In this film set in 1901 and based on a true story, Edward James Olmos plays a young Mexican named Gregorio Cortez. Cortez killed a sheriff in Gonzales, Tex. and flees, chased by a 600 man posse led by the Texas Rangers.
The song in question was an anonymously written ballad, heard across the South Texas borderlands while Gregorio Cortez himself awaited trial. Popular on both sides of the border, corridos often recounted current events and the exploits of local figures.
Robert M. YoungAmerico ParedesVictor VillaseñorThe Ballad of Gregorio Cortez/Screenplay
While serving a fifty-year sentence, Gregorio received a conditional pardon and was released in 1913. He headed south to fight in the Mexican Revolution and died of pneumonia in 1916.
On June 12, 1901, Sheriff (Brack) Morris went out to the Cortez residence looking for a horse thief that was described as "... a medium- sized Mexican with a big red broad-brimmed hat." Boone Choate was one of Morris's deputies who was supposed to be an expert on the Mexican language.
Belmont-Gonzales, TexasPlot. Set in Belmont-Gonzales, Texas in 1901. After a misunderstanding, a Mexican-American farmer kills a sheriff. He eludes capture and becomes a folk hero.
“Gregorio Cortez” is a corrido originating from the Mexican-American borderlands that details a confrontation between a vaquero and a police officer. Corridos are best defined as Mexican folk ballads from this region, particularly around the border between Texas and Mexico.
narrative balladView the lyrics and music for "El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez." A corrido is a narrative ballad. The genre became increasingly popular around the time of the Mexican Revolution on 1910 and remains a popular genre today, particularly in the Mexican-American border communities.
Digital History. Date: Annotation: One of the most popular corridos described a real-life figure, Gregorio Cortez, who killed two sheriffs in south Texas in 1901, and who gained folk hero status when he eluded capture by the Texas Rangers.
Gregorio killed Sheriff Morris in self-defense after the Sheriff had fired repeatedly on his brother Romaldo who, thinking that Gregorio was unarmed, ran at the Sheriff trying to protect Gregorio. The Sheriff shot Romaldo and he fell away from the door. Cortez then shot Morris with his pistol.