Product Details

• Actors: John Wayne, Phil Arnold, Ina Balin, Don Brodie, Edgar Buchanan
• Directors: Michael Curtiz
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, Special Edition, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301798090
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,912 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Nobody made a fuss about The Comancheros when it came out, yet it has proved to be among the most enduringly entertaining of John Wayne's later Westerns. The Duke, just beginning to crease and thicken toward Rooster Cogburn proportions, plays a veteran Texas Ranger named Jake Cutter. When we first see him (in a tongue-in-cheek delayed entrance), he's catching up with a New Orleans dandy (Stuart Whitman) who killed a judge's son in a duel just after that gentlemanly practice was banned. Monsieur Paul Regret--or "Mon-sooor," as Jake insists on calling him--is not a bad fellow, let alone a badman, and it only follows that, after the requisite number of misunderstandings, he and Jake will join forces to subdue rampaging Indians and the evil white men behind their uprising.

The Comancheros was the last credit for Michael Curtiz, who, ravaged by cancer, ceded much of the direction to Wayne (uncredited) and action specialist Cliff Lyons. With support from Wayne stalwarts James Edward Grant (coscreenplay) and William Clothier (camera), the first of many rousing Elmer Bernstein scores for a Wayne picture, and a big, flavorful cast including Lee Marvin (the once and future Liberty Valance), Nehemiah Persoff, Bruce Cabot, and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (in his last movie), they made a broad, cheerfully bloodthirsty adventure movie for red-meat-eating audiences of all ages. Even the liberal-pinko Time magazine had to second the salute from leading lady Ina Balin at film's end: "Take care of yourself, Big Jake ... we've sort of gotten used to you." --Richard T. Jameson

Product Description

John Wayne is Capt. Jake Cutter, a Texas Ranger determined to crush a powerful outlaw gang that's selling guns to the Indians. Cutter is also trying to bring in gambler Paul Regret (Whitman), who's wanted for murder. Both missions get entangled when Cutter crosses paths with Regret unexpectedly, and the men form an unlikely friendship while Regret decides which side of the law he's really on. Co-starring Ina Balin, Nehemiah Persoff and Lee Marvin, The Comancheros is a rousing western, and the last film of director Michael Curtiz.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars rollicking good time., February 28, 2003

By 

William W. Miller (Sparks, NV United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Comancheros (DVD)

John Wayne as the texas ranger whose job it is intially to bring in gambler Stuart Whitman is great fun with a great score to support this technicolor action and buddy film. The title refers to a group of white outlaws who rile up the indians against the settlers. Ina Balin is the lady with a connection to the outlaw clan that Stuart lays claim to and eventually wins. Wayne as the senior member of this buddy team helps out in the romance department being a little long of tooth to be the romantic focal point though there is a brief indication of a love interest for his character as well. Stuart becomes a reluctant ranger in order to save himself from deportation back to Louisiana and an appointment with a hangman for winning a dueling contest and he is teamed with Wayne to locate the outlaw gang. The scenes between the two while they travel together initially as ranger and prisoner and finally as evolving friends and allies are most entertaining.
Pleanty of action and entertaining dialogue. Cast is populated by a number of Wayne's stock company of actors and includes Lee Marvin in a relatively brief role as, what else, a bad guy. One of the most fun of Wayne's westerns before he started playing parodys of himself.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic western, May 26, 2003

By 

Undertaker - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Comancheros (DVD)

Finally, "The Comancheros" is released on DVD. This is one of Wayne's best, and most enjoyable westerns(that says a lot, because the Duke's westerns were always classic). The acting is superb, Stuart Whitman turning out one of his best performances, and John Wayne underrated as usual. Lee Marvin also makes a powerful, short performance. That cast alone makes for a classic. Michael Curtiz's("Casablanca"-1942) last film, he creates one of the better 1960's westerns. Several people have mentioned the guns in the film. Historical facts are often changed to create entertaining films. This film is not a history lesson, it is an example of classic hollywood at it's best. A well crafted, fun, classic western. Recommended for both fans of classic westerns, and classic films in general.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic, Crowd-Pleasing Duke!, May 24, 2000

By 

Thomas Gabriel "Dr. Morbius" (Solvang, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Comancheros [VHS] (VHS Tape)

You can see by the title that I am a John Wayne fan, and this rip-roaring Western is one of the reasons why. With equal portions of rousing action, humor, and drama, this film keeps your interest and, like the Duke's performance, never loses its authenticity. It's said that John Wayne took over direction of some of the action sequences, and they're great. There are well-drawn, clear differences between the good guys and bad guys, but the characters are human and developed enough for the actors to sink their teeth into, which all do with gusto. By this time in his career, the Duke only had to show up on screen to be the authentic Western hero, but as usual he goes 'way beyond that, giving a colorful, humorous, absolutely real and terrific performance as the Texas Ranger who helps a man on the wrong side of the law redeem himself and find the woman he loves--as well as stopping a motley, dangerous bunch of white renegades (Comancheros) who are selling weapons to warring Comanche Indians. It's great movie-making and a great couple of hours with the Duke, so check it out!