The Comancheros (film)

In pre-Civil War New Orleans, rogue gambler Paul Regret kills Emil Bouvier, the son of a Louisiana judge, in a duel. Regret maintains that he only intended to wound Bouvier (who demanded the duel) in the arm, but Bouvier sidestepped at the last moment. After learning that Bouvier’s father will demand his hanging, Regret flees the state for the Republic of Texas, but remains wanted for extradition.

After a tryst with a mysterious lady, Pilar Graile, on his way to Texas, Regret is captured by Texas Ranger Captain Jake Cutter, who refuses his offer of a bribe and thwarts his attempts to break free. However, after witnessing Cutter’s former homestead burned to the ground by a group of Comanche Indians, Regret successfully knocks Cutter out and escapes. Cutter returns to his post in embarrassment, but soon resumes his main task: pursuing a gang of outlaw “Comancheros,” who he suspects are illegally supplying guns and whiskey to the Comanche in order to make money and keep the frontier in a constant state of violence.

The Rangers have arrested a recent ex-convict named McBain, caught with a wagonload of stolen guns likely destined for Comanche territory. Reasoning that the Comancheros had not actually met McBain and would not be able to identify him, Cutter goes to the rendezvous point as “McBain,” where he meets Comanchero smuggler Tully Crow. The two men form an uneasy partnership. That night, while playing cards, Cutter unexpectedly runs into Regret, who hides their previous interaction. However, Crow spots their connection and assumes that they are attempting to cheat him, forcing Cutter to kill him in self-defense.

With his mission against the Comancheros stalled, Cutter once again attempts to return Regret to Louisiana. The two of them are stopped at a ranch owned by a friend when the Comanche unexpectedly launch a raid on the settlement. During the fighting, Regret jumps on a horse and flees, but instead of making a clean getaway, he returns with a company of Texas Rangers, who repulse the attack. Because of Regret's act of valor, the Rangers and a Texas judge agree to perjure themselves, stating that Regret could not have been involved in the Louisiana duel because he was helping them spy on the Comancheros’ supply line. Regret is then sworn in as an official Ranger.

Posing as Comancheros, Cutter and Regret travel into Comanche territory with the stolen wagon and guns, with Rangers shadowing them at a distance. Eventually, they are intercepted by Comanches and led to the hidden self-sufficient Comanchero community at the bottom of a valley in the desert. Initially apprehended and imprisoned, the two are later released after the intercession of Pilar, who is revealed to be the daughter of the Comancheros’ paraplegic leader, Graile. At Pilar’s recommendation, Graile initially welcomes Cutter and Regret into the camp. Pilar quickly deduces that Cutter is an undercover Ranger, but initially conceals this from her father out of her love for Regret.

Pilar makes preparations for Cutter and Regret to escape the settlement overnight, but Regret refuses, declaring his love for her and insisting they should run away together. At dinner, Pilar reveals Cutter’s true identity to Graile, and Cutter and Regret abduct Graile and his henchmen, intending to bring them out of the settlement the following morning. The plan goes awry when a Comanchero woman, vengeful against Graile for ordering the death of her son, loudly stabs him to death, alerting the Comanches and the Comancheros to their escape and prompting a pursuit. When all seems lost, the Rangers arrive, driving the Comanche back and destroying the Comanchero camp. Regret and Pilar leave together for Mexico – outside the bounds of the extradition law – and Jake rides off into the sunset to rejoin the Ranger company.

 

Wellman's novel had been bought for the screen by George Stevens, who wanted to direct it after Giant (1956). He then became interested in making The Diary of Anne Frank and sold the film rights to Fox for $300,000. Clair Huffaker was signed by the studio to adapt it for producer Charles Brackett, with Gary Cooper to star. Robert Wagner was in line to play Cooper's co-star.^[4]

Cooper was in ill health and in early 1961 Douglas Heyes was announced as writer and director. John Wayne and Charlton Heston were announced as stars but Heston dropped out and was replaced by Tom Tryon, then Heyes dropped out and was replaced by Michael Curtiz. Fox had the script rewritten by Wayne's regular writer James Edward Grant.^[5]

Whitman, who later played a similar lead in the 1964 Rio Conchos, played the character Paul Regret, who was the lead in the novel, and Wayne's part had to be amplified for the film version. Wellman had envisioned Cary Grant as Regret as he wrote the novel. Gary Cooper and James Garner were originally set to be the leads but Cooper's ill health and Garner's blackballing over a dispute with Jack L. Warner ruled them out.^[6]

According to Tom Mankiewicz, who worked on the film as an assistant, Curtiz was often ill during production and John Wayne took over the directing.^[7] Wayne told Mankiewicz to remove his John F. Kennedy button.^[8]

Parts of the film were shot in Professor Valley, Dead Horse Point, King's Bottom, La Sal Mountains, Fisher Valley, Onion Creek, Hurrah Pass and Haver Ranch in Utah.^[9] Despite being set in Texas in 1843, all the characters use Winchester lever-action rifles and Colt Peacemaker pistols which were not in production until almost three decades later.^[10][11]

A tie-in with the release was a comic book adaption from Dell which was published in Four Color #1300 (February 1962)^[12][13]

Claude King's version of the theme song was a top 10 country hit, and peaked at #71 on the pop charts in Billboard Magazine.

Variety magazine wrote, "The Comancheros is a big, brash, uninhibited action-western of the old school about as subtle as a right to the jaw... Wayne is obviously comfortable in a role tailor-made to the specifications of his easygoing, square-shooting, tight-lipped but watch-out-when-I'm-mad screen personality. Lee Marvin makes a vivid impression in a brief, but colorful, role as a half-scalped, vile-tempered Comanchero agent."^[14]

Bosley Crowther called the film "so studiously wild and woolly it turns out to be good fun"; according to Crowther, "[t]here's not a moment of seriousness in it, not a detail that isn't performed with a surge of exaggeration, not a character that is credible."^[1]

The film earned theatrical rentals of $3.5 million in the United States and Canada.^[3]

• List of American films of 1961
• John Wayne filmography

• The Comancheros at IMDb  
• The Comancheros at the TCM Movie Database  
• The Comancheros at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Comancheros at Rotten Tomatoes