Vera Cruz

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Mike W It was surprising how poor the movie was given the large number of talented actors who were involved. The fault must have been in Directing and/or writing. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 10/05/24 Full Review Steve D Only entertaining to see these two face off. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/07/24 Full Review Matthew B Robert Aldrich's 1954 western, Vera Cruz has been described as the first spaghetti western. It is not a spaghetti western of course, but it was an early indicator of what the western was to become during the 1960s. For several decades, the movie industry had produced what I, to coin a phrase, call the ‘noble western'. In these westerns the heroes were certainly not angels. They could be brutal lawmen who broke the rules when it suited them, or they could be outlaws and gunfighters. However they followed certain moral standards. They did not shoot horses unless they were suffering. They would not shoot a man in the back. They certainly would not shoot women and children, and would even go out of their way to protect them. Vera Cruz certainly did not signal the end of the ‘noble western'. However it did anticipate the direction in which westerns would eventually travel – one where the heroes are motivated by money more than morals, and will sell themselves to the highest bidder, unless they can double cross them too. Nonetheless the movie lies part-way between the movies of its own age and the movies to come. For all its cynicism there is nothing too brutal about Vera Cruz. It is cynical but the tone is essentially humorous. The viewer is not invited to wince or feel shocked by what is on screen. What we have instead is a colourful and lively western that is packed with a remarkable amount of incident for a 90-minute film. Indeed the story moves so quickly that there are 1130 edits in 90 minutes, making the average length of a shot 5 seconds. This is another aspect of the movie that makes it seem ahead of its time. The movie has two protagonists, what Aldrich called a hero and an anti-hero. It is tempting to see Ben Trane (Gary Cooper) as the old-fashioned hero of the western, and Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster) as the new type of anti-hero that would soon take over from him. However it is not quite that simple, and Trane's characters contains some of the taint of mercenary motives. Lancaster is an actor who is comfortable with playing complicated or unlikeable characters, and he acts the role of Joe Erin with zest. Erin's wide grin is not a friendly one. He is utterly unscrupulous and without morals. He shoots dead any mercenaries who question his leadership. A war of words with a French soldier reaches its epitome at the end of the movie when the supercilious solder falls in front of Erin, and Erin takes great pleasure in bayoneting him. Erin makes no scruple of the fact that he wants the money all to himself: ‘I'm a pig', he says. In a film dominated by characters who are either totally unethical or who take some coaxing in order to do the right thing, we might be forgiven for thinking that the movie's world view is entirely pessimistic. This is not the case. Aside the humorous, rather than depressing, treatment of the movie's situations, there is one group of people who are entirely honourable throughout, and that is the Mexican people's army who oppose their French oppressors. Vera Cruz was ahead of its time in its portrayal of a new and less worthy brand of hero, and it would be many years before westerns caught up. However it would be too much to say that the film changed the face of the western forever. Rather this cheerfully sardonic western gave a taste of what was to come, and showed that even without a noble or admirable hero, the western could still be immensely entertaining and satisfying. I wrote a longer appreciation of Vera Cruz on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2018/01/05/vera-cruz-1954/ Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Really good western/Mexican war movie will recommend it James Welch, Henderson, Arkansas, August 6, 2023 Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/07/23 Full Review Deke P Extremely good. COOPER! & BURT LANCASTER!, who was super charismatic, & chewed up the scenery as the bad guy. Very involved, about 2 Americans trying to steal Napoleon's gold in Mexico. Saw it on tv, June 23, 2023, Grit TV, Giving it 3 1/2 RT stars. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/24/23 Full Review Liam D A very underrated classic western with a great cast and firm direction by Robert Aldrich (Too Late the Hero, Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd) Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Vera Cruz

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