Story of movie Vera Cruz Film : Vera Cruz is a 1954 American western film starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, and featuring Denise Darcel, Sara Montiel, Cesar Romero, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson and Jack Elam. The movie was directed by Robert Aldrich from a story by Borden Chase. The picture's amoral characters and cynical attitude toward violence (including a scene where Lancaster's character threatens to murder child hostages) were considered shocking at the time and influenced future Westerns such as The Magnificent Seven, The Professionals, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, and the films of Sergio Leone, which often featured supporting cast members from Vera Cruz in similar roles.
| Vera Cruz | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Robert Aldrich |
| Produced by | James Hill |
| Written by | Roland Kibbee James R. Webb |
| Starring | Gary Cooper Burt Lancaster Ernest Borgnine Denise Darcel Cesar Romero Charles Bronson Jack Elam Sara Montiel |
| Music by | Hugo Friedhofer |
| Cinematography | Ernest Laszlo |
| Edited by | Alan Crosland Jr. |
Production company | Hecht-Lancaster Productions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date | December 25, 1954 |
Running time | 94 min. |
| Country | US |
| Language | English Spanish |
| Budget | $1.6 million |
| Box office | $11,000,000 (estimated) 4,508,964 admissions (France) |
The film was spoofed in the 1986 cult comedy Three Amigos, directed by John Landis.
Screenplay
During the Franco-Mexican War, ex-Confederate soldier Ben Trane (Cooper) travels to Mexico seeking a job as a mercenary. He falls in with Joe Erin (Lancaster), a lethal gunslinger who heads a gang of cutthroats (including Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, Charles Bronson, and Archie Savage). They are recruited by Marquis Henri de Labordere (Cesar Romero) for service with the Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (George Macready) After an almost-miraculous display of shooting with a lever-action Winchester rifle, the Emperor offers them $25,000 to escort the Countess Duvarre (Denise Darcel) to the seaport city of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. Trane uses a compliment to the Countess to get the Emperor to double it, impressing Erin with his boldness. During a river crossing, Trane and Erin noticed that the stagecoach in which the countess is traveling is extremely heavy. Erin later discovers that the stagecoach contains six cases of gold coins. First Trane and then the countess discover him looking at the gold. The countess informs them that it is worth $3 million which is being transported to pay for troops for Maximilian's French army. They form an uneasy alliance to steal and split the gold. Unfortunately for their plans, the Marquis was listening from the shadows.
Also involved in the mix is General Ramírez (Morris Ankrum) a heroic Juarista leader. He and the other Juarista leaders soon suspect that there is more to the expedition than the Countess and ambush the column several times. Eventually, the rest of Erin's group also learn that something suspicious is going on and they demand to be let in on the secret. The different groups, including Juarista secret agent Nina (Sara Montiel), conspire to steal the gold for their own purposes. Alliances are formed, quickly dissolved and others are formed. A ruse is successful in getting the gold to Veracruz where the Juarista troops attack the French in a bloody battle over the ownership of the gold. Erin attempts to steal the gold for himself by getting the countess to reveal the location of the ship she had hired to transport the gold. However, Trane arrives in time to stop him.
In the end, Trane and Erin face off in a showdown that concludes with Erin's death. Trane leaves the gold and walks through the dead bodies from the battle while the wives and mothers of the Juarista troops search among the dead and wounded for their loved ones.
- Gary Cooper as Ben Trane
- Burt Lancaster as Joe Erin
- Denise Darcel as Countess Marie Duvarre
- Cesar Romero as Marquis Henri de Labordere
- Sara Montiel as Nina (billed as Sarita Montiel)
- George Macready as Emperor Maximilian
- Ernest Borgnine as Donnegan
- Morris Ankrum as General Ramírez
- Henry Brandon as Captain Danette
- Charles Bronson as Pittsburgh (as Charles Buchinsky)
- Jack Lambert as Charlie
- Jack Elam as Tex
- James McCallion as Little-Bit
- James Seay as Abilene
- Archie Savage as Ballard
- Charles Horvath as Reno
- Juan García as Pedro
Burt Lancaster and Harold Hecht had just signed a contract with United Artists to make two films, starting with Apache, directed by Robert Aldrich. Just before filming on that movie began in October 1953, Lancaster announced they second film would be Vera Cruz with himself and Gary Cooper, based on a story by Borden Chase.
In December 1953, after Apache finished filming, Lancaster annoucned Aldrich would direct Vera Cruz.
United Artists would be so happy with Apache they changed the two-picture deal with Hecht and Lancaster into a two-year deal covering seven films.
Mari Blanchard was meant to play the female lead and Hecht signed to borrow her from Universal. However there was a clause forbidding her to appear in television which Heckt disagreed with. Instead they cast Denise Darcel.
Filming started in February 1954 in Mexico. By May the unit had shifted to Churubusco Studios.
The film earned an estimated $5 million at the North American box office during its first run and $9 million overall.
The movie was a particularly big hit in France.
In 1963 Aldrich announced he was working on a sequel There Really Was a Gold Mine but it was never made.
Vera Cruz was released to DVD by MGM Home Video on April 1st, 2003, and to Blu-Ray on June 7th, 2011.
- You Can't Win 'Em All, a 1970 film with a similar plot set in the Greco-Turkish War.
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