The Comancheros

"Big Jake the Adventurer... Paul Regret the Gambler... Pilar the Gypsy beauty... Three With a Past... Destined to Cross and Clash... In a Kingdom of Killers!"

1961 1h 45m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.8

IMDB

★6.6TMDB · 220🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes●55Metacritic★6.8IMDB · 11,003

Western

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Texas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner in an undercover effort to defeat a band of renegade arms merchants and thieves known as Comancheros.

“Big Jake the Adventurer... Paul Regret the Gambler... Pilar the Gypsy beauty... Three With a Past... Destined to Cross and Clash... In a Kingdom of Killers!”

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Cast

John Wayne
Jake Cutter
Stuart Whitman
Paul Regret
Ina Balin
Pilar Graile
Nehemiah Persoff
Graile
Lee Marvin
Crow
Michael Ansara
Amelung
Patrick Wayne
Tobe (Texas Ranger)
Bruce Cabot
Maj. Henry (Ranger CO)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Curtiz
Writers: James Edward Grant, Clair Huffaker
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 82% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

65 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Curtiz, shot by William H. Clothier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Elmer Bernstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Louis R. Loeffler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

John Wayne and Stuart Whitman and Ina Balin carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Big Jake the Adventurer... Paul Regret the Gambler... Pilar the Gypsy beauty... Three With a Past... Destined to Cross and Clash... In a Kingdom of Killers!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Curtiz directs. William H. Clothier behind the camera. Elmer Bernstein scores. Louis R. Loeffler cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Earned back only 82% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
365 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Michael Curtiz, shot by William H. Clothier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Elmer Bernstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Louis R. Loeffler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7John Wayne and Stuart Whitman and Ina Balin carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Big Jake the Adventurer... Paul Regret the Gambler... Pilar the Gypsy beauty... Three With a Past... Destined to Cross and Clash... In a Kingdom of Killers!".
9IMDB entry: tt0054757 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Original score: Elmer Bernstein
Editing: Louis R. Loeffler
Costume design: Marjorie Best
Runtime: 105 min · 1h 45m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,260,000
Box office: $3,500,000
Return: 82% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: The Comancheros (1961)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 55/100
IMDB rating: 6.8/10 · 11,003 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

2 wins & 3 nominations total

Also by

Michael Curtiz

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-05-09
★ 6.5/10
Just like your first rattler. One look and you'll know. After winning a duel with a prominent and connected New Orleans man, gambler Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman) has to flee on account of impending arrest for murder. But he is soon captured by Texas Ranger, Jake Cutter (John Wayne), who sets about returning him to Louisiana to be hanged. However, in spite of their obvious professional differences, the men are forced to come together to fight The Comancheros, renegade white men who smuggle guns and whiskey to the Comanche Indians. The credentials for The Comancheros are out of the top draw. Directed by Michael Curtiz, starring John Wayne, with support from the likes of Lee Marvin, Henry Daniel, Edgar Buchanan, Ina Balin, Jack Elam & Bruce Cabot. While the score is provided by Elmer Bernstein and cinematography is courtesy of William H. Clothier. It's based on a story by Paul Wellman and although far from being a top tier Duke Wayne Oater, it's an amiable action packed movie that has an old fashioned feel to it. This was to be Curtiz's last film as he was to pass away shortly afterwards, he was helped on the direction by Wayne who requested to be uncredited for his work, while Cliff Lyons was on hand for some of the action sequences. The acting is solid and the cast seem to be having fun, though a romantic strand between Whitman's Regret & Balin's Pilar is badly developed, but around them all is the Utah & Arizona locale which is beautifully utilised by the talented Clothier. An entertaining Oater to pass away a Sunday afternoon with. 6/10
Dark Jedi2014-09-10
★ 7/10
This movie was directed by both Michael Curtiz and John Wayne himself although the latter was never credited as a director. I so enjoyed myself when watching this movie. It is indeed a classical John Wayne western very far from todays special effects loaded action movies. I guess you must have a bit of a nostalgic attachment to old classics, characters like John Wayne and western movies in order to enjoy this movie. John Wayne plays his classical slightly grumpy, all honest, tough guy that I really like. I remember one of my greatest disappointments as a kid was when John Wayne played a character that actually turned out to be the bad guy at the end. On top of everything he died at the end! I was so pissed off, almost traumatized. The story is pretty much what the book blurb says. Nothing fancy. There is a pretty lady thrown in of course although it is not John Wayne who gets her at the end, or even aspires to get her, but the gambler, Paul Regret, who, not surprisingly, turns out to be one of the good guys. The story holds together pretty well and there are of course plenty of opportunities for both fist-fights and gun-fights. The gun-fight are where it turns a bit silly though. The big fights are mostly a whole bunch of Indians mixed up with some white crooks attacking on horseback riding around shooting wildly until the directors decides that it is time for the next scene and they ride away. A handful of people, sometimes barely that, repeatedly stand against 50 or more bad guys on horseback yet they always come out on top. That is pretty silly to me. It makes for some nice old-fashioned gun-fights but it is still rather silly. More the kind of stuff that would be put in a children's movie today. Still the movie was really fun for me to watch. The good guys are really good guys and the bad guys are well done. I especially appreciated Lee Marwin's performance as Tully Crow in the bad guy department. Also, as is usual in these oldie movies, the opponents can have a fight (verbal as well as physical) and still communicate fairly intelligently without swearing their heads off. I would recommend this movie when you are in a nostalgic Western mood looking for some light entertainment.
drystyx2023-04-18
★ 9/10
A Western Divine Comedy. This Duke Western is a modern day Dante's Inferno, as two protagonists enter a Hell on Earth. This "Hell" is created by an evil sadist played by Nehemiah Persoff. The two protagonists are Jake, played by John Wayne, and Regret, played by Stuart Whitman. Jake is a no nonsense Texas ranger with a weakness. He's honest. Regret is a likable lady's man who never looks for trouble, but trouble always finds him. Ina Balin plays the love interest for Regret. She becomes the "guide" into Hell late into the film. She has two helpers, played by Michael Ansara and Richard Devon. At the time this was made, Ansara was playing honorable characters and Devon less honorable characters, so a "switch" was made on their roles in this film. Ansara plays a sadist even worse than Persoff's devil. Lee Marvin gets a high billing, but has a role that would normally be about 12th billing. The wit and charm of this Western really makes it a semi classic. It has the greatest of the famous Duke lines: "Don't make a habit of saying that too often, and once more will be too often". That lines sticks out among the great lines of his films as the coolest. The protagonists begin with Jake arresting Regret, but Jake has to take Regret through an outskirt of Hell, and Regret finds an opportunity to escape. Later, he accidentally finds Regret while working undercover to investigate Crow, played by Lee Marvin. The "Divine Comedy" of the West sees different supporting characters in this man made Hell, and how they react. There's McBain, Crow, Esteban, Gordo, and others. Who will reject Hell and who will fight to keep Hell intact?