Vera Cruz is an old fashioned buddy western with two dissimilar buddies with 180 degree contrasting acting styles.
Since one of the co-stars was the producer of this, he got the showier part. But in truth I certainly couldn't see casting either one in the other's part.
Burt Lancaster was the producer and star and he got the scenery chewing role of Joe Erin, disarmingly charming and ruthlessly amoral gunfighter down in Mexico working for Emperor Maximilian for a price. He's leading a mini army himself of gunfighters that include among other, Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson.
Along the way Lancaster hooks up with Gary Cooper, former Southern Colonel Ben Trane, who's also looking to restart his life by making some money in Mexico so he can rebuild his plantation in Reconstruction Louisiana.
Basically these two play themselves or at least stay true to the image that we have of both Cooper and Lancaster.
The prize her is a big gold shipment that Maximilian is sending out of Mexico to pay for more troops from Napoleon III. The gunfighters are escorting it, but they don't know it. They think the job is to escort a squeeze of Maximilian's, nicely packaged in the shape of Denise Darcel.
Just about everyone in the film from George Macready playing Maximilian to Cesar Romero playing a French marquis down to Lancaster, Cooper, Darcel, and the rest of the gunfighters all have their own plans for the three million in gold they're carrying. Let's just say that it's no surprise where it winds up.
Morris Ankrum plays a solid version of a Juarista general and Mexican film star, Sarita Montiel, does one of two American films, the other being Serenade with Mario Lanza. She was and is a big name in the Mexican and Spanish cinema and no doubt her presence sold a few tickets south of the Rio Grande. She's an extraordinarily beautiful woman and she pairs with Cooper as Darcel pairs with Lancaster.
Some of the dialog is a bit hokey. I always laugh whenever I hear Darcel tell Lancaster "at heart you are French." But the action moves right along under Director Robert Aldrich and the climatic battle between the French and the Juaristas is well staged.
Since one of the co-stars was the producer of this, he got the showier part. But in truth I certainly couldn't see casting either one in the other's part.
Burt Lancaster was the producer and star and he got the scenery chewing role of Joe Erin, disarmingly charming and ruthlessly amoral gunfighter down in Mexico working for Emperor Maximilian for a price. He's leading a mini army himself of gunfighters that include among other, Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson.
Along the way Lancaster hooks up with Gary Cooper, former Southern Colonel Ben Trane, who's also looking to restart his life by making some money in Mexico so he can rebuild his plantation in Reconstruction Louisiana.
Basically these two play themselves or at least stay true to the image that we have of both Cooper and Lancaster.
The prize her is a big gold shipment that Maximilian is sending out of Mexico to pay for more troops from Napoleon III. The gunfighters are escorting it, but they don't know it. They think the job is to escort a squeeze of Maximilian's, nicely packaged in the shape of Denise Darcel.
Just about everyone in the film from George Macready playing Maximilian to Cesar Romero playing a French marquis down to Lancaster, Cooper, Darcel, and the rest of the gunfighters all have their own plans for the three million in gold they're carrying. Let's just say that it's no surprise where it winds up.
Morris Ankrum plays a solid version of a Juarista general and Mexican film star, Sarita Montiel, does one of two American films, the other being Serenade with Mario Lanza. She was and is a big name in the Mexican and Spanish cinema and no doubt her presence sold a few tickets south of the Rio Grande. She's an extraordinarily beautiful woman and she pairs with Cooper as Darcel pairs with Lancaster.
Some of the dialog is a bit hokey. I always laugh whenever I hear Darcel tell Lancaster "at heart you are French." But the action moves right along under Director Robert Aldrich and the climatic battle between the French and the Juaristas is well staged.