Review: Vera Cruz (1954)
VERA CRUZ is an outstanding 1954 western directed by Robert Aldrich ( THE DIRTY DOZEN ) that shares many plot points and devices with Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH , which wouldn't arrive on the scene for a full fifteen years. You want Charles Bronson playing harmonica over a decade before Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST ? Here it is, alongside Jack Elam, another Leone pick. You want Ernest Borgnine as part of a band of outlaws looking for trouble? Here he is. The influence of Vera Cruz upon the next generation of filmmakers cannot be underestimated. At the core of Vera Cruz is the relationship between our two lead characters. Gary Cooper plays an honorable man who was on the wrong side of the Civil War and now drifts, looking for mercenary work. Burt Lancaster plays a scoundrel with few redeeming qualities, a literal black hat who is quick on the draw and seems to have no moral code whatsoever. The two men find their fates intertwined when they agree to accompany