Vera Cruz

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Vera Cruz

1954,

1h 34m,

Western/

Adventure/

Drama

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Watchlist

93%

14 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

14 Reviews

70%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Following the American Civil War, veteran Benjamin Trane (Gary Cooper) and gunslinger Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster) are just two of many men who head to Mexico as mercenaries. When Emperor Maximilian (George Macready) recruits their services, they reluctantly work together, since the price is right. Trane and Erin are to escort Countess Marie Duvarre (Denise Darcel) to Veracruz -- but when they find a wealth of gold hidden in the stagecoach, the original plan no longer applies.

Christopher Lloyd

The Film Yap

Nov 29, 2021

4/5

Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster stand out in this lesser known but influential Western about two gunmen seeking their fortune in revolutionary Mexico who become friends... for a time.

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Frank J. Avella

Edge Media Network

Oct 26, 2021

C-

the frenetic direction seemed to more skew away from a hole-ridden plot, as well as silly romances that go nowhere. I also found the film to be rather dull until the final third.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Oct 15, 2021

3/4

There are no surprises in Cooper's typically solid performance, but Lancaster's wily work keeps audiences guessing as to whether he'll ultimately prove to be an anti-hero or an out-and-out villain.

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Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Jul 21, 2021

7/10

Aldrich directs it with the solidity of a revolver and a touch of irony that ignites like dynamite with the explosive presence of Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster. [Full review in Spanish]

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Nov 11, 2018

Played out as a seat-of-the-pants con game of shifting alliances and double crosses, it's a cheerfully ruthless tale that served as a veritable blueprint for the mercenary brand of Italian spaghetti westerns of the 1960s.

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James Plath

Movie Metropolis

May 4, 2012

7/10

Vera Cruz is one of the better Westerns that no one remembers . . . .

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Albus S

Nov 24, 2017

I think if you'd say to yourself, what would a Burt Lancaster and Gary Cooper mashup western look like, this would be that, which is sad, because these actors shouldn't be in the same movie together, especially in this time of their careers and in a western.

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Draco W

Aug 7, 2016

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, two American soldiers of fortune (Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster) become mercenaries in Mexico's civil war on the side of Emperor Maximilian (George Macready) and are assigned to escort a beautiful countess (Denise Darcel,) an elegantly treacherous Marquis (Cesar Romero,) and several king's ransoms worth of hidden treasure across rebel-held territory to the port of Vera Cruz. Intrigue, betrayal, and battles ensue. This 1954 spectacular by Robert Aldrich (who would go on to direct over two dozen other films, many forgettable, but including such classics as Kiss Me Deadly, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, The Killing of Sister George, The Dirty Dozen, and The Flight of the Phoenix) is ostensibly a Western, but it's really a rollicking, old fashioned swashbuckler wearing a cowboy hat. Lancaster is irresistible as the lovable rogue with his incandescently wicked grin (he looks like he must have gotten his teeth whitened between every take,) and his chemistry with the stoic, rather solemn good guy Cooper is constantly beguiling. Like any swash buckler it pays more attention to making the action engaging rather than realistic, but if you make a certain suspension of disbelief, the film is great fun. Vera Cruz's impressive Mexican landscape photography, vividly realized rural Mexican settings, and its band of scruffy American desperadoes, all together are very similar to a much grimmer film, The Wild Bunch (1969 Sam Peckinpah,) which I suspect it may have influenced.

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Robert Aldrich

Director

Gary Cooper

Benjamin Trane

Burt Lancaster

Joe Erin

Denise Darcel

Countess Marie Duvarre

Cesar Romero

Marquis Henri de Labordere

George Macready

Emperor Maximilian

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Synopsis

Following the American Civil War, veteran Benjamin Trane (Gary Cooper) and gunslinger Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster) are just two of many men who head to Mexico as mercenaries. When Emperor Maximilian (George Macready) recruits their services, they reluctantly work together, since the price is right. Trane and Erin are to escort Countess Marie Duvarre (Denise Darcel) to Veracruz -- but when they find a wealth of gold hidden in the stagecoach, the original plan no longer applies.

Director: Robert Aldrich
Producer: James Hill
Screenwriter: Roland Kibbee, James R. Webb
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: Hecht-Lancaster Productions
Genre: Western, Adventure, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 1954, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Runtime: 1h 34m

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