The Mexicans transporting her from Chihuahua, secretly soldiers in Pancho Villa's army, use her luggage to smuggle weapons to the servants at the Miranda hacienda.

During the attack, a sardonic "Old Gringo," American author Ambrose Bierce, joins the fighting on the side of the revolutionaries; he operates a railway switch that sends a railroad flatcar laden with explosives to its target.

Bierce has come to Mexico to die in anonymity, feeling that his fifty years as a writer have earned him praise only for his style, not for the truth he has tried to convey.

Ennio Morricone was hired to compose the music for the film but left shortly after accepting, because he agreed to work on Cinema Paradiso instead after reading the script proposed by producer Franco Cristaldi.

[5] Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times said: "There is a potentially wonderful story at the heart of Old Gringo, but the movie never finds it--the screenplay blasts away in every direction except the bulls-eye.

The sly, cantankerous character of Ambrose Bierce, an aged cynic surprised and delighted to find himself vibrantly alive and at last in control of his own destiny, reveals in Mr. Peck something vigorous and new.

Jane Fonda received a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress for her performance in the film, where she ended up losing to Heather Locklear for The Return of Swamp Thing.