The Comancheros

The Comancheros
1961- 20th Century Fox
Directed By Michael Curtiz



SYNOPSIS

Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman) kills a prominent man during a duel and is wanted for murder. Texas Ranger Jake Cutter (John Wayne) arrests him leaving a steamship and the two set out to bring Regret to justice. Regret later escapes. Cutter is then assigned to go under cover trying to sell stolen guns to the dangerous Comanche Indians. He discovers that the Indians are working with white men who call themselves Comancheros. While on the mission, Cutter finds Regret and takes him into custody again. The two join up with some rangers and are ambushed by Comanche. Regret proves himself in battle and he and Cutter resume the mission to find the Comancheros' hidden base.



MY THOUGHTS

A light-hearted adventure full of action and excitement.

The humor in The Comancheros is of the same sort of character-driven laughs that features prominently in John Wayne's films. The film is funny but not a comedy. It takes a back seat to the action and story. The action is pretty standard for a western featuring many gunfights and fistfights, but they are well shot and are all important to the plot of the film.

This was the final film of director Michael Curtiz, who delivered some of cinema's best films Casablanca, Angels With Dirty Faces, Adventures of Robin Hood, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce and dozens more. He was an amazing talent and should be better known than he is considering his huge and important body of work. The Comancheros doesn't stack up as one of his best, but he does bring a fast breezy pace, filled with many exciting action sequences. His camera is frequently moving as well and he gets great performances from the cast.

The cinematography is beautiful, though is not as stunning as you would find in a John Ford western. Here, it focuses more on the actors and action than any lingering shots of the beautiful surroundings. CinemaScope (wide-screen) is able to show just how wide open the old west was.

The musical score by Elmer Bernstein is excellent and helps tie the film together. It sounds like every western made since owed much to this music, including Bernstein's own music for The Magnificent Seven.

The film depicts Indians in an old-school (offensive) fashion. The only English world they speak is 'whiskey' and are only seen as bloodthirsty savages. That and its questionable historical accuracy (especially many of the costumes, buildings and guns) are some of the weak aspects of the film.

While not either the director's or the star's best film, The Comancheros contains many of the elements that made their work great and it remains a lot of fun.