Charro

Charro is a term referring to a traditional horseman from Mexico, originating in the central-western regions primarily in the states of Jalisco, Michoacan, Zacatecas, Durango, Chihuahua, Aguascalientes, and Guanajuato. The Mexican terms vaquero and ranchero (cowboy and rancher) are similar to the charro but different in culture, etiquette, mannerism, clothing, tradition and social status.

Use of term

The traditional Mexican charro is known for colorful clothing and participating in coleadero y charreada, a specific type of Mexican rodeo. The charreada is the national sport in Mexico, and is regulated by the Federación Mexicana de Charrería.

Prior to the Mexican Revolution of 1910 the distinctive charro suit, with its sombrero, heavily embroidered jacket and tightly cut trousers, was widely worn by men of the affluent upper classes on social occasions, especially when on horseback. A light grey version with silver embroidery served as the uniform of the rurales (mounted rural police).

Charro!

Charro! is a 1969 American western film starring Elvis Presley shot on location at Apacheland Movie Ranch and Old Tucson Studios in Arizona. It was his only role that did not feature him singing on-screen, and is the only Presley film to feature no songs at all except for the main title theme. It also features a bearded Presley for the first and last time in any of his films.

The film co-starred Ina Balin, Victor French, Barbara Werle, and Solomon Sturges and was the final for director Charles Marquis Warren. It was also the only Presley film released to theaters by National General Pictures. The film made a profit but was not a runaway success, and remains one of Presley's least-seen films despite it being among his best in terms of a 'straight' (non-musical) acting performance.

Cast

Let's Be Friends

Let's Be Friends is the thirty-seventh album by Elvis Presley, released on RCA Camden Records CAS 2408, in April 1970. It is the second Presley budget album to appear on the RCA subsidiary label. It peaked at number 105 on the Billboard 200 album chart. It was certified Gold on June 15, 1999 and Platinum on January 6, 2004 by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Content

Similar to its predecessor Elvis Sings Flaming Star, Let's Be Friends collects mostly unreleased songs recorded for Presley film soundtracks. Given the recent work of the revitalized Presley, in the past the Colonel might have objected to this kind of market saturation, but under the terms of Presley's agreement with RCA, budget albums brought extra cash outside of contract stipulations.

Two non-movie outtakes appeared from the winter of 1969 sessions at American Sound Studio in Memphis, "I'll Be There" and "If I'm a Fool (For Loving You)". "Mama" was sung in the film Girls! Girls! Girls! by The Amigos and Presley's version first appeared on this album, with an alternate, abridged version included on the compact disc Elvis Double Features: Kid Galahad/Girls! Girls! Girls!. "Let's Forget About the Stars" had been recorded for the film Charro!, but cut from the picture. "Almost" was one of only two tracks from The Trouble with Girls to see release in Presley's lifetime. Three tracks, "Let's Be Friends", "Change of Habit", and "Have a Happy", originated from Presley's then-current film Change of Habit, thus casting the album in the additional role as soundtrack LP for the film (two additional tracks from the movie, "Rubberneckin'" and "Let Us Pray", are omitted, the former being released on a single in 1969 and the latter held until the 1971 budget collection You'll Never Walk Alone).

Charro (Mexican politics)

In Mexican politics and labor, a charro or líder charro ("charro leader") is a government-appointed union boss.

Dynamics

Mexico has a long tradition of government control and cooptation of unions and their leaders. Following the Mexican Revolution, the coalition of generals leading the nation under the auspices of the jefe máximo Plutarco Elías Calles that eventually became the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) sought to keep the often fractious labor movement under control, and did so by repressing leaders and movements outside the dominant party. Following the "social revolution" of the Cárdenas years, the government sought to centralize power in the federal government, replacing local union bosses, who had earned the nickname pistoleros ("gunmen") through their strongarm policies, with college-educated professionals.

Under Cárdenas, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), an umbrella of PRI-affiliated unions, became the instrument of PRI domination of labor. But the direct appointment of union bosses was not institutionalized until the administration of Miguel Alemán Valdés, when in the resolution of a dispute within the independent railroad workers' union, the president pushed for a contract that allowed management greater control over the union. Following the resolution, Alemán appointed "loyal" leaders to the petroleum workers' and miners' unions.