Kurt Neumann.

Sugar plantation owner Luis Montoya (Albert  Dekker) comes back to Puerto Rico with a young bride in tow, the sexy blonde Jean (Mari Blanchard). Jean, of course, wants some security from this much older man, but when she sees his ward and foreman, Carlos (Carlos Rivas), she also wants him. Carlos tries to resist Jean's charms at first, but the two are caught in a compromising situation. Luis is filled with fury, and the situation isn't helped by Luis' cousin, Miguel (Lee Van Cleef), who has always been jealous of Carlos' place in the family and plots revenge. Then there's the housekeeper, Rita (Ruth Cains), who is in love with Carlos. It's a sure bet things are not going to end well ... 

Albert Dekker

Machete is a melodrama that could have used some steamy overheating. The younger wife falling for the handsome foreman is as old as They Knew What They Wanted, with sugar cane instead of grapes, but there the comparison ends. Mari Blanchard is as vivid and entertaining as ever, but the others just seem to be saying lines, although if this is bad acting, or just an indication that the film was probably shot in two days with little rehearsal time, is hard to say. Blanchard and Rivas make a sexy duo but they aren't allowed to actually do that much together despite an interesting swimming sequence late in the picture. Machete was filmed hastily on an actual sugar plantation, which gives the film some atmosphere, but little else. An interesting aspect of this production is the casting of Black/Latino actor Juano Hernandez, who was born in San Juan, as Dekker's major domo, Bernardo, who seems an adviser to Luis and a member of the family even though he doesn't sit and have dinner with them. Dekker and Blanchard also appeared in Kurt Neumann's similarly-mild She-Devil. 

Verdict:  This flick needs more steam! **.