Commancheros
Added 11/30/2009
Another great John Wayne western. These old westerns will never be lost cause they represent the old west as most of us really want it to be. I was a stuntman in those days and was lucky eough to work on this film.
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this is the complete John Wayne moive, all the way from the gun fights to the larger than life screen apperance. its a must buy
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JOHN WAYNE ACTOR AND DIRECTOR!
Added 1/10/2009
I love John Wayne. He is here at his prime and he also got to direct that end parts of this classic movie.
The Comancheros is a 1961 western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring John Wayne and Stuart Whitman. When health troubles prevented Curtiz from finishing the film, Wayne directed the remainder of the movie, though his role remained uncredited. Curtiz died shortly after the film was completed. The supporting cast includes Lee Marvin, Jack Elam, and Edgar Buchanan. Also featured are western film veterans Bob Steele, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, and Harry Carey, Jr. in uncredited supporting roles.Anachronisms: Although set in 1843 Texas, the characters all use Winchester lever action rifles and Colt Peacemaker pistols, which were not available until 1866 and 1873 respectively. The Guinn Williams character is said have stolen rifles from the army base at Fort Sill and to have served a sentence in the Yuma Territorial Prison, neither of which became operational until after the Civil War, 1869 and 1876 respectively.
John Wayne and Stuart Whitman leave Galveston bound for the Louisiana border and immediately find themselves in desert-like surroundings with sandstone bluffs in the background. From Galveston to Louisiana the only thing they would have seen is canebrakes, grass prairies, live oak groves and piney woods.
Whitman's character Paul Regret was the lead in the novel and Wayne's part had to be amplified for the film version. Wellman had envisioned Cary Grant as Regret as he wrote the novel.
Michael Curtiz also directed The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn and Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart. The Comancheros was his last film.
Budd Boetticher was the first choice for director of the film but turned it down as he had previously worked for John Wayne's Batjac on Seven Men From Now and The Bullfighter and the Lady.
Elmer Bernstein's theme music is heard in the Apocalypse Cow episode of The Simpsons when Bart drives a farm tractor
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An above average John Wayne Western!
Added 10/26/2008
I've always been a John Wayne fan, although I'm not fanatic enough to think every movie he ever made was great. When you make 18 - 20 movies per decade there will be some clinkers. The Comancheros, though was not one of them. An above average John Wayne Western that never takes itself too seriously.
Taking place before the Civil War, Wayne plays Texas Ranger Captain Jake Cutter who has been assigned to bring in a Louisiana Killer/Gambler named Paul Regret (portrayed well by Stuart Whitman) for extradition. Regret is able to escape, gets caught again, fights side-by-side with Cutter against an Indian attack, and ends up joining the Rangers, although being less than enthusiastic about it. He and Cutter then pose as gun runners to infiltrate a society of outlaws who have a very good working relationship with the Comanches. There are many twists and turns to enjoy throughout the movie, even if the ending is somewhat predictable.
What makes this movie good is that the plot has both a serious and an easy-going side. Plus Wayne doesn't have to carry the movie. Whitman does a great job matching up to Wayne and even manages to steal a few scenes. Add to that a great cast. Besides Wayne & Whitman you have Lee Marvin as Crow, another gun-runner, Bruce Cabot as Major Henry, Cutters Commanding Officer, Ina Balin as Pilar - Regret's love interest, Nehemiah Persoff as her father and leader of the Comancheros, and Michael Ansara as Amelung, the second-in-command of the outlaws and want-to-be suitor of Pilar.
One other great aspect of the movie, the wonderful music score by Elmer Bernstein. One of my favorites.
I would recommend this to fans of 1960's western. Not too much violence but plenty of action, with just enough romance slipped in, it is a very entertaining film.
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Comuncheros
Added 1/11/2007
I am a John Wayne fan so it goes with out Quwstion that this was another great movie.
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A Nice Collection
Added 7/1/2008
These are not some of John Wayne's greatest films. However, all of them are fun to watch and come late enough in his career that he is relaxed and great in his own way. The fight scene in North to Alaska alone took thousands of gallons of beer and was a classic.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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OLDIES BUT GOODIES
Added 6/26/2007
Love westerns, & John Wayne's movies have always been entertaining. Films are good wet weather viewing, & acting has always been fairly consistent.
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Three 60s Wayne Westerns Are a Treat!
Added 3/15/2006
By the 1960s, John Wayne's westerns had become as familiar as a well-worn beloved Stetson, and Wayne, himself, had settled into a patriarchal role that suited both his age and screen presence. This DVD collection offers the Duke in three of his most entertaining films of the period, and is well-worth owning!
"North to Alaska" (1960), Wayne's follow-up to "The Alamo", is a brawling, lusty saga of two Alaskan prospectors (Duke and Stewart Granger), and the reformed prostitute (Capucine), who complicates their lives. Wayne consciously tried to 'broaden' his westerns with this film, introducing more comedy and family-friendly action (culminating in 1963's classic, "McLintock!"), and, despite being too long, the film has a lot of charm. Worth noting is an excellent cast, including Ernie Kovacs (in one of his last film roles), as the smarmy villain, young Fabian, as Granger's over-sexed younger brother, and Mickey Shaughnessy, hilarious as the 'dim bulb' drunken prospector who becomes a key player in Kovacs' plan to steal the Wayne/Granger goldmine.
Entertaining light fare!
"The Commancheros" (1961), Wayne's next film after "North to Alaska", is even better (and the best of this trilogy), with the Duke, as a crusty Texas Ranger, sharing the screen with an excellent Stuart Whitman, portraying fugitive New Orleans gambler, Paul Regret. The final film directed by legendary Michael Curtiz (with unbilled help by Wayne, as the director was in poor health), the tale is a light-hearted adventure of Duke and Whitman gradually becoming friends, as Wayne attempts to thwart a gun-running scheme involving the notorious band of outlaws of the film's title. Very much a 'family' western (with Wayne's son, Patrick, daughter Aissa, and long-time friend Bruce Cabot, in key roles), the film offers glamorous Ina Balin as Regret's mysterious lover, Nehemiah Persoff as her father, the gregarious leader of the Commancheros, and, best of all, Lee Marvin, in a small but showy role as Tully Crow, a half-breed gunrunner (Marvin's chemistry with Wayne was so potent that John Ford would soon team them in two of his own productions, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", and "Donovan's Reef").
Great fun, and great Wayne!
The final entry, "The Undefeated" (1969), is the weakest of the trilogy, yet offers some very entertaining moments. Filmed after Wayne's bout with lung cancer, he looks far older and more haggard, but still carries a commanding presence, as an ex-Union officer driving a large herd of horses south, forced to team up with an unrepentent Confederate officer (mustached Rock Hudson, in his only film with the Duke), and his wagon train of refugees, hoping to rebuild their fortunes in Mexico. While many of Wayne's friends have roles (Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr., Bruce Cabot, and Pedro Armendariz Jr.), the novelty casting of football stars Roman Gabriel and Merlin Olsen in key roles received the most attention when the film was released (Olsen was surprisingly good, and went on to a successful career on television). Wayne and Hudson are a lot of fun in their scenes together, and the underlying plot (of the Mexican struggle to rid itself of French 'puppet' Emperor Maximilian) never interferes with the broader comic 'edge' of the film. While Wayne looks a bit strange in muttonchop sideburns, all in all, the movie is a last fond look at the Duke's '60s western 'persona'. The westerns of the last decade of his life would be, generally, far darker, and more brutal.
This is certainly a Wayne trilogy worth owning!
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