Cisco Kid, The

Film, Radio, Books, and Music

The movie's phenomenal success led to a series of Cisco Kid films. Baxter reprised his role in 1931 and 1939. Cesar Romero starred as the Kid in six films between 1939 and 1941. Duncan Renaldo played Cisco in three movies in 1945 and then handed the reins to Gilbert Roland, who made six movies in 1946 and 1947. Renaldo then returned in three films released between 1948 and 1950.

Duncan Renaldo clinched his reputation as the most identifiable Cisco Kid by starring in a popular weekly television series from 1950 until 1956. The opening featured the dashing Cisco riding his painted pony alongside his sidekick, Pancho (played by Leo Carillo). Mexican-influenced music thundered in the background as an announcer proclaimed: “Here's adventure; here's romance; here's O. Henry's famous Robin Hood of the Old West—the Cisco Kid!”

Cisco became a multimedia star. A weekly radio show was broadcast between 1942 and 1956. Comic books were published in the 1940s and 1950s. A newspaper comic strip was syndicated between 1951 and 1967. Six graphic novels were issued after 2009. Popular music got into the act when Nick Lucas earned a hit record in 1929 with “My Tonia,” a song from the first Cisco sound western. Later hits that referenced Cisco included War's “The Cisco Kid” (1973), Mark Lindsay's “Arizona” (1970), Deep Purple's “Hey Cisco” (1996), and Don Williams's “Pancho” (1998).

Ubiquitous pop culture allusions demonstrate that Cisco has become a cultural icon. Nash Candelaria published a short-story collection titled The Day the Cisco Kid Shot John Wayne (1998). Characters who use “Cisco” and “Pancho” as nicknames can be found in Stephen King's “The Raft” (1982) and Michael Connelly's novels The Brass Verdict (2008) and The Fifth Witness (2011). Movies such as Stand By Me (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), and Creepshow 2 (1987) alluded to the Cisco Kid, as did episodes of TV shows such as Hill Street Blues and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The continuing appeal of O. Henry's hero even fueled a made-for-TV movie in 1994 that starred Jimmy Smits as Cisco and Cheech Marin as Pancho.

Changing Image

The changing images of the Cisco Kid in popular culture reflect corresponding changes in American society and culture. The brutal character introduced in O. Henry's 1907 short story, for example, reflects the era's negative stereotypes of Mexicans as banditos or buffoons and suggests that the dominant white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture was not yet ready for a Hispanic hero.

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