The Comancheros

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The Comancheros
Directed by	Michael Curtiz John Wayne (uncredited)
Produced by	George Sherman
Written by	Paul I. Wellman (novel) James Edward Grant Clair Huffaker (screenplay)
Starring	John Wayne Stuart Whitman Lee Marvin Jack Elam Edgar Buchanan
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography	William H. Clothier
Editing by	Louis Loeffler
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	October 30, 1961
Running time	105 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Comancheros is a 1961 western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring John Wayne and Stuart Whitman. When health troubles prevented Curtiz from finishing the film, Wayne directed the remainder of the movie, though his role remained uncredited. Curtiz died shortly after the film was completed. Featured are western film veterans Bob Steele (actor), Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, and Harry Carey, Jr. in uncredited supporting roles.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Trivia 4 External links

[edit] Plot

Roguish gambler Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman) escapes a death penalty after winning a duel with the son of a Louisiana judge (and he claimed that he would have only wounded him if he hadn't sidestepped). He is captured by Texas Ranger Jake Cutter (John Wayne) after a tryst with a mysterious lady, Pilar Graile (Ina Balin). But Regret manages to escape, but is soon recaptured after a chance encounter with Cutter in a saloon.

In the process of returning Regret to Louisiana, Cutter is forced to join forces with the condemned to fight the "Comancheros;" white men who smuggle guns and whiskey to the Comanche indians and incite violence. Regret shows his worth by escaping an attack and returning with the other Texas Rangers.

Eventually they infiltrate the self-sufficient Comanchero community at the bottom of a valley in the desert. Pilar reappears as the daughter of the crippled but ruthless leader (Nehemiah Persoff). After Cutter and the other Texas Rangers defeat both the Comanches and Comancheros, Regret and Pilar leave together for Mexico.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
John Wayne	Capt. Jake Cutter
Stuart Whitman	Paul Regret
Ina Balin	Pilar Graile
Nehemiah Persoff	Graile
Lee Marvin	Tully Crow
Michael Ansara	Amelung
Bruce Cabot	Maj. Henry
Joan O'Brien	Melinda Marshall
Jack Elam	Horseface
Edgar Buchanan	Judge Thaddeus Jackson Breen
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	Ed McBain (gunrunner)

[edit] Trivia

• Although set in 1843 Texas, the characters all use Winchester lever action rifles and Colt Peacemaker pistols, which were not available until 1866 and 1873 respectively. The Guinn Williams character is said have stolen rifles from the army base at 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.

• John Wayne and Stuart Whitman leave Galveston bound for the Louisiana border and immediately find themselves in desert like surrounding with sandsstone bluffs in the background. From Galveston to Louisiana the only thing they would have seen is canebrakes, grass prairies, live oak groves and piney woods.

• Budd Boetticher was the first choice for director of the film but turned it down as he had previously worked for John Wayne's Batjac on Seven Men From Now and The Bullfighter and the Lady.

[edit] External links

• The Comancheros at the Internet Movie Database

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