Before World War II, most American films were made in Hollywood, on studio lots or ranches just on the outskirts of Los Angeles. When World War II ended, Hollywood began to take its show on the road aka making films on location whether on the streets of New York or the bombed ruins of post war Vienna, Austria. John Huston's THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE (1948) starring Humphrey Bogart was one of the first films I recall shot on location in Mexico. Robert Aldrich's VERA CRUZ (1954) would be an even bigger production to film in Mexico with not one but two movie stars: the veteran Gary Cooper and the rising star Burt Lancaster.
Besides one of the first big Hollywood productions made outside of the United States, VERA CRUZ is an early film uniting an aging movie legend in Cooper with an up-and-coming star (whose production company produced the action western) in Burt Lancaster. The passing of the baton from the veteran actor to the newcomer is nothing new in Hollywood. Sometimes it works in films like Barry Levinson's RAIN MAN (1988) with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. Sometimes it doesn't work out like in Ron Shelton's HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE (2003) with Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett. Although only 12 years apart in age, the older Gary Cooper and the younger Burt Lancaster make a good team in VERA CRUZ with the script providing a father/son dynamic but also a hero/anti-hero rivalry.
The man at the helm of VERA CRUZ is director Robert Aldrich, often described as a maverick or outsider in the Hollywood system even though he made many Hollywood backed films for all the major studios. One of Aldrich's fortes was handling largely male dominated casts. From VERA CRUZ to THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (1966) to THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967), Aldrich was adept at managing large groups of men whether it be a western, adventure, or World War II film. But Aldrich could also handle films with strong female characters or themes including HUSH, HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE (1964) with Bette Davis and Olivia DeHavilland or ALL THE MARBLES (1981) about female wrestlers. Aldrich films often had anti-heroes like gumshoe Mike Hammer in the classic film noir KISS ME DEADLY (1955) or anti-establishment characters like the criminals and rapists sent on a secret WWII mission in THE DIRTY DOZEN.
Directed by Aldrich with a screenplay by Roland Kibbee and James R. Webb based on a story by western screenwriter legend Borden Chase (RED RIVER), the filmmakers lay out the scenario for VERA CRUZ right from the start. With the American Civil War over, ex-Rebels, mercenaries, and criminals head to Mexico during the Mexican Rebellion of 1866 to seek fortune or take up the cause against foreign Emperor Maximilian (George Macready), unloved by the Mexican people. In a nice ten-minute opening sequence, Aldrich introduces us to our two main protagonists: Benjamin Trane (Gary Cooper), a lone ex-Rebel colonel and Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster) a sly larcenous outlaw. Trane's horse comes up lame after the long journey He stops at a rundown mission where he encounters Joe. Joe has an extra horse. He sells Trane the horse for $100 in gold. Maximilian's lancers show up, chasing both men. Joe has sold Trane a horse he just stole from one of the soldiers. But when Trane is seemingly shot by the troops, Joe approaches to fleece Trane. Only Trane's not dead. He knocks out Joe and takes his horse and gun. Thus begins the cat and mouse, father/son relationship between the wily veteran and the young cocky upstart.
Ben rides up to a nearby cantina where he encounters Joe's band of cutthroats including Tex (Jack Elam), Donnegan (Ernest Borgnine), Abilene (James Seay), and Pittsburgh (Charles Buchinsky soon to be Bronson). They think Trane has killed Joe since he's riding his horse. Joe arrives in the nick of time and saves Ben's neck. Ben joins Joe's gang and they ride into another town where a rival American gang led by Charlie (Jack Lambert), Little-Bit (James McCallion), and Ballard (Archie Savage) are tormenting a local girl Nina (Sara Montiel). Ben rescues Nina who repays Ben by stealing his wallet. The Americans are approached by both the Marquis Henri de Labordere (Cesar Romero) representing Maximilian who offers them a commission to side with them and General Ramirez (Morris Ankrum) representing the peasants or Juaristas proposing a chance to fight for a cause against Maximilian. The peasants surround the village. Only Joe's quick thinking to grab the local children as collateral allows his gang to stay alive. Ben, Joe, and the rest choose to follow the Marquis back to Mexico City to meet Maximilian.
The men are mesmerized by the excess of wealth and luxury at Maximilian's palace, gorging themselves on food and drink. The Marquis introduces Ben and Joe to Emperor Maximilian who requests they escort the beautiful French Countess Marie Duvarre (Denise Darcel) to the coastal town of Vera Cruz where she will take a ship back to Paris. The men agree for a price of $50,000 in gold. Maximilian and the Marquis plan to have the mercenaries killed once they reach their destination of Vera Cruz. The convoy moves out. Ben notices during a river crossing that the Countess's stagecoach seems weighted down. Upon investigation, Ben and Joe discover six cases of gold worth $3 million hidden in the base boards. The Countess reveals the gold is headed for Europe to pay for reinforcements for Maximilian. Ben, Joe, and the Countess form an uneasy alliance to steal the gold. But hiding in the shadows of the stable, the Marquis overhears their plan.
The next day, as the convoy moves through a village, they are ambushed by the Juaristas. Joe hops on the stagecoach and takes a detour from the blockade. The local girl Nina (working for the Juaristas) hijacks another wagon and follows the convoy out of town. Nina reunites Ben with his wallet minus his twelve dollars. So begins double and triple crosses as no one trusts each other. The envoy arrives at Las Palmas. The Countess makes a deal with a different ship captain to only take her and the gold on board. Distracted by the Countess and Nina, Ben and Joe lose track of the stagecoach and the gold. The Marquis whisks both away to Vera Cruz. Joe's outlaws lose faith in him. Ben proposes they team up with the Juaristas to grab the gold back from the Marquis. The climactic finale has Joe, Ben, and the remaining Americans storming a heavily fortified fort to get the gold back for the people of Mexico and their own fortune.
VERA CRUZ is a seminal film in the western canon, introducing audiences to amoral, anti-hero characters and a sadistic view toward violence, both trademarks of director Aldrich. Cooper's character Ben Trane was meant to be less heroic, but Cooper fought against it. I think it's the right choice as Ben Trane and Joe Erin balance each other well, sometimes fighting for the same thing, sometimes at odds with each other. Cooper's Ben wears light shades of gray, the color of good. Lancaster's Joe is in black, the symbolic color for bad. Most of the remaining characters in VERA CRUZ are no good, violent types or elitist, crooked types including Countess Duvarre. VERA CRUZ shocks with its attitude toward violence. Joe's not bashful about using children in the village as shields to protect him and his gang from the Juaristas bullets. The treatment of Nina by Pittsburgh is close to rape until she breaks away from him. Joe slaps the Countess around when he suspects she's setting him up. And a captured Juarista is tormented by Maximilian's lancers like a wild animal before they kill him to the glee of the lancers commanding officer Captain Danette (Henry Brandon)
The relationship between Ben Trane and Joe Erin in VERA CRUZ is an intriguing one that adds to the film's flavor. Ben is a loner, showing up in Mexico by himself. Joe's the leader of a band of killers yet he seems a bit of an outsider even in his group. Joe gets the upper hand early on Ben, selling him a stolen horse that nearly gets Ben killed by Maximilian's lancers. But Ben will use his experience and guile to get the upper hand (briefly) on Joe. As Ben and Joe get to know each other better, they begin to compete for everything from the showing off their marksman ability to Maximilian to stealing the gold coins hidden in the stagecoach to the women they encounter like Countess Duvarre and the peasant girl Nina.
A father/son relationship begins to develop between Ben and Joe although not in the traditional sense. Ben is older than Joe but he's also wiser, less impetuous or quick triggered. Joe actually tells Ben his life story, how he was orphaned early in his life and raised by a man named Ace who he would later kill. It's a story that Ben will heed when he and Joe face off the finale of VERA CRUZ after Joe turns on Ben one final time. Even though both Ben and Joe are interested in the gold coins, so are both the Countess Duvarre and Nina. Everyone has larceny in their heart in VERA CRUZ.
VERA CRUZ would influence future westerns like John Sturges THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960), the spaghetti western films of Sergio Leone, and especially Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH (1969). Like THE WILD BUNCH, VERA CRUZ is set in Mexico. In VERA CRUZ, it's American mercenaries coming down to fight for whomever will pay them the most. In THE WILD BUNCH, it's a gang of outlaws hiding out south of the border from American authorities. In both films, a group of men get involved with Mexico's military, more interested in a pay day then to help the common man. Ultimately, both sets of men will revert back to their code of honor even if it means dying. Some of the stunts in VERA CRUZ with soldiers and Juaristas falling from the top of buildings and walls reminded me of similar stunts from THE WILD BUNCH. The editing style of VERA CRUZ in its climactic battle scene may have inspired Sam Peckinpah's "ballet of death" editing style in THE WILD BUNCH. Both films even have a gatling machine gun that the protagonists use against the corrupt regimes they formally aligned with. Ernest Borgnine who appears in a minor role as the vicious Donnegan in VERA CRUZ would have a starring role in THE WILD BUNCH as Dutch Engstrom.
The title VERA CRUZ is an alluring romantic destination like El Dorado or Shangri-La. Vera Cruz is where Ben and Joe believe their dreams will come true as they escape with three million in gold coins from the Emperor and the Marquis. But it's a fever dream. Most of the American outlaws and mercenaries will never make it as far as Vera Cruz, dying in dusty villages and well defended forts before they ever set eyes on any gold or the ocean. They believe Vera Cruz will bring them fortune but it's only misery that awaits them.
Burt Lancaster has played some villainous characters before including Broadway columnist J.J. Hudsecker in Alexander Mackendrick's SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957) and General James Mattoon Scott in John Frankenheimer's SEVEN DAYS IN MAY (1964) but his role as Joe Erin in VERA CRUZ may be his most cold blooded. At times, Lancaster seems like he's channeling his inner pirate only with a pistol instead of a sword from his THE CRIMSON PIRATE (1952) days. But Joe is obsessed with stealing the emperor's gold for himself and no one else. He'll kill Ben Trane, the Countess, a group of children, or his whole gang if they get in his way. He's charming one moment and a cold-hearted killer the next. Lancaster and Aldrich first worked together in APACHE (also 1954) before VERA CRUZ and would reunite later in their careers with another western ULZANA'S RAID (1972) and the thriller TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING (1977) with Richard Widmark.
As mentioned earlier, Gary Cooper's ex-Civil War veteran Benjamin Trane was meant to be less chivalrous, much like most of the characters in VERA CRUZ but Cooper fought against it. Ben Trane is the most sympathetic character in the film when you put him up against Lancaster's Joe Erin and his band of rogues or the elitist Maximilian and the Marquis. Even local girl Nina who steals Ben's wallet and the Countess Duvarre are as greedy if not more than Ben. Ben wins our heart when he tells Joe that he plans to use his cut of the gold to restore his burned down plantation back in Louisiana. VERA CRUZ would be Cooper and director Aldrich's only teaming together. Cooper appeared in many westerns including William Wyler's THE WESTERNER (1940) and Fred Zinnemann's classic HIGH NOON (1952) with Grace Kelly. VERA CRUZ is probably his most rousing, rugged western he ever made
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Fans of television's BATMAN (1966-68) will recognize Cesar Romero as the Marquis Henri de Labordere, Maximilian's puppet master pulling the strings to convince the American mercenaries to escort the emperor's gold to Vera Cruz under the guise of protecting the countess. Long before Romero played the Joker opposite Adam West's Batman, Romero played the Latin lover in musicals and romantic comedies 1930s and 40s. George Macready who plays Maximilian seems underutilized in VERA CRUZ. Like his performances in Charles Vidor's GILDA (1946) and Stanley Kubrick's THE PATHS OF GLORY (1957), Macready oozes manipulation as the emperor in VERA CRUZ but only in one scene. It's more a cameo than a supporting role.
Although only minor characters as part of Joe Erin's gang in VERA CRUZ, actors Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson must have rubbed off on director Robert Aldrich. Bronson would work with Aldrich on APACHE, VERA CRUZ, 4 FOR TEXAS (1963) with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and THE DIRTY DOZEN. Borgnine would top Bronson appearing in Aldrich's VERA CRUZ, THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, THE DIRTY DOZEN with Lee Marvin, THE LEGEND OF LYLAH CLARE (1968) with Peter Finch and Kim Novak, EMPEROR OF THE NORTH (1973) reuniting with Marvin, and HUSTLE (1975) with Burt Reynolds and Catherine Deneuve. The allure of VERA CRUZ on future western filmmakers cannot be ignored. Ernest Borgnine would appear in Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH which owes more than a nod to VERA CRUZ. Both Bronson and CRUZ actor Jack Elam (with the crazy one eye) would have roles in Sergio Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968), another western influenced by VERA CRUZ.
At the end of VERA CRUZ, the credits include a large thank you to the Mexican government for their support in the making of the film. Reports came out later that the Mexican government was not happy with the portrayal of Mexicans in the film (personally, I think the Mexicans are depicted just fine). When THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN came to Mexico to film six years later, a technical advisor from the Mexican government was assigned to that film. The Mexican townsmen who hire the seven gunslingers are definitely depicted as noble, hardworking people.
Director Robert Aldrich was a jack of all genres. Westerns, film noir, disaster/adventure, thrillers, Grand Guignol horror, World War II, cop dramas - Aldrich could do it all. He seemed drawn to anti-heroes and characters who bucked authority. Whether he knew it or not, VERA CRUZ would set a new standard for westerns, the polar opposite of John Ford's romantic Calvary trilogy films. VERA CRUZ is a buddy film but not in the usual manner. It has one of the great teaming's of lead actors with Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster. Lastly, VERA CRUZ is made on location in Mexico with its sleepy villages, wide open vistas, and even the Aztec Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan is incorporated into the film. VERA CRUZ is a glorious, wide screen epic that opened Hollywood's eyes to the prospect of making films in exotic locations.
