Rating: NR
Genre:
Western
Release Date: 05/20/2003
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DD4.0
Run Time: 107 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
Michael Curtiz's
The Comancheros was a deceptively complex movie -- so enjoyable, that it masked some of the best character development seen in a
John Wayne vehicle that was not directed by
John Ford or
Howard Hawks, and so well made that it got by with some of the most violent action seen in a major studio release of the era. It also bridged the gap between
Ford's
The Searchers and the upbeat
buddy movies of the late '60s and '70s (
The Sting,
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, etc.). It's 1843 in the Republic of Texas, and
Jake Cutter (
John Wayne) is a two-fisted Texas Ranger who runs across a gang of white renegades, called the Comancheros, who are trading guns and other contraband with marauding Comanches from a secret hideout in Mexico. Substituting for a repentant gun-runner, he goes undercover as a partner with
Crow (
Lee Marvin), a vicious half-breed who is a contact man with the Comancheros and knows the whereabouts of their hideout in Mexico. But
Crow manages to get himself killed, and
Cutter is forced to throw in with
Paul Regret (
Stuart Whitman), a bystander who also happens to be an itinerant gambler wanted for killing a man in a duel in New Orleans, to complete his mission. It turns out that
Regret is a more decent man than most, and he and
Cutter, despite some different outlooks on right and wrong, take a liking to each other. Their quest eventually takes them south of the border, where they find the Comancheros and their leader,
Graile (
Nehemiah Persoff), a bitter, brilliant cripple -- think of
The Sea Wolf's
Wolf Larsen in a wheelchair -- who has established a landlocked pirate society, and his daughter
Pilar (
Ina Balin). The only thing that keeps
Cutter and
Regret alive when they enter the camp is that
Pilar and
Regret have a history, and she still has feelings for him, enough so that she won't tell what she knows about
Cutter and who he is. The two men must play on
Graile's greed and
Pilar's love in the explosive surroundings of the Comancheros' camp, while figuring out a way to stay alive long enough to get word to the rangers about where they are -- and to survive the attack that must inevitably follow.
Director
Michael Curtiz was ill for part of the shoot, and
Wayne took up the slack, but
The Comancheros displays some of the same freewheeling charm and deep passions that informed classic films of his such as
Captain Blood,
The Adventures of Robin Hood, and
The Sea Hawk.
Wayne and
Whitman between them manage to evoke some of the rambunctiousness of
Errol Flynn, and when
Balin (one of the sexiest leading ladies ever to grace a
John Wayne movie) arrives onscreen, the testosterone level shoots up even higher and the sexual sparks fly. The film's 105 minutes go by very fast, and this is a movie whose ending comes almost too soon.
Curtiz's final film is one that leaves audiences with a smile, but also wanting more, which was a pretty good way to go out.
John Wayne's daughter,
Aissa Wayne (who subsequently went into a law career) appears in a small role.
~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Average Review:
Number of reviews: 1
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A reviewer
from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
An Oscar-Winning Director's Swan Song.
Academy Award-winning director, Michael Curtiz brings down the curtain on his illustrious career as a director by bringing an explosive Western adventure to the big screen based on the novel by Paul I. Wellman. John Wayne stars as a fearless Texas Ranger, who enlists the cooperation of a wanted gambler (Stuart Whitman) to help him crush a violent gang of gunrunners and a hostile Comanche Indian tribe. Also starring Ina Balin, Nehemiah Persoff, Lee Marvin, Michael Ansara, Patrick Wayne, Bruce Cabot, Joan O'Brien, Edgar Buchanan, Henry Daniell, Jack Elam, Richard Devon, Steve Baylor, John Dierkes, Roger Mobley, and Jon Lormer. Michael Curtiz died on April 10, 1962.
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