The Official Website of Gene Autry, America's Favorite Singing Cowboy

News Archive: 2008

Bold Caballeros y Noble Bandidas
At the Autry National Center Now thru May 10, 2008

Posted November 1, 2008

Do you like the Gene Autry film Mexicali Rose with the music-loving bandit? Then we think you'll enjoy the new exhibit at the Autry National Center: Bold Caballeros y Noble Bandidas.

All over the world, stories and folktales are told about certain bandits who stand for social justice. Often, the popular mind converts real historical figures such as Tiburcio Vásquez and the leaders of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 into folk heroes. In other cases, popular culture shapes distinct and more satisfying characters out of historical composites, like Robin Hood or Joaquín Murrieta. Sometimes fictional bandit heroes, such as Zorro, the Cisco Kid, and the Bandit Queen, fill a social and cultural need. These characters assume a vitality that often penetrates all of popular media, including film, art, costume, radio, television, and the commercial world of children's products.

Posada, Calavera con Guitarra, c.1910, Lithograph

George Yepes (b. 1955), Adelita, 1991, Serigraph

The Gay Amigo, 1949, Inter American Productions, Lithograph

This exhibition focuses on the Latino experience and the interplay of fact and fantasy in the depiction of Latina and Latino "noble bandits."

Details on the exhibit, movie screenings, and special events are on the museum's website here. A press release with further details on the exhibit is here.


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