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| 11 1 El Fugitivo¿Que pasa, señorita? ¡I am el fugitivo! —Cartoon character Calvin practicing for a border run with his imaginary tiger Hobbes after doing something awful to his father’s car1 Taco Bell’s “Run for the Border” slogan tapped into a rich and longstanding vein of bandido imagery in U.S. media. The cinematic Mexican bandido dates to the silent “greaser” films of the early 1900s, depicting Mexicans as dirty, oily, and gap-toothed in appearance, and as treacherous and soulless in character.2 They slung guns, swilled tequila, and terrorized gringo men, women, and children while prowling the borderlands terrain. As one writer put it, Mexican bandits “robbed, murdered, plundered, raped, cheated, gambled , lied, and displayed virtually every vice that could be shown on screen.”3 In the silent Cowboy’s Baby (1910), for example, a Mexican villain tossed a child into the river to drown, while in 1910’s Broncho Billy’s Redemption, a Mexican stole money that was intended to save a dying man. Mexican bandidos became a staple of commercial advertisement, too, most notably the late 1960s’ Frito Bandito (misspelled from bandido), who brandished a pistol and menaced anyone who had Fritos Corn Chips. This media construction of savage bandidos helped cultivate the image of Mexicans as crossing into the United States to commit violent crimes and then running back for the Mexican border with blood money or bloody hands. Mexico is also perceived in media and by the U.S. public as a haven for any criminal escaping justice—el fugitivo. Whether in music, literature, or cinema, Mexico became the destination of choice for Anglos and Mexicans alike to flee authorities and elude capture. In music, examples of the lyrical run for the border include Johnny Cash’s maniacal “Cocaine Blues” (1968), describing the cocaine-fueled killer of his U.S. lover who ran too slow, leading to his capture in border town Juárez, Mexico; Jimi Hendrix’s murderous Joe (“Hey Joe,” 1967) who killed his “old lady” and ran to Mexico where 12 | El Fugitivo no one would find him; Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue who headed down south after Billy shot an El Paso man they robbed in the Steve Miller Band’s “Take the Money and Run” (1976); and Christopher Cross’s rousing anthem “Ride Like the Wind” (1980), where the son of a lawless man gunned down ten and rode for the Mexican border. Actor Jack Nicholson as a horse thief in Goin’ South (1978) crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico on horseback with a Texas posse in pursuit, exclaiming: “Viva Mexico! This here’s Mexican dirt, you can’t touch me.” In 2001’s Super Troopers, a highway patrolman pretends to be an outlaw stealing a police car to scare three stoner youth in the backseat , questioning, “You boys like Mex-ee-co?” At the conclusion of 1972’s The Getaway, fugitive bank robbers Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw cross the border from El Paso (Spanish for the pass) into the sanctuary of Mexico in a hijacked pickup truck. Beloved by audiences, the movie Thelma & Louise (1991) features the fated run for the border of two women who decide to “haul ass” to Mexico after one kills an attempted rapist. A happier ending is 1994’s critically acclaimed The Shawshank Redemption , in which a wrongly convicted inmate escapes and heads for coastal Zihuatanejo to open a hotel on the beach and operate a charter fishing boat. Drawn to the Mexican coastline, the escapee crosses the border at Fort Hancock , Texas, toward “a warm place with no memory.” Another candidate for happiest ending in the cinematic run for the border sweepstakes is 1994’s The Chase, with Charlie Sheen as a wrongly accused fugitive who kidnaps a politician’s daughter and heads for the border by car with a convoy of police giving chase. Improbably escaping from authorities, the fugitive and his hostage -turned-lover share the closing scene sipping drinks on a sunny Mexican beach. Similarly, Martin Lawrence as an affable jewel thief in Blue Streak (1999) escapes to Mexico with a $17 million diamond. Literary runs for the border include the Mexican fugitive detailed in the novel Border Town (which inspired the 1935 film Bordertown starring Bette Davis and Paul Muni). After killing his rancher employer and his foreman in California’s Imperial Valley, fictional Juan “Johnny” Ramirez headed south of the border for Mexicali to launch a new career as a border smuggler...

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