Trivia for
Queimada (1969) More at IMDbPro »

• The film's original title was Quemada (the spanish word for "burnt"), as the action took place in a Spanish colony. When the Spanish government officially complained and threatened a boycott of the film (objecting to the script's supposedly anti-Spanish bias), Gillo Pontecorvo agreed to alter the setting to a Portuguese island and the release title became Queimada ("burnt" in Portuguese).
  
  
• Sir William Walker, a real historical figure portrayed in the film by Marlon Brando, was neither British nor knighted. Walker was an American adventurer and his title of "sir" was one he adopted on his own.
  
  
• Evaristo Márquez, who plays rebel leader Jose Dolores in the film, was not an actor. He was a poor villager from "San Basilio de Palenque", Colombia, whom director Pontecorvo discovered while scouting locations in that country and convinced to star opposite Brando. The studio had originally wanted Sydney Poitier.
  
  
• Marlon Brando once said this film contains "the best acting I've ever done"
  
  
• Gillo Pontecorvo resisted studio pressure to cast Steve McQueen and Sidney Poitier in the leads.
  
  
• United Artists rapidly lost faith in the film as the budget spiraled out of control. Much to Pontecorvo's horror, it was re-edited by an editor who specialized in putting trailers together.
  
  
• Evaristo Márquez said in a recent interview (November 1st 2009) that in several occasions, when Marlon Brando refused to act, he was the "peacemaker" between director Pontecorvo and the legendary actor.
  
  

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