The Comancheros (1961)

Calificación de los usuarios:

6.7/10   

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Escritores:

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

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

30 octubre 1961 (USA)

Género:

Acción | Del Oeste | Aventura | 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

Premios:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Entertaining but full of anachronisms

Reparto

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

También conocida como:

Los comancheros (Spain) [es]

Duración:

107 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Color (as De Luxe)

Relación de Aspecto:

2.35 : 1

Sonido:

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

Clasificación:

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)

Locaciones de Filmación:

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

Compañía:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivialidades:

During much of the shooting, director Michael Curtiz was seriously ill (he died of cancer shortly after the film's release). On the days when Curtiz was too ill to work, John Wayne took over direction of the film, and when it was completed he told the studio that he did not want credit as co-director and insisted that Curtiz' name alone appear as director.

Errores:

Errores que Revelan: After Regret hits Cutter with a shovel, Cutter wakes up when it starts raining. Somehow, the sky is still blue and there are strong shadows. It is only raining about 30 feet from Cutter.

Citas:

Paul Regret: How do you know you killed him?
Ranger Capt. Jake Cutter: There wasn't time not to!

Conexiones de Película:

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

Entertaining but full of anachronisms

Good plot, stirring musical score and some welcome familiar faces. (I wonder why Guinn Williams was uncredited?) John Wayne lightens his customary toughness with dry humour, calling Regret "Monsewer" and complaining about strangers calling him "Friend".

The obligatory love interest is supplied by Ina Balin, who's not a great actress and looks a bit too nice to live among the Comancheros. Stuart Whitman does very well alongside Wayne.

The opening shot and a couple of topical references tell us that it's the early 40s, but this decade has no relevance at all to the plot. The film has an 1860s/1870s look to it - the buildings, outfits and, most of all, the guns are all of the latter period, and many anachronisms have been listed by other contributors. Of course using period guns that needed to be reloaded after every shot would have made for less spectacular battle scenes. So why not set it in the 1870s? After all, the very similar 1964 film "Rio Conchos", also with Stuart Whitman, was set after the Civil War, with former Confederate officers substituting for the Comanchero leaders.

I wonder if the cast said anything about this? I gather than Wayne was disgruntled when the year before the Mexican army in "The Alamo" was issued with the wrong guns, but this wasn't evident to any but the most experienced eye.

Apart from these anachronistic annoyances, the film makes very good viewing.