The Wonderful Country is a 1959 American Technicolor Western film based (with substantial changes) on Tom Lea's 1952 novel of the same name that was produced by Robert Mitchum's DRM Production company in Mexico.

In Mexico, expatriate American pistolero Martin Brady is employed by the Castro brothers, Marcos (Víctor Manuel Mendoza), a general, and Don Cipriano (Pedro Armendáriz), the new governor.

On a business trip to the United States to arrange the purchase of a wagonload of rifles and ammunition, he is delayed when he breaks his leg in an accident in the Texas border town of Puerto.

Major Colton and Helen arrive to meet with Cipriano, arranged by Travis Hight (Jack Oakie), the representative of a railroad threatened by the Apaches.

Cipriano tells Brady that, by law, he must pay a debt for the rifles and orders him to assassinate his brother Marcos, who seeks to make himself governor.

Weeks later on the run, he finds cavalry sergeant Tobe Sutton (Satchel Paige) and returns with him to Major Colton's camp.

During filming in Durango, Mitchum and his stunt double Chuck Roberson decided to have a few drinks at a local cantina.

[5] A rave review in The New York Times appeared on November 5, 1959, with critic Howard Thompson referring to Mitchum as "ideally cast" and writing: "This is a superior, intelligent film on nearly every count ... beautifully paced by Robert Parrish's direction and magnificently evocative of the locale where it was made, this Chester Erskine production is consistently rewarding."

[5] Dennis Schwartz wrote in 2019 that the film is "A wonderfully rich western that ambitiously covers many familiar themes and does a good job in developing the main character and his knotty personality.