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{{short description|1961 film by Michael Curtiz}}
{{short description|1961 film by Michael Curtiz}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name = The Comancheros
| name = The Comancheros
| image = Comancheros1961.jpg
| image = The Comancheros poster.jpg
| caption = DVD cover
| caption = Theatrical poster
| director = [[Michael Curtiz]]<br />'''Uncredited:'''<br />[[John Wayne]]
| director = [[Michael Curtiz]]<br />'''Uncredited:'''<br />[[John Wayne]]
| producer = [[George Sherman]]
| producer = [[George Sherman]]
Line 13: Line 15:
| editing = [[Louis Loeffler]]
| editing = [[Louis Loeffler]]
| color_process = Color by Deluxe
| color_process = Color by Deluxe
| studio = 20th Century Fox
| studio = [[20th Century-Fox]]
| distributor = [[20th Century Fox]]
| distributor = 20th Century-Fox
| released = November 1, 1961<ref name="nyt"/><!-- and TCM too -->
| released = {{Film date|1961|11|01|ref1=<ref name="nyt"/>}}
| runtime = 107 minutes<ref name="nyt"/>
| runtime = 107 minutes<ref name="nyt"/>
| country = United States
| country = United States
| language = English
| language = English
| budget = $4,260,000<ref>Solomon, Aubrey. ''Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series)''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-8108-4244-1}}. p252</ref>
| budget = $4,260,000<ref>Solomon, Aubrey. ''Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series)''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-8108-4244-1}}. p252</ref>
| gross = $3,500,000<ref name=revised/>

}}
}}
[[File:Stuart Whitman-Ina Balin in The Comancheros.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Stuart Whitman]] & [[Ina Balin]] ]]
[[File:Stuart Whitman-Ina Balin in The Comancheros.jpg|thumb|262px|[[Stuart Whitman]] & [[Ina Balin]]]]
'''''The Comancheros''''' is a 1961 American [[CinemaScope]] [[adventure film|adventure]] [[western (genre)|western]] film directed by [[Michael Curtiz]], based on a 1952 novel of the same name by [[Paul Wellman]], and starring [[John Wayne]] and [[Stuart Whitman]]. The supporting cast includes [[Ina Balin]], [[Lee Marvin]], [[Nehemiah Persoff]], [[Bruce Cabot]], [[Jack Elam]], [[Patrick Wayne]], and [[Edgar Buchanan]]. Also featured are Western-film veterans [[Bob Steele (actor)|Bob Steele]], [[Guinn Williams (actor)|Guinn "Big Boy" Williams]], and [[Harry Carey, Jr.]] in uncredited supporting roles.
'''''The Comancheros''''' is a 1961 American [[CinemaScope]] [[Western (genre)|Western]] film directed by [[Michael Curtiz]], based on a 1952 novel of the same name by [[Paul Wellman]], and starring [[John Wayne]] and [[Stuart Whitman]]. The supporting cast includes [[Ina Balin]], [[Lee Marvin]], [[Nehemiah Persoff]], [[Bruce Cabot]], [[Jack Elam]], [[Joan O'Brien]], [[Patrick Wayne]], and [[Edgar Buchanan]]. Also featured are Western-film veterans [[Bob Steele (actor)|Bob Steele]], [[Guinn Williams (actor)|Guinn "Big Boy" Williams]], and [[Harry Carey, Jr.]] in uncredited supporting roles.


When illness prevented Curtiz (director of ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' and ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (film)|The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'') from finishing the film, Wayne took over as director, though his role remained uncredited. Curtiz died shortly after the film was completed.
When terminal illness prevented Curtiz (director of ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' and ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (film)|The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'') from finishing the film, Wayne took over as director, though his direction remained uncredited. Curtiz died shortly after the film was completed.


==Plot==
==Plot==
In 1843, roguish gambler Paul Regret (Whitman) flees to avoid a [[death penalty]] after a duel with Emil Bouvier ([[Gregg Palmer]]), the son of a [[Louisiana]] judge. Regret claimed that he would have only wounded Bouvier if he had not sidestepped. He is captured by [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Ranger]]
In pre-Civil War Texas, rogue gambler Paul Regret flees to avoid a [[death penalty]] after killing Emil Bouvier, the son of a [[Louisiana]] [[judge]], in a [[duel]]. Regret maintains that he intended to wound Bouvier (who arranged the duel) in the arm, but Bouvier sidestepped. Regret is eventually captured by [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Ranger]] Captain Jake Cutter after a tryst with a mysterious lady, Pilar Graile. Regret manages to escape, but is recaptured after a chance encounter with Cutter in a saloon.
Captain Jake Cutter (Wayne) after a tryst with a mysterious lady, Pilar Graile (Ina Balin). Regret manages to escape but is recaptured after a chance encounter with Cutter in a saloon.


Returning Regret to Louisiana, Cutter is forced to join forces with the condemned man to fight the "[[Comanchero]]s", a large criminal gang headed by a former officer who smuggles guns and whiskey to the [[Comanche]] Indians, to make money and keep the frontier in a state of violence. Cutter stops at a ranch owned by a friend when the Comanche attack suddenly. During the attack, Regret jumps on a horse and flees but instead of making a clean getaway, he returns with a unit of Texas Rangers and the attack is repulsed. Because of Regret's act of valor, a company of Rangers and a judge lie themselves blue in the face, stating that Regret had been working undercover as a Ranger to spy out the Comancheros' supply line, clear his name, and swear him in as a Texas Ranger.
While returning Regret to Louisiana, Cutter is compelled to join forces with the condemned man to fight the "[[Comanchero]]s", a large outlaw gang headed by a former officer who smuggles guns and whiskey to the [[Comanche]] Indians, to make money and keep the frontier in a state of violence. Cutter stops at a ranch owned by a friend, when the Comanche attack suddenly. During the attack, Regret jumps on a horse and flees, but instead of making a clean getaway, he returns with a company of Texas Rangers, who repulse the attack. Because of Regret's act of valor, the Rangers and a Texas judge agree to [[perjury|perjure]] themselves, stating that Regret could not have been involved in the duel because he was helping them spy out the Comanchero's supply line. Regret is then sworn in as an official Ranger.


After finding one of the Comancheros' suppliers and killing him in self defense, Cutter and Regret take over his delivery wagon and infiltrate the self-sufficient Comanchero community at the bottom of a valley in the [[desert]]. Pilar reappears as the daughter of the ruthless Comanchero leader Graile ([[Nehemiah Persoff]]), who uses a wheelchair. After Cutter and the other Texas Rangers defeat the Comanches and Comancheros, Regret and Pilar leave together for Mexico and Jake rides off into the sunset to rejoin the Ranger company.
After encountering one of the Comancheros' suppliers and killing him in self-defense, Cutter and Regret take over his delivery wagon and infiltrate the self-sufficient Comanchero community at the bottom of a valley in the [[desert]]. Pilar reappears as the daughter of the ruthless Comanchero leader Graile, who uses a wheelchair. He is soon killed by an old woman in the community after he orders the death of her son, and Cutter and the other Texas Rangers defeat the Comanche and Comancheros. Regret and Pilar leave together for Mexico, and Jake rides off into the sunset to rejoin the Ranger company.

==Production==
⚫
[[File:John Wayne - 1961.JPG|right|thumb|John Wayne in ''The Comancheros'']]
⚫
Wellman's novel had been bought for the screen by [[George Stevens]], who wanted to direct it after ''Giant'' (1956). He then became interested in making ''[[The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film)|The Diary of Anne Frank]]'' and sold the film rights to Fox for $300,000. Clair Huffaker was signed by the studio to adapt it for producer Charles Brackett, with [[Gary Cooper]] to star. [[Robert Wagner]] was in line to play Cooper's co-star.<ref>WAGNER STEPS UP WORK IN MOVIES: Actor Forms Concern, Signs 3-Picture Columbia Deal By HOWARD THOMPSON. New York Times 21 Jan 1961: 18.</ref>

⚫
Cooper was in ill health and in early 1961 [[Douglas Heyes]] was announced as writer and director. John Wayne and [[Charlton Heston]] were announced as stars but Heston dropped out and was replaced by [[Tom Tryon]], then Heyes dropped out and was replaced by [[Michael Curtiz]]. Fox had the script rewritten by Wayne's regular writer [[James Edward Grant]].<ref name="nat">Nat Segaloff, ''Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors'', Bear Manor Media 2013 p 75-76</ref>

⚫
Whitman's character&mdash;Paul Regret&mdash;was the lead in the novel and Wayne's part had to be amplified for the film version. Wellman had envisioned [[Cary Grant]] as Regret as he wrote the novel. Gary Cooper and [[James Garner]] were originally set to be the leads but Cooper's ill health and Garner's blackballing over a dispute with [[Jack L. Warner]] ruled them out.<ref>{{cite web| title= James Garner: You Ought to be in Pictures| url= http://www.movieline.com/1994/05/you-ought-to-be-in-pictures.php| date= May 1, 1994| publisher= [[Movieline]]| access-date= 2012-04-19| url-status= dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111128005123/http://www.movieline.com/1994/05/you-ought-to-be-in-pictures.php| archive-date= November 28, 2011}}</ref>

⚫
According to [[Tom Mankiewicz]], who worked on the film as an assistant, Curtiz was often ill during production and John Wayne took over the directing.<ref name="tom">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xAnj8rJPcVwC&q=9780813136059 |author=Tom Mankiewicz and Robert Crane |title=My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider's Journey Through Hollywood |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2012 |pages=50–52 |isbn=9780813136059 |access-date=2014-04-03}}</ref> Wayne told Mankiewicz to remove his [[John F. Kennedy]] button.<ref>Mankiewicz, Tom ''My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider's Journey Through Hollywood'' (2012) p. 50</ref>

Parts of the film were shot in Professor Valley, [[Dead Horse Point]], King's Bottom, [[La Sal Mountains]], Fisher Valley, Onion Creek, [[Hurrah Pass]] and Haver Ranch in [[Utah]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=D'Arc|first1=James V.|title=When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah|date=2010|publisher=Gibbs Smith|location=Layton, Utah|isbn=9781423605874|edition=1st}}</ref>


==Cast==
==Cast==
Line 64: Line 55:
* [[Bob Steele (actor)|Bob Steele]] as Pa Schofield
* [[Bob Steele (actor)|Bob Steele]] as Pa Schofield
* [[Leigh Snowden]] as Evie – Blonde in Hotel Room (uncredited){{citation needed|date=April 2012}}
* [[Leigh Snowden]] as Evie – Blonde in Hotel Room (uncredited){{citation needed|date=April 2012}}
* [[George J. Lewis]] as Chief Iron Shirt (uncredited)
* [[John Wayne#Personal life|Aissa Wayne]] as Bessy Marshall (uncredited)
{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}


==Reception==
==Production==
⚫
[[File:John Wayne - 1961.JPG|right|thumb|John Wayne in ''The Comancheros'']]
⚫
[[Bosley Crowther]] called the film "so studiously wild and woolly it turns out to be good fun"; according to Crowther, "[t]here's not a moment of seriousness in it, not a detail that isn't performed with a surge of exaggeration, not a character that is credible."<ref name="nyt">{{cite web | title=John Wayne Stars in 'The Comancheros'| first= Bosley |last=Crowther | author-link=Bosley Crowther| date= November 2, 1961 | url= https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9900E1D9143DEF32A25751C0A9679D946091D6CF | work= The New York Times | access-date=2012-04-19}}</ref>
⚫
Wellman's novel had been bought for the screen by [[George Stevens]], who wanted to direct it after ''Giant'' (1956). He then became interested in making ''[[The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film)|The Diary of Anne Frank]]'' and sold the film rights to Fox for $300,000. Clair Huffaker was signed by the studio to adapt it for producer Charles Brackett, with [[Gary Cooper]] to star. [[Robert Wagner]] was in line to play Cooper's co-star.<ref>WAGNER STEPS UP WORK IN MOVIES: Actor Forms Concern, Signs 3-Picture Columbia Deal By HOWARD THOMPSON. New York Times 21 Jan 1961: 18.</ref>


⚫
Cooper was in ill health and in early 1961 [[Douglas Heyes]] was announced as writer and director. John Wayne and [[Charlton Heston]] were announced as stars but Heston dropped out and was replaced by [[Tom Tryon]], then Heyes dropped out and was replaced by [[Michael Curtiz]]. Fox had the script rewritten by Wayne's regular writer [[James Edward Grant]].<ref name="nat">Nat Segaloff, ''Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors'', Bear Manor Media 2013 p 75-76</ref>
==Anachronisms==
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2012}}
Although set in [[Texas]] in 1843, the characters all use [[Winchester rifle|Winchester lever-action rifles]] and [[Colt Single Action Army|Colt Peacemaker]] pistols, which were not available until 1866 and 1873, respectively.<ref>https://winchestercollector.org/models/model-1866/. Retrieved November 17, 2018.</ref><ref>https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2016/12/5/a-look-back-at-the-colt-single-action-army/. Retrieved November 17, 2018.</ref> The Guinn Williams character is said to have stolen rifles from [[Fort Sill]] and to have served a sentence in the [[Yuma Territorial Prison]], neither of which became operational until after the Civil War, 1869 and 1876, respectively. The Comanchero leader's status as a former Confederate officer is also anachronistic because the [[Confederate States of America]] did not exist until the onset of the Civil War in 1861.
Additionally, in the scene between Stuart Whitman and Joan O’Brien in which she explains how her husband died in the Battle of San Jacinto, she says his death occurred “four years ago,” which would’ve been 1839. The Battle of San Jacinto was fought in 1836.


⚫
Whitman, who later played a similar lead in the 1964 ''[[Rio Conchos (1964 film)|Rio Conchos]]'', played the character Paul Regret, who was the lead in the novel, and Wayne's part had to be amplified for the film version. Wellman had envisioned [[Cary Grant]] as Regret as he wrote the novel. Gary Cooper and [[James Garner]] were originally set to be the leads but Cooper's ill health and Garner's blackballing over a dispute with [[Jack L. Warner]] ruled them out.<ref>{{cite web| title= James Garner: You Ought to be in Pictures| url= http://www.movieline.com/1994/05/you-ought-to-be-in-pictures.php| date= May 1, 1994| publisher= [[Movieline]]| access-date= 2012-04-19| url-status= dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111128005123/http://www.movieline.com/1994/05/you-ought-to-be-in-pictures.php| archive-date= November 28, 2011}}</ref>
==Trivia==
Three years later, Whitman was the lead in ''[[Rio Conchos (1964 film)|Rio Conchos]]'', another film which had a remarkably similar plot to this one. In that film (which avoided the anachronisms of this film by being set after the Civil War), Whitman's character was the upstanding figure compelled to work with rogues who either had criminal pasts, or worked on the edge of the law.


⚫
According to [[Tom Mankiewicz]], who worked on the film as an assistant, Curtiz was often ill during production and John Wayne took over the directing.<ref name="tom">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xAnj8rJPcVwC&q=9780813136059 |author=Tom Mankiewicz and Robert Crane |title=My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider's Journey Through Hollywood |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2012 |pages=50–52 |isbn=9780813136059 |access-date=2014-04-03}}</ref> Wayne told Mankiewicz to remove his [[John F. Kennedy]] button.<ref>Mankiewicz, Tom ''My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider's Journey Through Hollywood'' (2012) p. 50</ref>
A song recorded by Claude King covered some of the plot of this film. It was meant to be released with the film but was only used in trailers. (sources needed).

Parts of the film were shot in Professor Valley, [[Dead Horse Point]], King's Bottom, [[La Sal Mountains]], Fisher Valley, Onion Creek, [[Hurrah Pass]] and Haver Ranch in [[Utah]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=D'Arc|first1=James V.|title=When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah|date=2010|publisher=Gibbs Smith|location=Layton, Utah|isbn=9781423605874|edition=1st}}</ref> Despite being set in [[Texas]] in 1843, all the characters use [[Winchester rifle|Winchester lever-action rifles]] and [[Colt Single Action Army|Colt Peacemaker]] pistols which were not in production until almost three decades later.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://winchestercollector.org/models/model-1866/|title=Model 1866|access-date=November 17, 2018|website=www.winchestercollector.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2016/12/5/a-look-back-at-the-colt-single-action-army/|title=Single Colt Army|access-date= November 17, 2018|website=www.americanrifleman.org}}</ref>

⚫
A tie-in with the release was a comic book adaption from [[Dell Comics|Dell]] which was published in ''[[Four Color]]'' #1300 (February 1962)<ref>{{gcdb issue|id=17349|title=Dell Four Color #1300}}</ref><ref>{{comicbookdb|type=issue|id=314301|title=Dell Four Color #1300}}</ref>

[[Claude King]]'s version of the theme song was a top 10 country hit, and peaked at #71 on the pop charts in [[Billboard Magazine]].

==Reception==
''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine wrote, "''The Comancheros'' is a big, brash, uninhibited action-western of the old school about as subtle as a right to the jaw... Wayne is obviously comfortable in a role tailor-made to the specifications of his easygoing, square-shooting, tight-lipped but watch-out-when-I'm-mad screen personality. Lee Marvin makes a vivid impression in a brief, but colorful, role as a half-scalped, vile-tempered Comanchero agent."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/1960/film/reviews/the-comancheros-1200419891/|title=The Comancheros|website=Variety.com|publisher=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=December 31, 1960}}</ref>

⚫
[[Bosley Crowther]] called the film "so studiously wild and woolly it turns out to be good fun"; according to Crowther, "[t]here's not a moment of seriousness in it, not a detail that isn't performed with a surge of exaggeration, not a character that is credible."<ref name="nyt">{{cite web | title=John Wayne Stars in 'The Comancheros'| first= Bosley |last=Crowther | author-link=Bosley Crowther| date= November 2, 1961 | url= https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9900E1D9143DEF32A25751C0A9679D946091D6CF | work= The New York Times | access-date=2012-04-19}}</ref>


The film earned [[theatrical rental]]s of $3.5 million in the United States and Canada.<ref name=revised>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=8 January 1964|page=71|title=Some Revisions}}</ref>
==Comic-book adaption==
⚫
* [[Dell Comics|Dell]] [[Four Color]] #1300 (February 1962)<ref>{{gcdb issue|id=17349|title=Dell Four Color #1300}}</ref><ref>{{comicbookdb|type=issue|id=314301|title=Dell Four Color #1300}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 94: Line 94:
* {{AllMovie title}}
* {{AllMovie title}}
* {{AFI film|id=23776|title=The Comancheros}}
* {{AFI film|id=23776|title=The Comancheros}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|title=The Comancheros}}


{{Michael Curtiz}}
{{Michael Curtiz}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Comancheros, The}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comancheros, The}}
[[Category:1961 films]]
[[Category:1961 films]]
[[Category:1961 Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:1961 Western (genre) films]]
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[[Category:1960s American films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
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[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:American Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:American Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:CinemaScope films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Films adapted into comics]]
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[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
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[[Category:Films based on Western (genre) novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Michael Curtiz]]
[[Category:Films directed by Michael Curtiz]]
[[Category:Films directed by John Wayne]]
[[Category:Films directed by John Wayne]]
[[Category:Films scored by Elmer Bernstein]]
[[Category:Films scored by Elmer Bernstein]]
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[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
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[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
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[[Category:Films based on Western (genre) novels]]
[[Category:Films set in 1843]]
[[Category:Films set in 1843]]
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[[Category:Fiction set in 1843]]
[[Category:Films set in Texas]]
[[Category:Films set in Texas]]
[[Category:Films shot in Utah]]
[[Category:Films shot in Utah]]
[[Category:Films adapted into comics]]
[[Category:Texas Ranger Division in fiction]]

Revision as of 01:41, 16 July 2024

The Comancheros
Theatrical poster
Directed byMichael Curtiz
Uncredited:
John Wayne
Screenplay byJames Edward Grant
Clair Huffaker
Based onThe Comancheros
1952 novel
by Paul I. Wellman
Produced byGeorge Sherman
StarringJohn Wayne
Stuart Whitman
Ina Balin
Lee Marvin
Nehemiah Persoff
Bruce Cabot
CinematographyWilliam H. Clothier
Edited byLouis Loeffler
Music byElmer Bernstein
Color processColor by Deluxe
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century-Fox
Release date
  • November 1, 1961 (1961-11-01)[1]
Running time
107 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4,260,000[2]
Box office$3,500,000[3]
Stuart Whitman & Ina Balin

The Comancheros is a 1961 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on a 1952 novel of the same name by Paul Wellman, and starring John Wayne and Stuart Whitman. The supporting cast includes Ina Balin, Lee Marvin, Nehemiah Persoff, Bruce Cabot, Jack Elam, Joan O'Brien, Patrick Wayne, and Edgar Buchanan. Also featured are Western-film veterans Bob Steele, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, and Harry Carey, Jr. in uncredited supporting roles.

When terminal illness prevented Curtiz (director of Casablanca and The Adventures of Robin Hood) from finishing the film, Wayne took over as director, though his direction remained uncredited. Curtiz died shortly after the film was completed.

Plot

In pre-Civil War Texas, rogue gambler Paul Regret flees to avoid a death penalty after killing Emil Bouvier, the son of a Louisiana judge, in a duel. Regret maintains that he intended to wound Bouvier (who arranged the duel) in the arm, but Bouvier sidestepped. Regret is eventually captured by Texas Ranger Captain Jake Cutter after a tryst with a mysterious lady, Pilar Graile. Regret manages to escape, but is recaptured after a chance encounter with Cutter in a saloon.

While returning Regret to Louisiana, Cutter is compelled to join forces with the condemned man to fight the "Comancheros", a large outlaw gang headed by a former officer who smuggles guns and whiskey to the Comanche Indians, to make money and keep the frontier in a state of violence. Cutter stops at a ranch owned by a friend, when the Comanche attack suddenly. During the attack, Regret jumps on a horse and flees, but instead of making a clean getaway, he returns with a company of Texas Rangers, who repulse the attack. Because of Regret's act of valor, the Rangers and a Texas judge agree to perjure themselves, stating that Regret could not have been involved in the duel because he was helping them spy out the Comanchero's supply line. Regret is then sworn in as an official Ranger.

After encountering one of the Comancheros' suppliers and killing him in self-defense, Cutter and Regret take over his delivery wagon and infiltrate the self-sufficient Comanchero community at the bottom of a valley in the desert. Pilar reappears as the daughter of the ruthless Comanchero leader Graile, who uses a wheelchair. He is soon killed by an old woman in the community after he orders the death of her son, and Cutter and the other Texas Rangers defeat the Comanche and Comancheros. Regret and Pilar leave together for Mexico, and Jake rides off into the sunset to rejoin the Ranger company.

Cast

Production

John Wayne in The Comancheros

Wellman's novel had been bought for the screen by George Stevens, who wanted to direct it after Giant (1956). He then became interested in making The Diary of Anne Frank and sold the film rights to Fox for $300,000. Clair Huffaker was signed by the studio to adapt it for producer Charles Brackett, with Gary Cooper to star. Robert Wagner was in line to play Cooper's co-star.[4]

Cooper was in ill health and in early 1961 Douglas Heyes was announced as writer and director. John Wayne and Charlton Heston were announced as stars but Heston dropped out and was replaced by Tom Tryon, then Heyes dropped out and was replaced by Michael Curtiz. Fox had the script rewritten by Wayne's regular writer James Edward Grant.[5]

Whitman, who later played a similar lead in the 1964 Rio Conchos, played the character Paul Regret, who was the lead in the novel, and Wayne's part had to be amplified for the film version. Wellman had envisioned Cary Grant as Regret as he wrote the novel. Gary Cooper and James Garner were originally set to be the leads but Cooper's ill health and Garner's blackballing over a dispute with Jack L. Warner ruled them out.[6]

According to Tom Mankiewicz, who worked on the film as an assistant, Curtiz was often ill during production and John Wayne took over the directing.[7] Wayne told Mankiewicz to remove his John F. Kennedy button.[8]

Parts of the film were shot in Professor Valley, Dead Horse Point, King's Bottom, La Sal Mountains, Fisher Valley, Onion Creek, Hurrah Pass and Haver Ranch in Utah.[9] Despite being set in Texas in 1843, all the characters use Winchester lever-action rifles and Colt Peacemaker pistols which were not in production until almost three decades later.[10][11]

A tie-in with the release was a comic book adaption from Dell which was published in Four Color #1300 (February 1962)[12][13]

Claude King's version of the theme song was a top 10 country hit, and peaked at #71 on the pop charts in Billboard Magazine.

Reception

Variety magazine wrote, "The Comancheros is a big, brash, uninhibited action-western of the old school about as subtle as a right to the jaw... Wayne is obviously comfortable in a role tailor-made to the specifications of his easygoing, square-shooting, tight-lipped but watch-out-when-I'm-mad screen personality. Lee Marvin makes a vivid impression in a brief, but colorful, role as a half-scalped, vile-tempered Comanchero agent."[14]

Bosley Crowther called the film "so studiously wild and woolly it turns out to be good fun"; according to Crowther, "[t]here's not a moment of seriousness in it, not a detail that isn't performed with a surge of exaggeration, not a character that is credible."[1]

The film earned theatrical rentals of $3.5 million in the United States and Canada.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Crowther, Bosley (November 2, 1961). "John Wayne Stars in 'The Comancheros'". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
  2. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p252
  3. ^ a b "Some Revisions". Variety. January 8, 1964. p. 71.
  4. ^ WAGNER STEPS UP WORK IN MOVIES: Actor Forms Concern, Signs 3-Picture Columbia Deal By HOWARD THOMPSON. New York Times 21 Jan 1961: 18.
  5. ^ Nat Segaloff, Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors, Bear Manor Media 2013 p 75-76
  6. ^ "James Garner: You Ought to be in Pictures". Movieline. May 1, 1994. Archived from the original on November 28, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
  7. ^ Tom Mankiewicz and Robert Crane (2012). My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider's Journey Through Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 50–52. ISBN 9780813136059. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  8. ^ Mankiewicz, Tom My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider's Journey Through Hollywood (2012) p. 50
  9. ^ D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN 9781423605874.
  10. ^ "Model 1866". www.winchestercollector.org. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  11. ^ "Single Colt Army". www.americanrifleman.org. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  12. ^ "Dell Four Color #1300". Grand Comics Database.
  13. ^ Dell Four Color #1300 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
  14. ^ "The Comancheros". Variety.com. Variety. December 31, 1960.
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