Vera Cruz (1954)

In Mexico 1866, ex-Confederate officer and southern gentleman Ben Trane meets Joe Erin, a ruthless outlaw whose winning smile could be the last you'll ever see. After a close brush with Federal troops and a near-fatal first encounter with Erin's gang, Trane manages to get them hired as mercenaries for the Emperor Maximilian. Rebel factions led by General Ramirez have amassed a force of peasants to be reckoned with. Expressing deep concern for the safety of Countess Duvarre, the amiable Marquis Labordere briefs Trane and Erin's men they will be escorting the lady in a regal coach to the port city of Vera Cruz. Her coach could be attacked by Rebels. Trane is suspicious that something else besides the safety of the alluring countess is at stake.The two stars playing poles-apart characters is exactly what starts the fireworks. The intriguing plot, the double-crossing, sleazy, elegant, back-stabbing, playing-the-angles crew, all working amidst a major rebellion keeps you on your toes. Beautifully filmed western with a great climax!

An interesting "western". Not really a western in the traditional sense in that it isn't set in the US, but in Mexico, and the "cowboys" are really mercenaries, hired by the opposing sides in the Mexican war of 1866.On that note, the movie is quite interesting from an historical perspective, in that it deals with the relatively unknown Franco- Mexican War of 1866.Good plot, using some of the actual characters from history (Emperor Maximilian, for one).Solid performances from Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster in the lead roles. It was a sort of changing of the guard, as Gary Cooper's career was past its peak, and Lancaster's was taking off. Also features some later stars in early-careers: Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson. Neither are particularly good (though Bronson never was much good, acting-wise).Entertaining.

"Apache" director Robert Aldrich's "Vera Cruz" is interesting not only as an incomparable example of a western—one that Sergio Leone claims inspired him—but also for the headaches that it created for both Mexican officials as well as Hollywood filmmakers who went south of the border searching for atmospheric locations. Unlike previous westerns, Aldrich and co-scenarists Roland Kibbee and James Webb, working from a Borden Chase story, made one of the earliest soldier-of-fortune oaters with heroes who display proficiency with firearms of any kind and can hit well-nigh impossible targets. Interestingly, Gary Cooper plays the sainted good guy hero, while leering Burt Lancaster portrays the lusty anti-hero. These two drifters form an uneasy alliance against both the Mexicans and the French. Unfortunately, the depiction of Mexicans was so racist that Hispanic audiences rioted in the theaters. Reportedly, some spectators tore their chairs out of the floor and hurled him contemptuously at the screen. Mexican officials changed their way of dealing with American filmmakers after the "Vera Cruz." A censor was assigned to films thereafter and they sought to stress the innate dignity and superiority of Mexicans over everybody else. "Vera Cruz" opens with the following written prologue: "As the American Civil War ended, another war was just beginning. The Mexican people were struggling to rid themselves of their foreign emperor—Maximilian. Into this fight rode a handful of Americans—ex-soldiers, adventurers, criminals—all bent on gain. They drifted South in small groups. And some came alone." Former Confederate colonel Ben Trane (Gary Cooper of "High Noon") enters Mexico, but his horse goes lame. He reins up at a cantina and admires two horses. The owner of one of the horses, Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster of "Brute Force"), walks outside about the time that Ben is appraising the horses. Joe sells him the other horse for $100 in gold. No sooner have they hit the trail than a column of mounted Austrian lancers pursues them. Ben displays his incomparable marksmanship at full gallop and shoots the gun out of a soldier's fist. Ben doesn't understand all this hostility until Joe informs him that the soldiers are chasing them because Ben is riding the commander's horse. The lancers dismount and fire a volley at Ben. He plunges his horse before the bullets strike him. Erroneously, Joe believes Ben is kaput and loots his horse. When Ben tries to loot the old colonel, the wily Southerner surprises him with a six-gun in the stomach. Ben appropriates Joe's horse and leaves him afoot. Not long afterward, they encounter each other again in the same Mexican town, and Joe convinces Ben to join them to fight in the revolution. Ben explains, "I lost everything but my shirt in the civil war." Together, they ride with Joe's men to a rendezvous with the Emperor Maximillian's envoy, Marquis Henri de Labordere (Caesar Romero of "The Cisco Kid and the Lady"), and everybody gets a surprise when a revolutionary Juarista general, Ramirez (Morris Ankrum of "The Saracen Blade), arrives to make his own offer. Ramirez orders his soldiers to show themselves, and the walls surrounding the area where Ben, Joe, and the others are bristle with armed Mexican natives. This showdown scene is a lot like the finale in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Joe exploits the moment when Ben spots a group of children. Ben suggests they get the children to safety, and Joe orders Donnegan (Ernst Borgnine of "The Dirty Dozen") and Pittsburgh (Charles Bronson of "The Magnificent Seven") to get the kids into the church. Joe uses the welfare of the children to compel Ramirez and his army to withdraw. Labordere tells Ben and Joe they can ride with them to Mexico City to discuss terms with the Emperor.In Mexico City, Ben and Joe show off their skills with both rifles and six-gun. The imperialist Emperor Maximillian (George Macready of "Coroner Creek) and Labordere enlist them to act as an escort for Countess Marie Duvarre (Denise Darcel of "Tarzan and the Slave Girl") for her trip to Vera Cruz. Maximillian and Labordere have no intention of paying them. During the journey on the first day, Ben and Joe both notice the deep wheel ruts that the carriage hauling the countess makes at a river crossing. Later, after they have put up for the evening, Ben and Joe discover a concealed compartment in the floor of the coach that yields a small fortune in gold. "Each of one of those six boxes contains a half-million dollars in gold," Countess Duvarre informs them after she finds them in the stable with the wagon. She explains that the gold will be used to hire mercenaries. It is important to notice that the anti-heroic Lancaster hero has changed out of his black shirt into a white shirt when they embark on escort duty. Symbolically, this means that Joe is showing a little goodness. Later, when he betrays Ben, and they shoot it out with predictable results, Joe is dressed in solid black from head to toe. Anyway, the three of them plot to steal the gold and share it. Meanwhile, the Juaristas are shadowing their every move. Eventually, a pretty Juarista, Nina (Sara Montiel of "Run of the Arrow"), makes friends with Ben. Ben decides that he must switch sides and convinces Joe to make the change.Lancaster's own company, Hecht-Lancaster Productions, produced "Vera Cruz" on a $1.7 million budget. Despite uniformly negative reviews, "Vera Cruz" coined more than $11 million worldwide. The amorality of the characters, especially Lancaster's lascivious villain, along with the surfeit of violence, makes this abrasive western a prototype for Spaghetti westerns. It is amazing that some of the violence survived the Production Code Administration censors, particularly when Joe kills a helpless lancer with his own lance. Cooper and a charismatic Lancaster make a strong pair of heroes who cannot trust each other. Aldrich directed flawlessly, and this lively 94-minute, Technicolor western never wastes a second.

I had a junior high school teacher once, Mr. MacGowan, who asked us to list the qualities a man should have. Others quickly piped up with "tough," "strong," "fearless," the usual. But when I said "smart," I faced open opposition. Old Mr. MacGowan, though, nodded and wrote it on the blackboard. "Vera Cruz" illustrates the point, being smart beats being tough any day.This is a terrific film about Maximilian Mexico. Featuring Gary Cooper at his most laconic and Burt Lancaster at his most engaging, along with a wonderful supporting cast, this is one of the classic westerns that any fan of the genre or of the stars should see.As usual in Maximilian films ("Undefeated," "Indio Black"), there's gold at stake, and everyone wants it. This film, though, has a humanity that the other films (and, in fact, most westerns) completely lack. Everybody - and I do mean everybody - is plotting and scheming and figuring who they absolutely have to cut in and who they safely can cut out, like an old-fashioned "Survivor." It's all sleazy in a good way. Everybody tries to outsmart everybody else, but in the end, one of them is smarter than them all and makes the only decision about the gold that makes sense.Which isn't to say that everything in the script is original. Cooper plays the usual western loner who comes in and alters everybody's destiny, blazing a path for Clint Eastwood a decade later. Lancaster plays the usual local gang leader who sees the newcomer as both a new challenge and an opportunity. How they resolve their varying motivations and influence on each other, and acknowledge their temporary usefulness to each other, forms the core of the tale.The most interesting and, indeed, idiosyncratic moment comes when the two dusty outsiders meet the Emperor, played marvelously (as always) by George "Paths of Glory" Macready, at his fancy court. The two gunmen and the Emperor have a shooting competition at which the Emperor actually does quite well, though of course he ultimately loses. It's a marvelous moment, with the setting quite European but Cooper and Lancaster wandering in and chewing as much scenery as they can. Cesar Romero overplays the Emperor's grinning henchman as only he could, the effect of his natural exuberance heightened by the comparison with the tightly restrained Cooper, Lancaster and Macready.There's an engaging story to tell, and it actually follows real events remarkably closely. Denise Darcel and Sara Montiel are around to look beautiful, and Ernest Borgnine has a good moment or two. Even Charles Bronson shows up to uphold the "tough guy" standard. But all along you know who has to win in the end, who has to get the gold, and how it all must end. Even with the lack of surprise, it makes for a terrific ride.