Vera Cruz is a 1954 American Technicolor Western starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, and featuring Denise Darcel, Sara Montiel, and Cesar Romero. The movie was directed by Robert Aldrich from a story by Borden Chase. The film'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, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, and the films of Sergio Leone.

Plot[link]

Gary Cooper as Trane

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 Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (George Macready) to help escort Countess Duvarre (Denise Darcel) to Vera Cruz.

Trane and Erin discover that the countess and Marquis Henri de Labordere (Cesar 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 that concludes with Erin's death.

Cast[link]

• 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 Maximillian
• 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

References[link]

External links[link]

• Vera Cruz at the Internet Movie Database
• Vera Cruz at the TCM Movie Database
• Vera Cruz at AllRovi

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