The Comancheros

For many fans, even lesser John Wayne is better than the majority of wannabe westerns out there. For this 1961 offering, the great Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) started out behind the lens, but after he became ill during production, Wayne took over. The result is a solid action film, with Wayne starring as Texas Ranger Jake Cutter, who captures fugitive gambler Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman), wanted for killing a judge's son in a duel. While transporting Regret back to Louisiana, Cutter enlists his prisoner's aid in helping track down the Comancheros, a gang of renegade whites who work with the local Comanche tribe in gun-running and other criminal activities. The Comancheros boasts a fine supporting cast (especially an electrifying Lee Marvin, appearing briefly as the villainous Tully Crow), broad vistas and backdrops, and a stirring score by Elmer Bernstein. While not the pinnacle of Wayne's work, it does remind us of what he did best: entertain. Housed in a 24-page digi-book package, this 50th anniversary Blu-ray debut boasts a stunning transfer of the original Cinemascope image, as well as a bevy of extras, including an audio commentary, a new retrospective documentary, a two-part look at Wayne's career at Fox, an archival audio interview with Whitman, a comic book adaptation of the film, and a vintage Fox Movietone newsreel. Recommended. (B. Gibron)