Production
According to Jeff Stafford of Turner Classic Movies, "Malle's idea to take a buddy movie and subvert it. For inspiration, he instructed Carrière to consider the Gary Cooper - Burt Lancaster relationship in Vera Cruz (1954), which was a favorite Western of the two collaborators. By replacing the traditional male protagonists with two strong females, Viva Maria! not only worked as an amusing gender twist on a popular formula but was seen in some quarters as a political statement. Malle said German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder later told him that Viva Maria! fascinated him and his fellow students at Berlin University. Malle recalled, 'It was a time of those radical student movements, and they saw in the heroines the two different approaches to revolution.'" Malle conceived of the film as "a sort of burlesque boxing match—sexpot v. seductress"; he got the film financed on the condition that Moreau commit to the project. Moreau and Bardot became "like two pals in the army" after 16 weeks of principal photography in Mexico, including Texcoco.
Dialogue is in English, French, Spanish, and Dutch, depending on the actor. The French version includes extensive English subtitles.
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