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Plot
During the Franco-Mexican War, ex-Confederate soldier Ben Trane (Cooper) travels to Mexico seeking a job as a mercenary. He falls in with Joe Erin (Lancaster), a lethal gunslinger who heads a gang of cutthroats (including Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, Charles Bronson, and Archie Savage). They are recruited by Marquis Henri de Labordere (Cesar Romero) for service with the Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (George Macready) After an almost-miraculous display of shooting with a lever-action model 1873 Winchester rifle, the Emperor offers them $25,000 to escort the Countess Duvarre (Denise Darcel) to the seaport city of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. Trane uses a compliment to the Countess to get the Emperor to double it, impressing Erin with his boldness. During a river crossing, Trane and Erin noticed that the stagecoach in which the countess is traveling is extremely heavy. Erin later discovers that the stagecoach contains six cases of gold coins. First Trane and then the countess discover him looking at the gold. The countess informs them that it is worth $3 million which is being transported to pay for troops for Maximilian's French army. They form an uneasy alliance to steal and split the gold. Unfortunately for their plans, the Marquis was listening from the shadows.

Also involved in the mix is General Ramírez (Morris Ankrum) a heroic Juarista leader. He and the other Juarista leaders soon suspect that there is more to the expedition than the Countess and ambush the column several times. Eventually, the rest of Erin's group also learn that something suspicious is going on and they demand to be let in on the secret. The different groups, including Juarista secret agent Nina (Sara Montiel), conspire to steal the gold for their own purposes. Alliances are formed, quickly dissolved and others are formed. A ruse is successful in getting the gold to Veracruz where the Juarista troops attack the French in a bloody battle over the ownership of the gold. Erin attempts to steal the gold for himself by getting the countess to reveal the location of the ship she had hired to transport the gold. However, Trane arrives in time to stop him. In the end, Trane and Erin face off in a showdown that concludes with Erin's death. Trane leaves the gold and walks through the dead bodies from the battle while the wives and mothers of the Juarista troops search among the dead and wounded for their loved ones.
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Cruz_(film)

Cast
Gary Cooper as Ben Trane ゲイリー・クーパー
Burt Lancaster as Joe Erin バート・ランカスター
Denise Darcel as Countess Marie Duvarre デニーズ・ダーセル
Cesar Romero as Marquis Henri de Labordere シーザー・ロメオ
Sara Montiel as Nina サラ・モンティエル
George Macready as Emperor Maximilian ジョージ・マクレディ
Ernest Borgnine as Donnegan アーネスト・ボーグナイン

何ヶ月かぶりに昔の映画のDVDを購入し見たのでそれについて書きます。その映画は1954年公開ゲイリー・クーパー・バートランカスター主演の「ベラクルス」。DVDにおいては「ヴェラクルス」のなってますが発音の違いでしょう。
ロバート・アルドリッチ監督の西部劇です。舞台は1866年のフランスメキシコ戦争中のメキシコです。映画のタイトルのベラクルスというのもメキシコの都市の名前です。
この映画の登場人物の非道徳的さや暴力に対する皮肉的態度(バート・ランカスターが子供を人質に殺すと脅した場面もそうです)はこの当時ショッキングでした。今ではなんともないですが。またこれらは他の西部劇にも影響を与えたようです。1960年の「荒野の七人」などはこの映画の影響が出ています。

なお翌年公開の「マーティ」でアカデミー主演男優賞を受賞するアーネスト・ボーグナインが脇役で出演しています。翌年はオスカー俳優となるわけですが、この映画ではクレジットも小さいです。

本作品はテクニカラー映画で94分とあまり長くないので、現代でも見やすいと思います。

映画はもう一本注文してるので、届き次第見たいと思います。

>ヴェラクルス【Blu-ray】 [ ゲイリー・クーパー ] 価格:1,851円 (2017/4/1 14:01時点) 感想(0件)