Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Denise Darcel, Cesar Romero, Sarita Montiel
Release Year: 1954
Country: US
Run Time: 94 minutes
Plot
Produced by Burt Lancaster's own company, Vera Cruz teams Lancaster with the venerable Gary Cooper. The story, set during the Mexican revolution of 1866, casts Coop and Lancaster as Ben Trane and Joe Erin, two rival soldiers of fortune who team to fight for the highest bidder. The two men come to loggerheads when Trane's sweetheart Nina (Sarita Montiel) begs them to fight on the side of the rebels, while the wealthy Marquis de Labodere (Cesar Romero) implores them to offer their services to Emperor Maximillian. Though they still haven't taken sides, Trane and Erin agree to escort the aristocratic Countess Marie Duvarre (Danielle Darrieux) through hostile territory to Vera Cruz. It soon develops that the Countess is transporting a gold shipment to the Emperor's armies. Hardly the most patriotic of souls, she offers to split the gold with Trane and Erin, but they steal it for themselves instead. It takes a while (and several bloody armed confrontations) before the two protagonists do The Right Thing. While it's fun to watch Burt Lancaster try to upstage the taciturn Gary Cooper, the film's best line goes to supporting player Henry Brandon: impassively watching the loutish Lancaster wolf down his dinner and slop wine all over his blouse, Brandon says calmly "Be careful, senor. Some of it is getting in your mouth." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A vital antecedent to Sergio Leone's comically cynical spaghetti Westerns, Vera Cruz (1954) dispenses with black-and-white distinctions between good and bad and ratchets up the humor, becoming a comic yet violent epic of American bad behavior during the Mexican Revolution. Though Gary Cooper sports the lighter hat than grinning co-star Burt Lancaster, both pursue the highest paycheck and a cache of gold with an amusingly amoral fervor that stands in striking contrast to their more noble Western incarnations in High Noon (1952) and Apache (1954), respectively. Cooper's anti-imperialist conscience and Southern manners provide the few glimmers of ethics, as well as several laughs at the snobbish Mexicans' expense. While Lancaster's charisma and wit make him into an inordinately appealing outlaw, director Robert Aldrich's harshly staged battles finally reveal the cost of such systemic greed. Boasting gloriously composed, location-shot widescreen vistas as well as megastars Cooper and Lancaster, Vera Cruz overcame critical distaste for its gleeful venality to become a blockbuster hit. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Trane and Erin discover that the countess and Marquis Henri de Labordere (Cesare Romero) are secretly transporting a large cache of gold intended for the French army. All concerned, including Juarista secret agent Nina (Sara Montiel), conspire to steal it for their own purposes. Also involved in the mix is Morris Ankrum as a heroic Juarista leader.
In the end, Trane and Erin face off in a showdown.
