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Vera Cruz (1954)

Director: Robert Aldrich

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From Time Out Film Guide

A brash, lively, and totally appealing Western about a couple of American adventurers - Cooper, a decent but cynical Southern gentleman, and Lancaster, a supremely conniving crook - getting involved with Maximilian's imperial court and the Juarez revolutionaries in 1860s Mexico. Basically, the film is played as a game of bluff and betrayal, with the pair continually voicing their distrust of each other as they transport a countess and her crock of gold to Vera Cruz, allowing Aldrich to alternate with ease between earthy comedy and taut suspense. Beautifully shot by Ernest Laszlo, it conjures up a Mexico that in some ways looks forward to Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, a country at once romantic and treacherous, wild and lovely, an outpost of freedom for exiles yet oppressed by a corrupt government. And the performances, as you might expect, are highly professional.

Author: GA 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Robert Aldrich

Producer: James Hill

Cast: Burt Lancaster, Gary Cooper, Denise Darcel, Cesar Romero, Sarita Montiel, George Macready, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, Jack Lambert, Charles Bronson full cast

Genre(s): Westerns

Duration: 94 mins


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