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| “ | My apologies, gentlemen, but these are extraordinary times. Your gun will be returned to you when you leave Mojada. | „ |
| ~ De la Plata after meeting Jennings and Emmet. |
| “ | You will take a message to this... priest. When you leave, he leaves. In the meantime, there are to be no priest's tricks. He is not to give one service, one sacrament! You tell him that for me! | „ |
| ~ De la Plata ordering Jennings and Emmet to transmit his message to Father Van Horne. |
| “ | But priest, this is your last warning and a promise from Tomás de la Plata. You will leave Mojada. Try to give one service, one sacrament... and you will die. | „ |
| ~ De la Plata warning and threatening Father Van Horne. |
| “ | I thought suicide was a mortal sin, priest. | „ |
| ~ De la Plata attempting to shoot Father Van Horne before being wounded. |
Don Tomás de la Plata is the main antagonist of the 1972 Western movie, The Wrath of God. He is the leader of the counter-revolutionary forces against Colonel Santilla. Fighting side-by-side with him is his second-in-command, Jurado.
He was played by Frank Langella, who also played Boris Balkan in The Ninth Gate, Bob Alexander in Dave, Dawg Brown in Cutthroat Island, Rodney Cole in Unknown, Noah Banes in Junior, and Skeletor in Masters of the Universe.
Personality[]
De la Plata is shown to be mean, stubborn, deceitful, opportunistic, cruel, aggressive, selfish, arrogant, ruthless, merciless, and temperamental. His obsession with killing priests mostly renders him more lustful for blood, death, and revenge up to a point where he proves to be murderous, sacrilegious, sociopathic, sadistic, bloodthirsty, insane, senseless, and psychotic.
As leader of the counter-revolutionary forces, he has displayed some intelligence leading to his devious and cunning nature whenever he seemed suspicious of others; as demonstrated when he discovered a gun hidden inside Father Van Horne's Bible and later, tricked him into killing a double posing as him with another hidden weapon.
However, despite his cruel personality, as a man of honor, he has occasionally shown a sense of honor and forgiveness in his deals; as demonstrated when he honors his mother's request to spare Father Van Horne the first time due to the latter having saved her life earlier in the movie and later, when he honors his half of the deal to release (almost) all hostages once Father Van Horne honors the other half with his presence. Even when giving out fair warnings first before resorting to violence and such.
Biography[]
For years, Don Tomás de la Plata and his men including his second-in-command, Jurado have created a reign of terror across South America; especially in the town of Mojada, which eventually sparked a rivalry between him and a military leader named Colonel Francisco Santilla.
At one point, prior to the events of the movie, while de la Plata was somewhere in the North, Colonel Santilla and his men partially liberated Mojada from his tyranny. In doing so, they brought ruin to his home, beat his father to death before defecating on his body before the very eyes of his own mother, Señora de la Plata, and finally, violated both his mother and sister (who later killed herself out of shame). To make matters worse, no one, not even the town's priest did anything to stop them due to the latter's corruption involving liquor and laziness (lying all day in bed of the widow who kept house for him). Such betrayal eventually led to a sudden deep, abnormal hatred of priests and anything related to God and religion in de la Plata's mind and soul once he had returned home afterwards. From then on, de la Plata vowed there would be no more services, masses, and sacraments provided by the church in town and to kill any priest who would dare set foot in Mojada and try to defy his orders including anyone who so much as helped the former while desecrating the church itself and leaving it in a dilapidated state; much to the horror of his kind-hearted, spiritual mother who hadn't lost faith in the Catholic faith. Thus, leaving the people of Mojada heavy with sin, their confessions unheard, many marriages made unholy, both children and babies not baptized, and the dying not having faced the end of their years in peace as well.
Two years later, while still spreading terror, de la Plata has shown some interest in re-opening an old silver mine somewhere in Mojada as he is in desperate need of money for wealth and power and also buying guns and ammunition (pistols, rifles, and grenades) from anonymous British gunrunner, Jennings through agents for his upcoming counter-revolution against Santilla and his men. One day, de la Plata receives a letter unknowingly forged by Santilla in Jennings' name, who alongside Irish political assassin, Emmet Keogh both posing as a mining company representative and engineer are due to arrive in Mojada to help with the re-opening and financing of the silver mine.
In doing so, de la Plata welcomes and invites the two men for dinner at his hacienda. At night, while his men are placing bets during a cock fight, de la Plata instructs Jurado to pay Jennings and search both him and Emmet for any possible hidden weapons on them; one gun found on Emmet, which de la Plata confiscates, but promises to return when they leave Mojada.
As de la Plata and his mother talk business with the two men at dinner, he later learns from Jurado that the latter have brought a priest to Mojada; much to his anger and animosity of such people. Nevertheless, de la Plata instructs them to inform the priest to leave once they leave Mojada and not to give one service or sacrament in the meantime despite his mother's pleas and protests before leaving the dining room in anger; not knowing that all this is, in fact, a ruse on Santilla's part to force both Emmet, Jennings, and American Catholic priest, Father Oliver Van Horne to kill de la Plata and his men and liberate Mojada from the latter's tyranny once and for all in exchange for their freedom and an equal share of Father Van Horne's $53,000.
The next day, after Señora de la Plata and other miners minus one had been rescued by Father Van Horne, Emmet, and Jennings from a terrible rock slide and collapse within the silver mine, de la Plata returns with his men to Mojada in the afternoon after a failed attempt to kill Colonel Santilla whom he had suspected might take advantage of Emmet and Jennings' visit as a diversion to allow the latter's revolutionary forces to invade and liberate Mojada.
Having been informed of the priest's actions by Jurado and against his orders involving a mass at 4 for a recently deceased miner, de la Plata proceeds to murder Father Van Horne within the church until he finds his mother entering as well; not knowing that the priest's defiance is merely bait to lure de la Plata to his demise with Emmet and Jennings taking up firing positions at the church. When de la Plata tells his mother of his intentions, she threatens to die with the priest at her side; having had enough of her son's madness and tyranny including killing priests in her name. Knowing that Father Van Horne had saved her life earlier in the day, de la Plata decides to honor his mother's request and spare the priest this time, but not before giving him a final warning. When Father Van Horne mentions "God's will", de la Plata takes the moment to mock it up and finally reveal everything that had led to his hatred of priests and other God related things in the first place. Afterwards, de la Plata instructs Father Van Horne to leave Mojada tomorrow at 9 or die before leaving the church while his mother stays behind to have her confession heard and warns him about her son's intentions, thus, making the three men abandon their first attempt on de la Plata.
The next morning at 9 precisely, de la Plata returns with his men to kill Father Van Horne during a procession at the square outside the church, only to find himself wounded mainly on his right arm by Father Van Horne's automatic machine gun and some of his men killed by him and the other two men with guns and grenades in an ambush before he and the rest of his remaining men flee and retreat.
Later, de la Plata has his men kidnap a few men, women, and even children including Emmet's love interest, Chela, a slightly mute Aymara woman to be held as hostages in exchange for Father Van Horne while sending out Aymara chief, Nacho as his "messenger". To prove his point further and coerce Father Van Horne into coming to him, de la Plata sends Jurado and some of his men along with a hostage, a young choir boy named Pablito recently adopted by Father Van Horne whom de la Plata had orphaned years ago back to town where Jurado proceeds to murder him in cold blood before Father Van Horne, his friends, and everyone else's eyes when trying to rejoin them; informing them that every half hour, they will proceed to kill another hostage and the next one being Chela unless Father Van Horne heeds to de la Plata's demands.
Once Father Van Horne arrives at the hacienda, de la Plata releases the hostages, but still keeps Chela prisoner, intending to use her as bait for his friends. Then, after Father Van Horne has been searched for any possible hidden weapons on him by his men, de la Plata instructs Jurado to seize Father Van Horne's Bible, which he had brought along with his crucifix, only to find a gun hidden within it, having suspected the latter would have a few tricks up his sleeves. When de la Plata continues to mock and ignore his mother's protests and deliberately defy God in the priest's presence, Father Van Horne uses his crucifix (which is really a switchblade) to kill de la Plata, only to be shot non-fatally by one of his men when trying to seize a gun from the corpse and discover that the man he killed was, in fact, a double de la Plata used for one of his own tricks; much to the tyrant's amusement. Despite his mother's disgust of her own son's transformation into a "devil", de la Plata brushes it off and decides to contrive something "devilish and poetic" for the priest.
De la Plata has Jurado tie Father Van Horne up tightly to a stone cross. When one of his men informs him of the priest's friends and the other villagers' arrival, de la Plata and his men take up firing positions. However, when de la Plata notices that Jennings in Father Van Horne's car is staying out of range, he orders his men to cease fire and instructs them to bring out Chela in order to tempt them. When Chela (having been rescued by Emmet and her own people, the Aymaras earlier) doesn't show up as planned, de la Plata wonders what's going on, only to spot Emmet and Nacho throwing grenades at the hacienda's gates to weaken the doors enough for Jennings to drive the car through them as the signal.
After most of his men are killed by Emmet and Jennings in the ensuing battle (some taken prisoners by the Aymaras), de la Plata shoots Emmet in the right arm when trying to free Father Van Horne and continues trying to kill him in vain. Then, when Jennings tries to kill him, de la Plata fatally shoots the latter who, in turn, is shot by Jurado, later shot fatally by Nacho. With both Jennings and Jurado killed by a grenade deliberately set off by a dying Jennings, de la Plata appears and shoots Emmet in the right leg, still determined to finish him off. Once he finally has Emmet cornered inside the hacienda's chapel, de la Plata proceeds to shoot him ironically with the latter's own gun for good this time until suddenly, he is shot twice by his own reluctant mother; much to his shock and horror. Then, he stumbles out and collapses near the stone cross Father Van Horne has been tied to. When de la Plata tries to shoot someone in a final attempt, Father Van Horne manages to topple the cross onto him as the former screams in horror before being killed, thus, putting an end to his tyranny once and for all.
Gallery[]
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.png "DelaPlatadeath (2).png (757 KB)")
Trivia[]
- Unlike most of his men, de la Plata appears to be left-handed as he is seen shooting with his left hand most of the time even before he has been wounded on the right arm by Father Van Horne during the ambush.
- It is unknown as to what de la Plata was doing in the North while his family suffered a tragedy back home at the hands of Santilla's men during Mojada's partial liberation two years ago.
- According to Colonel Santilla, de la Plata has been known for killing two priests in the past: leaving the first one wandering in the desert naked and out of his mind and hanging the second one sent by the Church. However, it was never mentioned what happened to the one priest responsible for de la Plata's animosity of such people in the first place. Either he died of natural causes or something, was killed by de la Plata at some point in a different way, or if he was the first one de la Plata dealt with by leaving him wandering in the desert naked and out of his mind.
- It is unknown what happened to the widow who kept house for the one corrupt priest; whether de la Plata murdered her or not at some point prior to the events of the movie.
- Given his mother's kindness, it's possible de la Plata took after his late father when it came to his bloodthirsty nature and act of tyranny.
- Despite his status, it is unclear why de la Plata rendered Pablito the choir boy an orphan by killing his family in the first place prior to the events of the movie. However, due to Pablito's past status as a choir boy, it could be implied that the reason why he killed his family was because they were people who either defied him in a certain way or supported the Church including priests and anything associated with it against his orders like martyrs or simply because he did it out of pure madness, chaos, mayhem, and tyranny in the end.