Vera Cruz ***** (1954, Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Denise Darcel, Cesar Romero, George Macready, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam) – Classic Movie Review 2479

Director Robert Aldrich’s great 1954 Western features a standoff between great stars Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, representing the faces of good and evil, well, sort of.

Cooper plays nice former soldier and gentleman Benjamin Trane, while Lancaster plays the grinning villain, gunman and killer Joe Erin. They are American adventurer soldiers of fortune during the 1866 Mexican revolution.

They nearly kill each other but then they join forces to take a job for the Emperor Maximillian (George Macready) and the Marquis Henri de Labordere (Cesar Romero) to escort an aristocrat, Countess Marie Duvarre (Denise Darcel), from Mexico City to the harbour of Vera Cruz.

But Trane and Erin find they are also escorting a bullion shipment and that the stagecoach is transporting $3million in gold hidden below the seat. Naturally, unsavoury characters that they are, they scheme to steal it, so Trane isn’t all that good or nice. Betrayals, double crosses and triple crosses follow.

Aldrich directs this handsome-looking movie with his usual flair, shooting on location with an eye to exciting action. A bit too old for the role aged 52, Cooper gives a masterclass in being glum and laconic, while Lancaster shows his superiority as an actor by stealing all their scenes together, though admittedly the role in much showier.

The super Technicolor cinematography by Ernest Laszlo really counts for a lot, and so does the support cast who include Sarita Montiel, Ernest Borgnine, Morris Ankrum, Charles Bronson (billed as Charles Buchinsky, his real name), Henry Brandon, Jack Lambert, Jack Elam, James McCallion, James Seay, Archie Savage and Charles Horvath.

Among all the stars here it is Romero, Borgnine, Bronson and of course Lancaster who are especially impressive. It had good reviews and it was a big hit at the box-office, costing $3million and grossing $9million in the US.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2479

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