Vera Cruz (1954)

To me, this movie is perfection.

A different way of telling a story

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

I first saw this film in 1955; it was the sort of movie I lived for back then. Compared with movies such as "Three Coins in the Fountain" and "Good Morning Miss Dove', which I also saw around the same time, "Vera Cruz" was an island of refuge in a sea of ennui for an eight-year old boy.Now that my movie horizons have broadened a little, most of those old war movies and westerns seem very one dimensional if not totally unwatchable these days.But there are exceptions, and "Vera Cruz" is one of them. After a recent viewing I can appreciate it's panache and even touches of brilliance.The story follows a group of American adventurers in Mexico during the Juarista revolution against the French imposed rule of Emperor Maximillian. Ben Trane (Gary Cooper) teams up with Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster), and it seems they are prepared to help whichever side pays the most money.They initially join forces with the French, but later change to the Juaristas. They have the opportunity of getting away with three million dollars in gold, but Ben Trane becomes emotionally attached to the Juarista cause, while Joe Erin only has an emotional attachment to himself and the money - a showdown is inevitable.It would be hard to accuse the characters in this film of being one-dimensional because they are so over-the-top. They also bring a lightness of touch without which the whole thing would be pretty heavy going. With a witty script, and the perfect cast, director Robert Aldrich hit all the right notes with this film.All the actors playing the French turned the ham knob up high. Ceasar Romero is charming, urbane and duplicitous. Henry Brandon's close-cropped captain is superbly arrogant, and has some great lines with Joe Erin. When he sees Joe greedily tearing into a whole chicken at a banquet, he comments, "Your acquaintance with etiquette amazes me monsieur, I had no idea you knew which hand to use". Of course their association was bound to end badly.As a scheming countess, Denise Darcel femme fatales all over the place, and George Macready as Maximillian delivers yet another variation on his unique brand of cultivated evil - this time with a gnome-like beard.But it's Burt Lancaster who steals the show. With that coiled spring grace and those clipped sentences, he exudes a sense of danger despite overdoing the famous grin in just about every scene.Against all those fireworks, Gary Cooper wisely underplays. He gets the girl at the end -played by beautiful Spanish actress Sarita Montiel - despite looking old enough to be her father plus some.The Jaurista cause is seen in a positive light, and the whole film was shot in Mexico, often with Aztec ruins as a spectacular backdrop. If any group is cast in a bad light it is the American adventurers who are uncouth and bad-natured almost to a man.The action sequences are superbly staged although there is little evidence that the human body contains eight pints of blood - despite the carnage, the whole affair is quite bloodless."Vera Cruz" is a movie without any agenda other than to entertain, and it does that with style. Like most movies of the era, the filmmakers didn't let historical accuracy or cultural sensitivities get in the way of telling a good story.

In a time when Westerns were dominated by John Wayne and his moralistic, conservative and boring characters, the Western genre was rarely not boring. I always thought it was thanks to the Italian ('Spaghetti') Westerns that this all changed, but it actually began earlier.'Vera Cruz' is a rare non-moralistic American western; instead of the goody two-shoes Wayne rip-offs, it is filled with morally ambiguous characters. Ben Trane (Gary Cooper), a former Confederate soldier, and Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster), an outlaw, are just two of many who go to Mexico to fight in their revolution; but rather than helping the rebels free their country, they strike a deal with Emperor Maximilian to escort a countess all the way to Vera Cruz. That is what made the Italian Westerns so good. The characters are fighting not for an idealistic protection of 'freedom' or whatever John Wayne would have used to justify it, but for pure gold and money. They fight for themselves, and themselves ONLY, no matter if their side is 'right' or 'wrong'. They are not above double-crossing others, even their 'friends', to help themselves.And believe me, there is a lot of double-crossing going around here.The casting is very good; Lancaster tends to be irritating with the way he keeps smiling and showing his teeth all the time, but acts well and Cooper is terrific as always. The supporting cast, with includes a equally terrific Cesar Romero and the then-unknowns Charles Bronson and Ernest Borgnine, is very good. The actors all actually look their part, another characteristic Italian westerns got from here.Unlike them, though, 'Vera Cruz' is not slow. It does not take its time to bask in the excellent scenery (which is as good as those of some Sergio Leone's films, for example), and moves toward the action every time its possible. For its time, it's surprisingly violent and realistically so; again, not like Wayne's westerns.An excellent western that influenced the Italian ones from the decade after, 'Vera Cruz' is exactly what American westerns should have been. It still needed a bit more polishing, something Sergio Leone and his contemporaries did masterfully, but it is still one of the best westerns I've ever seen.

First and foremost the technicolor was a smart choice for the film because it made the environment more realistic and beautiful. It made me wonder how amazing the movie could look in HD. Black and white would have done the film an injustice. The camera was placed in all of the right places and really captured some amazing things. There were high up shots that would capture the wide area of land that they were working with. It looked strikingly authentic. Especially when the camera is put up on a pyramid like foundation. Another time was when the camera was put way back behind an arch during the ball, i noticed it because it was such a different take on what was happening. A lot of the scenes looked very organized and planned out. As the characters would ride by with their horses they were very aligned with what ever was around them . It was nice not to just have to focus on the characters through it all and really take in that they were traveling. The Mexican cultural elements was one of my favorite things because not only does it make the movie more enjoyable to watch it made the movie more well rounded.

Former Confederate Colonel Gary Cooper, nearly left penniless by the Civil War and looking for work in 1860s Mexico, has little choice but to join up with gregarious outlaw Burt Lancaster and his macho gang after being asked by the battalions of the Emperor Maximillian to safeguard three million dollars worth of gold coins in a dangerous trek to Juarez. Familiar western elements (and clichés) dot the spotty script, though this Robert Aldrich-directed film was later called a forerunner of the 'amoral western', with each of the characters out for themselves. Cooper and Lancaster approach this explosion-heavy epic in their vastly different, customary styles; they make a peculiar team, and many of their shared scenes (such as a ridiculous one wherein Gary cuts a bullet out of Burt's arm) fall flat. The supporting players (including Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson in relatively thankless bits) manage to give certain scenes a little extra bounce, and the cinematography and locations are quite wonderful. Entertaining for genre buffs--though with so many disparate talents on-board, the results were bound to be a bit bewildering. **1/2 from ****