Plot

When a former Civil War soldier saves a nun from a gang of bandits, they team up to help the Mexicans in their war against the French.

Set in Mexico, nun Sister Sara (Shirley MacLaine) is rescued from three cowboys by Hogan (Clint Eastwood), who is on his way to do some reconnaissance for a future mission to capture a French fort. The French are chasing Sara, but not for the reasons she tells Hogan, so he decides to help her in return for information about the fort defenses. Inevitably, the two become good friends, but Sara has a secret.—Rob Hartill

Cynical Secession War veteran Hogan (Clint Eastwood) is in Mexico to earn a fortune trading arms to the Juarista rebels against the French troops of Emperor Maximilian. He takes pity, with ever more mixed feelings, on maverick nun Sara (Shirley MacLaine), who is pursued by French cavalry. Godless Hogan never picks up that she's ignorant in religious matters, while obviously the contrary in anything profane. Stuck on the wrong side of Mexican law and facing the semi-hostile Yaqui tribe, they mutually confide and find both to be heading for a French fort to be taken by the Juaristas, whose rustic "Colonel" Beltran (Manolo Fábregas) only leads a bunch of war-ignorant peasants and requires him to fetch explosives from Texas. Only after they bond in several adventures, he learns her true crime and identity.—KGF Vissers