TV REVIEWS : ‘Pancho Villa’: The Real Hunt Continues

“The Hunt for Pancho Villa” (at 9 tonight on KCET-TV Channel 28 and KPBS-TV Channel 15, 8 p.m. on KVCR-TV Channel 24) focuses on Villa’s 1916 raid on Columbus, N.M., where 17 Americans were killed.

Villa is cast as the heavy at the onset, effectively eschewing any explanation for his quixotic adventure into U.S. territory. The fact that units of the 13th U.S. Cavalry, garrisoned there, repulsed Villa’s raiders and that the Mexicans suffered more casualties (more than 70) than the Americans are virtually ignored. The program, part of “The American Experience” series, suggests that anti-Mexican sentiment over the raid led President Woodrow Wilson to order a massive punitive expedition into Mexico to capture Villa “dead or alive.” But re-election jitters or a military dress rehearsal for the gathering storm in Europe appear to be just as likely reasons.

Narrator Linda Hunt says Americans knew little about Villa until he became “America’s most-wanted enemy.” Actually, Villa had previously had favorable press in the Hearst newspapers and in John Reed’s reportage in “Insurgent Mexico.” As part of a $25,000 Hollywood movie contract, he portrayed himself in D.W. Griffith’s 1914 production “Life of Villa” and fought battles in daylight hours to accommodate filmmakers.

When the U.S. intervention in Mexico ended in 1917, Villa had eluded the American Army for nearly a year. And while narrator Hunts calls Villa “a mythic figure,” in the next breath she cites his acceptance of a hacienda and his assassination by political enemies as ample proof of his true colors.

Balderdash! Instead of exploring the historical Villa, this documentary settles for the easier legend of the vengeful, unprincipled bandit of pulp fiction. Its search for Villa proves as futile as the Americans’ hunt.