The Treasure of Pancho Villa

Mercenary Tom Bryan arrives in Mexico and signs on with Colonel Juan Castro's men. He brings his Lewis machine gun, which he nicknames La Cucaracha, and he is weary of the squalor of his life. Despite being paid, he muses about offering his skills to Cuba instead.

Castro unveils a daring plan to assault and rob a two-train convoy carrying gold. Bryan will ride aboard the train as a disguised passenger with his gun, while Pablo Morales will blow the bridge to separate the trains. Morales’ past treachery haunts the scheme, though Castro is reassured by Morales’ wife that Morales remains loyal.

Castro senses treachery from Morales, recalling a robbery years earlier. Morales reassures him by claiming Villista loyalty, reinforced by his wife’s defense. The seeds of betrayal are planted as the plan proceeds.

The plan is carried out: the Federales are wiped out and the government gold is seized from the rusted train. Castro intends to deliver the fortune to Pancho Villa, funding the revolutionary cause. They flee with the gold as pursuit closes in.

Pursued by forces, the group escapes to the mountains with Ruth Harris, an American who has become a soldadera after her father's murder. She joins the rebels and becomes part of the perilous trek. Her presence complicates the dynamic of loyalties around the gold.

Villa does not appear at the rendezvous, creating tension. Morales uses the absence to win over some of Castro’s men and seeks to keep the gold for himself. The command frays as trust erodes under the pressure of the loot.

Bryan resolves to keep the gold for himself and to fund a personal revolution elsewhere. He uses his Lewis gun to gun down most of Castro’s men, securing the loot at the cost of many lives. The pursuit by the government grows more dangerous as the body count rises.

Morales, Ruth, and several others are captured by the Federales. Morales offers to exchange the gold, Bryan and Castro for money and amnesty, attempting to bargain with the authorities. Ruth is singled out due to her American nationality and is escorted to Tampico for deportation.

Bryan is reconciled to Castro’s ideals, and the two men mount a defensive emplacement using bags of gold. They prepare a last stand against the pursuing Federales and their Yaqui allies. The tension between loyalty and greed finally comes to a head as they brace for a deadly confrontation.

The Federales send Morales forward under a white flag as a ruse, but Castro kills him first. Morales dies as the traitor who sought to claim the gold. The act removes a threat but underscores the price of their deadly enterprise.

Castro is killed by pursuing Mexicans, and Bryan must destroy the gold to prevent its recovery. He detonates the treasure, triggering an avalanche that buries both gold and pursuers. The massacre leaves Bryan unarmed, broke, and alone.

With the pursuers defeated and the gold gone, Bryan makes his lonely way to Tampico. He seeks out Ruth and finds a fragile chance at reunion, though he is left penniless by the costs of their failed plan. The journey marks a quiet, somber end to his wandering life.

As he leaves the burial site of Castro, Bryan looks up at circling vultures and reflects on the men who fed those birds. He notes that Castro was a real man, implying a stark contrast with their brutal world. The scene closes on his solitary walk toward Ruth and an uncertain future.