Rural teachers were once our heroes… what happened?
One of my favorite films… Indio Fernandez went all out to create this extravagent twist on the western… with María Felix as the new schoolma’arm in town (personally chosen by President Manuel Avila Camacho… who appears (in shadows) about 10 minutes into the film) who ends up in a gun-fight with the villanous local caiquel (played by Carlos Lopez Montezuma) as she and the public service doctor fight ignorance, dirt, and illiteracy as they clean up the worst school district in Mexico.
A shameless tear-jerker and even more shameless propaganda … presenting a vision of Mexico as a country where the people could believe it was the state’s job (and within their power) to fight poverty, ignorance and abuse of the campesinos, not as something the state fostered.
Return with us now, to those thrilling days of yesteryear…
The Mex Files 
There is a partial write-up at the IMDB for those of us who aren’t ready to watch the full film.