JohnHowardReid Copyright 1 November 1961 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation. New York opening at the Paramount, 1 November 1961. U.S. release: 30 October 1961. U.K. release: 29 January 1962. 9,507 feet. 106 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Texas Ranger falls for an outlaw's daughter.NOTES: Shooting from 18 June 1961 to early August 1961. Location scenes filmed in Moab, Utah. This was director Michael Curtiz's last film. Movie historian Allen Eyles claims that "Wayne himself stood in for Curtiz at times as the director weakened from the ill health that led to his death shortly after the film's completion."In the film, both as written and shot, Buchanan plays Judge Roy Bean. However, following criticism by some critics notably Paul V. Beckley of The New York Tribune ("Does Edgar Buchanan always have to play Judge Bean or is this a commercial?"), Fox flacks changed the name of the character in the studio's publicity sheets to "Judge Thaddeus Breen".COMMENT: Curtiz's last film stands up rather well. An expansively produced (on attractive actual locations), incident-packed western with tailor-made roles for Wayne and Whitman (it is obvious that Curtiz was building him up from "Francis of Assisi", but he would never again have a part as good as this and his career from here on is a slow and gradual decline). Ina Balin looks good too — and her career also amounted to little after this. Same can be said about Nehemiah Persoff who makes such an impression here. Lee Marvin also registers strongly in his brief but awful (in the literal sense) appearance. The script has a welcome leavening of humor and wit and doesn't take itself too seriously. Curtiz's direction is very polished and accomplished, using varied camera set-ups, reverse angles, the whole armory of Hollywood technique, very, very smoothly edited together. It's true that the action spots were directed by Cliff Lyons (and some very spectacular footage it is too. Particularly impressive is a scene in which a buck-board capsizes in front of the camera), but the smooth professional handling of the dialogue scenes cannot be discounted, nor can the charm and like- ability of Wayne's performance — rarely has he appeared so relaxed, so at ease and unforced. Another factor in the film's appeal is the rousing music score contributed by Elmer Bernstein. Good to see Curtiz going out on such a high note, with an entertaining script backed up by a solid cast of pros and solidly professional behind-the-camera work on a budget that was really worthy of his talents.

elvircorhodzic THE COMANCHEROS is an adventure western that delivers, a lot of an exciting entertainment in a frivolous story. Film is based on a 1952 novel of the same name by Paul Wellman.A roguish gambler escapes a death penalty after killing in a duel a son of a Louisiana judge. A fugitive enjoys in romantic moments with a mysterious lady on a ship. After that, he is captured by Texas Ranger. He manages to escape, but is subsequently recaptured after a chance encounter with a Ranger in a saloon. A Ranger is forced to join forces with the condemned to fight the "Comancheros", a large criminal gang headed by a former officer that smuggles guns and whiskey to the Comanche Indians to make money and keep the frontier in a state of violence. A gambler will find, among bandits, his love from a ship...This is a film, in which a mischievous gambler and a guardian of the law play their little game. A very interesting plot switches to an expected climax, which revives a stray love. Too many things is left to randomness in this story. We can, with the exception of logic, look at two sides of the law in this film.Open landscapes are very impressive. Characterization is pretty bad.In addition to John Wayne (Capt. Jake Cutter), who is a dominant character with his charisma and Lee Marvin (Tully Crow), who brought liveliness to the story, all the others are fit to an average performance.This film is a quite frivolous and it takes absurd proportions in some moments.

Dark Jedi This movie was directed by both Michael Curtiz and John Wayne himself although the latter was never credited as a director. I so enjoyed myself when watching this movie. It is indeed a classical John Wayne western very far from todays special effects loaded action movies. I guess you must have a bit of a nostalgic attachment to old classics, characters like John Wayne and western movies in order to enjoy this movie.John Wayne plays his classical slightly grumpy, all honest, tough guy that I really like. I remember one of my greatest disappointments as a kid was when John Wayne played a character that actually turned out to be the bad guy at the end. On top of everything he died at the end! I was so pi--ed off, almost traumatized.The story is pretty much what the book blurb says. Nothing fancy. There is a pretty lady thrown in of course although it is not John Wayne who gets her at the end, or even aspires to get her, but the gambler, Paul Regret, who, not surprisingly, turns out to be one of the good guys. The story holds together pretty well and there are of course plenty of opportunities for both fist-fights and gun-fights.The gun-fight are where it turns a bit silly though. The big fights are mostly a whole bunch of Indians mixed up with some white crooks attacking on horseback riding around shooting wildly until the directors decides that it is time for the next scene and they ride away. A handful of people, sometimes barely that, repeatedly stand against 50 or more bad guys on horseback yet they always come out on top. That is pretty silly to me. It makes for some nice old-fashioned gun-fights but it is still rather silly. More the kind of stuff that would be put in a children's movie today.Still the movie was really fun for me to watch. The good guys are really good guys and the bad guys are well done. I especially appreciated Lee Marwin's performance as Tully Crow in the bad guy department. Also, as is usual in these oldie movies, the opponents can have a fight (verbal as well as physical) and still communicate fairly intelligently without swearing their heads off.I would recommend this movie when you are in a nostalgic Western mood looking for some light entertainment.

Uriah43 This movie starts off with "Paul Regret" (Stuart Whitman) killing a man in a duel in Louisiana. What he doesn't know is that the man he killed is the son of a powerful judge who willingly disregards the honor of a duel and charges him with murder. Having little choice but to flee the state, Paul boards a steamboat to Galveston, Texas. On the way there he meets a mysterious lady by the name of Pilar Graile (Ina Balin) who he falls in love with. However, upon the ship's arrival into port he is arrested by a Texas Ranger by the name of "Jake Cutter" (John Wayne). Although he is intent on taking Paul back to Louisiana for trial, Jake encounters problems with the Comanches and their trading partners, the Comancheros. At any rate, rather than give the entire story away I will just add that this is an old-style Western movie which flourished at drive-in theaters across America during this period. John Wayne gives his usual top-notch performance. Additionally, Stuart Whitman and Lee Marvin (as the Comanchero named "Crow") are also quite good. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast don't necessarily distinguish themselves and the plot at times lacked realism. For example, the marksmanship of the Texas Rangers was too incredible to be believed--especially since their targets were riding at full speed on horseback. But again, this an old-style western which requires a little bit of latitude in that regard. All in all though it was entertaining and definitely worth a look for those who enjoy Westerns.