Vera Cruz 09/25/21

KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray

Hollywood’s most macho liberals pack this action western with cheating, double crosses, rampant greed, uncouth heroes and decadent sneering villains… and that’s not counting the wall-to-wall revolutionary carnage. Toothy Burt Lancaster and philosophical Gary Cooper double-deal with cannon-fodder Juaristas and Cesar Romero’s decadent Frenchman, to steal a fortune in gold. Robert Aldrich’s direction emphasizes wince-inducing violence. The ‘dirty dozen’- like supporting freebooters include Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jack Elam and Archie Savage. Francois Truffaut called it ‘the first cynical western;’ it strongly influenced Sergio Leone’s Italo westerns made ten years later. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
09/25/21