The Comancheros

drystyx

Apr 18, 2023

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?

Geronimo1967

Feb 19, 2026

7/10

This was always one of my favourite John Wayne films from childhood and the “Friday Western” on BBC2. Here he’s a Texas ranger who finds himself working with the suave, debonair and entirely untrustworthy duellist “Regret” (Stuart Whitman) against some very heavily armed renegades. Someone is running guns to the Comanches who are in turn marauding with some unsavoury folks based somewhere deep in the desert. “Jake” (Wayne) and his reluctant friend manage to capture a recognition banner from the Indians and so armed with a wagon load of rifles - without firing pins, of course - head off in search of their secret headquarters. When they arrive at a large hacienda in a well protected valley, they encounter the wheelchair bound mastermind of the operation “Gralle” (Nehemiah Persoff), his daughter “Pilar” (Ina Balin) and their chief henchman “Amelung” (Michael Ankara) and hope they can pass as potential suppliers. Unfortunately for the pair, she recognised “Jake” from a previous meeting when he was wearing his star - but she also quite likes “Regret” so is she going to turn them in to her ruthless father or might she be ruled by her heart instead? I thought the unlikely partnership between the Duke and Whitman worked quite well here, with the latter man delivering quite an effective foil to a star who was really just being John Wayne. There is plenty of action, especially towards the conclusion, and of course the settings are panoramically photographed to give us a grand scale view of the Utah locations for these death pedlars and their pursuing lawmen. Lee Marvin adds a bit of character for a while with his scheming “Crow”, Patrick Wayne provides some family eye-candy and there’s Jack Elam, though not really enough of him, as the unfortunately monikered “Horseface” delivering his usual blend of maniacal, semi-comedic, menace. It’s a proficiently crafted piece of adventure cinema that I quite enjoyed.