Through its satirical portrait of an opportunistic landowner, El Compadre Mendoza presents a nuanced analysis of the corrupted ideals of the Mexican Revolution, and in particular of the crippling self-interest of the middle class. Mendoza (Alfredo del Diestro from Prisoner Number 13) survives the civil war by alternately hanging the flags of the government and revolutionary forces, depending on the colors worn by the approaching troops. He names a dashing young Zapatista leader (Antonio R. Frausto) godfather to his son, but easily betrays his kinsman when political push comes to economic shove. De Fuentes's contempt for Mendoza simmers just below the surface, for even when faced with his own demise Mendoza cannot be moved to take a side. The film and its director were rediscovered in the 1960s by the French critic Georges Sadoul, who cited El Compadre Mendoza's modern qualities, and its “humor, vivid sense of observation, and memories of the Mexican Revolution (then still very recent).”