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“The Most Notorious Sucker-Trap in the Western Hemisphere”: The Tijuana Story (Leslie Kardos, 1957) and Mythologies of Tijuana in American Cinema

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2014

STEPHANIE FULLER
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Abstract

The histories of Tijuana and Hollywood have long been deeply intertwined, leading critics to argue that American cinema was instrumental in constructing the city's reputation as a dark, seedy and amoral space. However, the 1957 film The Tijuana Story presents a clear contradiction between the way in which it is marketed to evoke the “black legend” of Tijuana and its socially conscious content, tracing the real life story of a Tijuanan journalist who was murdered for taking a stand against crime and corruption. Close analysis of The Tijuana Story's paradoxical representation of the city provides a more detailed understanding of Hollywood's relationship with Tijuana and offers a way of discussing the city without reducing it to any one singular mythology. As part of a larger body of films that use images of Mexico to explore left-wing and liberal politics, The Tijuana Story provides further evidence of the persistent connection between Mexico and social revolution in American cinema.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of American Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , August 2015 , pp. 523 - 539
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and British Association for American Studies 2014 

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Footnotes

I would like to thank the Journal of American Studies' anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and feedback. This article is based on research undertaken for my PhD thesis, which was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, studentship award reference AH/I009582/1.

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