Review, buy War and Westerns: Vera Cruz [1954], Submarine X-1 [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Where Eagles Dare [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Telegraph Trail/Somewhere in Sonora/The Man From Monterey [1933] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Rainbow Valley [1935] (REGION 1) (NTSC), All Quiet on the Western Front [ 1958 ] Uncut & Uncensored, Convict Stage [1965] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Lone Rider Crosses the Rio [1941] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Big Trail [1930], White Comanche [1967] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Trail Beyond [1935], Randolph Scott - Double Feature #1 (REGION 1) (NTSC), Three Came Home [1950], Command Decision [1948] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Dodge City [1939] (REGION 1) (NTSC), So Proudly We Hail [1943] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Casualties Of War [1989], Frontier Doctor, Vol. 2 [1952], Billion Dollar Brain [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC), War Of The Worlds, The / When Worlds Collide

Find the Perfect Gift Send a Gift Certificate

Home › Classics › War and Westerns

Pages: ‹‹ 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 ››

Review MGM Entertainment / Vera Cruz [1954]

Vera Cruz [1954] (MGM Entertainment)

Actors & Directors

Robert Aldrich
Burt Lancaster
Gary Cooper
Sara Montiel
Denise Darcel
Cesar Romero

Release date: 2000-02-01
Run time: 90 min.
RRP: ~~£9.99~~
Price: £1.96

Review Vera Cruz [1954] / MGM Entertainment:

Vera Cruz was only director Robert Aldrich's second Western (his first, made a few months earlier, was the revisionist, pro-Native-American Apache), but it's such an assured, stylish affair that he might have been roaming the sagebrush for decades. In the aftermath of the American Civil War two lone adventurers make their way south of the border, where Mexico is fighting a civil war of its own to rid the country of the French-imposed Emperor Maximilian. Neither the dour Benjamin Trane (Gary Cooper) nor the grinning, devil-may-care Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster) has much in the way of idealism, but Trane still retains a thin bitter edge of integrity, a quality quite alien to the cheerfully amoral Erin. In uneasy alliance, constantly looking to outwit or double-cross each other, the two find themselves escorting a beautiful French countess (Denise Darcel) and a shipment of gold across country. Cooper and Lancaster create a superb double-act, using their contrasted screen personas to point up the humour and the cynicism of the two mercenaries' relationship. Darcel makes less than she might of the femme fatale role, but there are relishable cameos from Cesar Romero as a suavely duplicitous aristo and Ernest Borgnine as another gringo with an exceptionally vicious streak. The script, according to Aldrich, was written on the run, "always finished about five minutes before we shot it", but you wouldn't guess it from the laconic wit of the dialogue. It looks great, too-Ernest Laszlo's widescreen photography makes the most of the handsome Mexican locations. With its irreverent take on the accepted moral conventions of the genre, Vera Cruz ushered in a new kind of Western, and its central love-hate relationship would be replayed in Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country (1962) and Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). On the DVD: Not much in the way of extras but the mono sound has been expertly remastered to the benefit of Hugo Friedhofer's spirited score. [+]

Above all, the film's presented in its full Superscope ratio (16:9), a blessed relief after all those years when it showed up panned-and-scanned on BBC1. If ever a movie needed widescreen, it's this one-if only to fit in all Burt's teeth. You can see why they called him "Crockery Joe". -Philip Kemp.

Review Vera Cruz [1954] / MGM Entertainment:

Review Submarine X-1 [1969] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / MGM:

Review Where Eagles Dare [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:

Review The Telegraph Trail/Somewhere in Sonora/The Man From Monterey [1933] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:

Review Rainbow Valley [1935] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Westlake Entertainment Group:

Review All Quiet on the Western Front [ 1958 ] Uncut & Uncensored:

Review Convict Stage [1965] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / 20th Century Fox:

Review The Lone Rider Crosses the Rio [1941] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Alpha Video:

Review The Big Trail [1930] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

Review White Comanche [1967] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Alpha Video:

Review The Trail Beyond [1935] / Cinema Club:

Review Randolph Scott - Double Feature #1 (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Critic's Choice:

Review Three Came Home [1950] / Whe Europe Limited:

Review Command Decision [1948] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:

Review Dodge City [1939] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:

Review So Proudly We Hail [1943] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Universal Studios:

Review Casualties Of War [1989] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

Review Frontier Doctor, Vol. 2 [1952] / Alpha Video:

Review Billion Dollar Brain [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / MGM:

Review War Of The Worlds, The / When Worlds Collide - Sci-Fi DVD Collector's Edition [1951] / Paramount Home Entertainment: