Arruza (1972)

Eight years in the making Boettichers portrait of his longtime friend the famous bullfighter Carlos Arruza was a labor of love that the renowned director of westerns pursued despite contending with illnesses bankruptcy jail time and lucrative offers from Hollywood The result is an astonishing work of poetry immediacy and violence that fearlessly wrestles with the filmmakers own ambivalence about the titular matadors triumphs prior to his death by automobile accident at the age of 46