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Released by: Fox
Released on: 5/17/2011
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Stuart Whitman
Year: 1961
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The Movie:
Directed by Michael Curtiz in 1961, Comancheros begins in the New Orleans of the mid-1800s where a gambler named Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman) has just survived a duel, successfully killing a man who accused him of stealing his woman. Unfortunately for Paul, the man he just killed was the son of a local judge and it's very likely he'll be hanged. So Paul does what a lot of people would do in his situation and gets out of town and takes a riverboat ride to the Republic of Texas where he meets Pilar Graile (Ina Balin). It's not too long before he's swooning over her but no sooner does he fall for her than he's caught and cuffed by Texas Ranger Jake Cutter (John Wayne), who intends to take him back to Louisiana to face justice.
As Cutter and Regret make their way back to New Orleans, Cutter successfully escapes but Cutter isn't going to let his man get away. As they make the journey, they forge a friendship of sorts, though they're first at each other's throats. Eventually they start to respect one another and before their journey is through they'll be working together to help fend off raiding Comancheros from Mexico bent on taking over a small rural outpost before having to head into the Comanchero's village on their own, where they find out the truth about Pilar and her past.
Set in a time when Mexico and America were warring over Texas, Comancheros benefits from an exciting backdrop and some great location work. Shot in a few different locations the film looks great from start to finish and has a nice air of authenticity to it. Of course, this being a buddy western of sorts, the storyline is prone to the clichés that you'd expect from it and it's a bit on the predictable side but it always looks great and Whitman and Wayne make for a pretty good combination here. Throw in a nice supporting effort from a surly Lee Marvin as a gunrunner with more than a few personality quirks and the alluring Ina Balin and you wind up with a pretty solid cast through and through. Elmer Bernstein contributes a rousing score and William H. Clothier handles the cinematography chores (no stranger to shooting John Wayne, Clothier worked on The Alamo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, McLintock and quite a few more).
Sadly, Michael Curtiz would pass away shortly after he made this film, the director of undisputed classics like Casablanca was in bad shape while making this picture and let Wayne direct large portions of it due to his failing health. Regardless, if it isn't hard to tell where it's all going or how it'll get there, Comancheros is at least a polished and enjoyable ride, a fairly innocent film made before the western would become more nihilistic and realistic (two adjectives which do not fit this film at all).
Video/Audio/Extras:
The AVC encoded 2.35.1 widescreen 1080p high definition transfer on this disc from Fox is nice and film like showing great detail and nice, natural color reproduction. There's no DNR to complain about nor are there any compression or edge enhancement issues to note. Skin tones look good and black levels, if not quite perfect, are close to it.
The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track, in English, remixes things fairly well and offers good use of the surrounds only when the film calls for it. Levels are well balanced, dialogue clear and the score quite punchy. No issues with any hiss or distortion here and you can't fault an older movie like this for sounding a little flat in spots. Overall though, Comancheroes sounds just fine. French and Spanish Dolby Digital tracks are included with subtitles provided in English and Spanish.
Extras kick off with a commentary track from Stuart Whitman, Nehemiah Persoff, Michael Ansara and Patrick Wayne, all recorded separately and cut together in the editing room. It's not a bad track, but it's disjointed at times and never quite flows the way a good track does when everyone is in the room together. It's not a scene specific talk either, instead it's basically just a bunch of audio interviews slapped over top of the movie. It works, but it definitely could have been better.
More interesting are the two documentaries found on the disc, the first of which is The Comancheros and the Battle for the American Southwest, a twenty four minutes retrospective look back at the making of this movie with a lot of insight into the history on which the story was based. The second documentary, The Duke At Fox, is a forty minute piece that looks at all the different movies John Wayne made for Fox that includes some interesting interviews with Wayne and some of those who knew him.
Rounding out the extras is a reproduction of a Comancheros comic book from 1961, a twelve minute audio interview with Stuart Whitman that talks about this film and other pictures he made in his day, a vintage Fox Movietone news reel related to Comancheroes, two trailers, menus and chapter selection. The disc sits inside a nice hardcover book package that includes twenty four full color pages of pictures and writing on the film and the people who made it.
The Final Word:
While hardly John Wayne's best film, Comancheros is never the less a fun western with a great cast of performers and some nice location work. Fox's Blu-ray debut rolls out the red carpet for the film and offers up a great transfer, strong audio, and more extras than most probably expected to ever see for this film. All in all, a very well put together and well rounded package for a fun film.
Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!
