The High Chaparral
El Lobo

Played by ANTHONY CARUSO

El Lobo, played by Anthony Caruso, a veteran character actor of long-standing, shows up in "Mark of the Turtle" in Season One.  Although he is hauled off to the hoosegow, he was such a big hit with the audience that he returns in "The Covey" and "The Glory Soldiers" in Season Two.  He is always a bandit and even when returned to jail he never seems to reform.  It's never explained how he and Mano are such good buddies, but it's a real treat to see them try to outwit each other.  El Lobo is a bad guy with a charm that endures.  Here is Lisa McKenzie's biographical sketch of El Lobo.

**********

Of all the comancheros who work both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border, El Lobo looms as the most dangerous of all. Lobo isn't simply a horse and cattle thief; he is also a butcher, thinking as little of taking a human life as a felled horse. He is wanted by the U.S. authorities for that reason, but he finds sanctuary in Mexican territory under the auspices of his childhood friend, Don Sebastian Montoya. Lobo and Manolito Montoya are well acquainted, Mano enjoying any opportunity to best the cagey comanchero. Their meetings together, although wreathed in smiles, are laced with undercurrents of tension and suspicion. Lobo is not a man to be trifled with.

El Lobo, the man, is not entirely bad, however. He is a brilliant tactician, inspiring enough loyalty in his men that they don't chafe under his ever-present posturing about his status as "el jefe," or the chief. His first-in-command in particular, Felipe, appears to love Lobo like a brother, and Lobo feels similarly. He is also, for all his bluster, capable of love and admiration, and if he never forgets a slight, he equally never forgets a good turn.

El Lobo is a product of the land and of the times; harsh, unforgiving and brutal, but engaging, magnetic and fascinating. He is a worthy foe on the epic horizon of the Arizona frontier.  (By Lisa McKenzie)


From "Mark of the Turtle"

See Anthony Caruso as El Lobo in 1.11 Mark of the Turtle, 2.34 The Covey, and 2.47 The Glory Soldiers.

Return to Supporting Characters

Return to Home/Contents