VERA CRUZ

I started watching 'Challengers' but after half an hour or so I gave up trying to be interested in young people talking about or having sex.  Instead I retreated to my comfort zone and watched this 1950s Western.  Some 90-odd minutes later I very much felt I had made the right choice.

The backdrop to this 1954 film, directed by Robert Aldrich, is the Franco-Mexican War of 1861-7, which (as we all know) was a conflict between conservative Mexican forces, headed by Emperor Maximilian and supported by France, and Mexican rebels, known as Juaristas.  Thankfully the film does a good job of conveying the bare minimum you need to know about all this.

The US Civil War has just ended, and defeated Southerner Ben Trane (played by Gary Cooper) is in Mexico to lick his wounds and earn himself some money.  There he teams up with a younger and less civilised gunslinger, Joe Erin (Burt Lancaster).  

They are employed by the Emperor, for a handsome fee, to transport a countess to the port of Veracruz, under the watchful eye of a marquis who is sweet on the countess.  Complications ensue when Ben and Joe discover that the countess's stagecoach conceals $3million in gold coins (!) which is to be used to buy more arms.  

It turns out that the countess is planning to steal the gold and is happy to share it with Ben and Joe if they help her.  The countess and Joe are kindred spirits - they don't trust anyone and don't believe in helping anyone but themselves.  

Another major character is Nina, who attaches herself to the expedition, but is secretly helping the Juaristas.  

It all builds to an exciting conclusion in which Ben and Joe are obliged to switch sides and help the Juaristas attack the Emperor's forces in order to capture the gold.  After some rousing action scenes Joe betrays the countess (of course) and appears to be on the point of getting the gold to himself.

But that's when Ben intervenes and we get the inevitable gunfight between him and Joe, with the equally inevitable outcome.  

A rapport has been building up throughout the film between Ben and Nina, and so it's no great surprise that he ends up walking off into the proverbial sunset with her, having first handed  over the gold to the Juaristas. 

Apparently the film had some shock value when it came out due to the violence and the amorality of some of the characters.  There's an early scene which one doesn't expect in a 1950s Western when Joe threatens to have some children killed unless he gets his way.  And the final battle between the two warring sides is notable for the amount of bloodshed, in particular when Ben uses a gatling gun.

Gary Cooper is in his last decade and effortlessly does all he needs to do to make the taciturn Ben a convincing character.  Lancaster has the more difficult role but does a decent job.

Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson are also in the cast but disappointingly don't get to do much.

Overall Aldrich directs with a sure hand, showing some good visual flair at times, and it's an entertaining tale which goes along at a good pace.