The Comancheros (1961)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Michael Curtiz
(more)

Writers:

Paul Wellman (novel) and
James Edward Grant (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

30 October 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Western | Adventure | Romance

Plot:

Texas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner...

Plot Keywords:

Renegade | Undercover | Gambler | Texas Ranger | Father Daughter Relationship

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

John Wayne	...	Ranger Capt. Jake Cutter
Stuart Whitman	...	Paul Regret
Ina Balin	...	Pilar Graile
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Graile
Lee Marvin	...	Tully Crow
Michael Ansara	...	Amelung
Patrick Wayne	...	Tobe (Texas Ranger) (as Pat Wayne)
Bruce Cabot	...	Maj. Henry (Ranger CO)
Joan O'Brien	...	Melinda Marshall
Jack Elam	...	Horseface (Comanchero)
Edgar Buchanan	...	Circuit Court Judge Thaddeus Jackson Breen
Henry Daniell	...	Gireaux
Richard Devon	...	Esteban
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Phil Arnold	...	Nervous Drunk (uncredited)
Anne Barton	...	Mrs. Martha Schofield (uncredited)
Steve Baylor	...	Comanchero (uncredited)
Don Brodie	...	Card Dealer (uncredited)
Alan Carney	...	Stillwater Bartender (uncredited)
Iphigenie Castiglioni	...	Josefina (uncredited)
Dennis Cole	...	Blonde Youth (uncredited)
Booth Colman	...	Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Gabriel Curtiz	...	Marsac (uncredited)
John Dierkes	...	Ranger Bill Larsen (uncredited)
Ilana Dowding	...	Mary Schofield (uncredited)
William Fawcett	...	Poker Player (uncredited)
Eric Feldary	...	Valtin (uncredited)
Joe Gray	...	Minor ROle (uncredited)
Lenmana Guerin	...	Indian Maid (uncredited)
Claude Hall	...	Ranger (uncredited)
Tom Hennesy	...	Gordo - Graile's Bodyguard (uncredited)
Tom Hernández	...	Croupier (uncredited)
Joseph La Cava	...	Dealer (uncredited)
George J. Lewis	...	Chief Iron Shirt (uncredited)
Jon Lormer	...	Elderly man on riverboat (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Roger Mobley	...	Bub Schofield (uncredited)
Ralph Neff	...	Poker Player (uncredited)
Gregg Palmer	...	Emil Bouvier (opponent in duel) (uncredited)
Thayer Roberts	...	Poker Player (uncredited)
Michael Ross	...	Gordo (Graile's bodyguard) (uncredited)
Frank J. Scannell	...	Faro Dealer (uncredited)
Leigh Snowden	...	Evie - Blonde in Hotel Room (uncredited)
Bob Steele	...	Pa Schofield (uncredited)
Lusita Triana	...	Spanish dancer (uncredited)
Ralph Volkie	...	Riverboat Pit Boss (uncredited)
Aissa Wayne	...	Bessie Marshall (uncredited)
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	...	Ed McBain (gunrunner) (uncredited)
Henry Wills	...	Ranger (uncredited)
Sammy Wolfe	...	Poker Player (uncredited)
Kelly Yost	...	Indian (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Curtiz
John Wayne		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Paul Wellman		(novel) (as Paul I. Wellman)
James Edward Grant		screenplay
Clair Huffaker		screenplay

Produced by
George Sherman	....	producer

Original Music by
Elmer Bernstein

Cinematography by
William H. Clothier		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Louis R. Loeffler		(as Louis Loeffler)

Art Direction by
Jack Martin Smith
Alfred Ybarra

Set Decoration by
Robert Priestley		(as Robert Priestly)
Walter M. Scott

Costume Design by
Marjorie Best

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist
Helen Turpin	....	hair stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack R. Berne	....	assistant director
Cliff Lyons	....	action sequences director

Sound Department
Alfred Bruzlin	....	sound
Warren B. Delaplain	....	sound

Stunts
Denny Arnold	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jim Burk	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Tap Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Philip Crawford	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Hart	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	....	stunts (uncredited)
Tom Hennesy	....	stunts (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bob Morgan	....	stunts (uncredited)
Boyd 'Red' Morgan	....	stunts (uncredited)
Morry Ogden	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Dean Smith	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack N. Young	....	stunts (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Orven Schanzer	....	first assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Jack Hayes	....	orchestrator
Leo Shuken	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Harold Belfer	....	dance stager (as Hal Belfer)
Tom Mankiewicz	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1961) (USA) (theatrical)
• Centfox (1961) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Hispano Foxfilms S.A.E. (1961) (Spain) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1965) (USA) (TV) (pan/scan)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Fox Video (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation  CinemaScope is the registered trademark of

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (as De Luxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm mag-optical prints) (Westrex Recording System) | Mono (35 mm optical prints)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #20000) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1961) | Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (nf) | New Zealand:PG | Australia:G (DVD rating) | Norway:16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (cut)

Filming Locations:

Dead Horse Point State Park - State Highway 313, Moab, Utah, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Paul Wellman wrote the novel with Cary Grant in mind as Paul Regret. However, by the time the film was made in 1961 Grant was too old for the part, and would never have taken second billing to John Wayne.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Major Henry mentions that Ed McBain spent 5 years at the Yuma Territorial Prison. In 1843 Arizona was part of Mexico, so there was no Yuma Territorial Prison then. The Mexican-American war, where the US took the SW from Mexico, wasn't won until 1848.

Quotes:

Ranger Capt. Jake Cutter: It's time we both quit, Crow. You don't like losing to me, and I don't like winning from you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in C'era una volta il West (1968)

Pretty Good John Wayne Vehicle for John Wayne Fans

This is an entertaining John Wayne movie, with a good cast. It may not rank right up there with the great John Ford westerns and other films The Duke was in, it nevertheless presents the essence of John Wayne during this phase of his career (call it "mid-career"), and actually foreshadows the John Wayne we would see for the rest and remainder of his career. This is a high quality, well-made film --probably a testament Michael Curtiz's directing-- and the quality of the film, and its obvious production values, are evident throughout. One way this shows itself is, although the movie was made in 1961, it really seems and feels like a much newer movie, made 5 or even 10 years later than it was. I don't know what to attribute that quality to other than simply it being a well-made film.

In a way the movie is three movies, consisting of three separate but connected story arcs, any or each of which could have been beefed up and expanded into movies unto themselves. The story is thusly layered with complexity, which keeps it all interestingly moving along apace, never bogging down. It is also however the source of the movie's only real flaw. And that flaw is, as other reviewers have noted, the movie's presentation of a dubious and flawed historical chronology. And it isn't just little anachronisms like repeating rifles out of time. There is a complete confusion of historical eras and historical settings. Even though the story is set in 1843, its time seems to vacillate throughout, in one arc staying true to the story it is or purports to be, a story set in the antebellum south, but then jumping in another arc to a story appearing to be more similar to the further-western and decades later Indian wars, circa the 1870s. It seems as if there was lot of trouble deciding which of those two kinds of stories the movie was telling, a story about events in the antebellum south or a shoot-em-up story of the western Indian wars. It is likely a problem of scriptwriting, having had numerous "treatments" or rewrites by more than one writer, and those seams show. My guess is ultimately director Michael Curtiz and producer George Sherman must have decided that the typical ticket-buyers for this movie would be fans of John Wayne westerns, and that target audience would not be comprised of history majors or even history buffs, or be ones to get hung up on historical details, so they just let the historical flaws slip through.

There is one unintentionally funny moment in the movie. About mid-way through, watch for the blood-curdling scream by the bed-ridden lady (Joan O'Brien?) at the outpost when she looks out the window and sees the supposed Indian raiders crossing the river. It is truly a classic and world-class movie scream. I wonder how many takes that took.

One of the movie's three story arcs features Lee Marvin. This is a pre-Cat Ballou, pre-Dirty Dozen Lee Marvin who at this point in his career wasn't really yet a bigtime Hollywood household name, at least not like he would later become. Marvin turns in a marvelous over-the-top performance as a gun-dealing rapscallion, in my opinion flat-out stealing every scene he's in. That's no small feat, considering in all of his scenes he was playing directly off against John Wayne, who almost fades into the woodwork in the comparison. Actually Wayne sublimates himself quite well. He knew how to be a team player, and the chemisrty between Wayne and Marvin is good. Unfortunately this story arc is really nothing much more than a side-story than anything else, so Marvin's role is quite limited. Too bad. I would've liked to have seen a lot more of Marvin in this film. It would have been a better movie for it.

Lee Marvin, John Wayne and Marvin appeared together again two years later in John Ford's Donovan's Reef, with Marvin again playing a lesser role.

This movie pops up regularly on the Encore Westerns channel. I've seen it there about 5 times over the last 6 months. Watch for it.