SerpApi.Org
Clint Eastwood and John Wayne are the two actors most connected to the Western genre, but they were just two of the many talented actors that tried their hand at the cowboy life.
Another who helped push the genre forward was Gary Cooper, who starred in the film that inspired the Spaghetti Western. Before Sergio Leone's Man With No Name trilogy that included arguably the greatest Western of all time in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, it was Vera Cruz that broke the mold.
"The film also added a new twist to suspect partnerships with what critics have called the 'double-double cross. Such themes were prevalent in the films of Sergio Leone (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, 1966) and other directors of the Spaghetti Western genre, one marked by copious bloodletting and a lack of recognizable heroes," Turner Classic Movies wrote.
'Vera Cruz' Named One of the Greatest Westerns of All Time
Timeout Magazine ranked Vera Cruz as the No. 37 greatest Western of all time.
"Despite informing the look and swagger of The Magnificent Seven, the scope and violence of The Wild Bunch and the arch cynicism of Sergio Leone’s soupy Spaghettios, Vera Cruz is not as well remembered as many of its contemporaries. Perhaps it has to do with the departure from traditional western themes," Timeout Magazine wrote.
"We take our leave from railroad ramifications and range rivalries for a rip-roaring adventure set amidst the Franco-Mexican War. A world-weary, conflicted Gary Cooper and a grinning Burt Lancaster team up to smuggle millions in Mexican moolah out of the country. Bright, brash, ludicrously enjoyable and ever so cool, Vera Cruz is a daring western too often excluded from the canon in favor of worthy oaters and rote revengers."
Vera Cruz owns a nearly-perfect 93% on Rotten Tomatoes with only one "rotten" rating from critics. It's currently free to watch on Tubi and Pluto TV.
Related: 1956 Classic, Turned Down by John Wayne, Named One of the Greatest Westerns of All Time
