Vera Cruz is a 1954 film starring Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Denise Darcel, and Cesar Romero. The Technicolor Western was directed by Robert Aldrich from a story by Borden Chase. Considered one of the most influential Western movies ever filmed, Vera Cruz takes place during the Franco-Mexican War and involves Ben Trane (Cooper), an ex-Confederate soldier who travels to Mexico seeking a job as a mercenary. He falls in with the gang of Joe Erin (Lancaster), a psychopathic gunslinger with a large gang of American criminals (including Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, Charles Bronson, and Archie Savage), and they are recruited by Emperor Maximilian (played by George Macready) to help escort Countess Duvarre (Denise Darcel) to Vera Cruz. It is later revealed that the shipment also includes a large cache of gold intended for the French army, and Ben, Joe, Marie, and Juarista agent Nina (Sara Montiel) conspire to steal it for their various causes. Also involved in the plot are Cesar Romero as the duplicitious French Marquis, Henry Brandon as his aide, and Morris Ankrum as an heroic Juarista leader.

The film's amoral characters, Mexican setting, and cynical attitude towards violence (including a scene where Lancaster's character threatens to murder child hostages) was considered shocking at the time, and influenced future Westerns such as The Magnificent Seven, The Wild Bunch, and the films of Sergio Leone.

After the American Civil War, mercenaries travel to Mexico to fight in their revolution for money. The former soldier and gentleman Benjamin Trane meets the gunman and killer Joe Erin and his men, and together they are hired by the Emperor Maximillian and the Marquis Henri de Labordere to escort the Countess Marie Duvarre to the harbor of Vera Cruz. Ben and Erin find that the stagecoach is transporting US$ 3,000,000.00 in gold hidden below the seat and they scheme to steal it. Along their journey, betrayals and incidents happen changing their initial intentions. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Ben Trane and Joe Erin, two rival soldiers of fortune who team to fight for the highest bidder. The two men come to loggerheads when Trane's sweetheart Nina begs them to fight on the side of the rebels, while the wealthy Marquis de Labodere implores them to offer their services to Emperor Maximillian. Though they still haven't taken sides, Trane and Erin agree to escort the aristocratic Countess Marie Duvarre through hostile territory to Vera Cruz. It soon develops that the Countess is transporting a gold shipment to the Emperor's armies. Hardly the most patriotic of souls, she offers to split the gold with Trane and Erin, but they steal it for themselves instead. It takes a while (and several bloody armed confrontations) before the two protagonists do The Right Thing. Written by Anonymous

Two 19th century "soldiers of fortune," one survivor of the Civil War with a "soft spot" for sick horses and social justice, the other a charming and money-greedy happy-trigger killer, search for their next dollar down in Mexico at a time when the country is torn between Emperor Maxmillian and the nationalist peasant army trying to overthrow him. Since the Emperor got the most cash, our hired guns agree to serve the Emperor by escorting a certain Countess to the city of Vera Cruz by passing through territory under rebel control. On the way to Vera Cruz, both fighters discover 3 million dollars in gold coins (intended to buy guns for the Emperor from France) hidden at the bottom of the stagecoach carrying the Countess and she is not totally unaware of the fact either. She has her own plans too. All three plot against the other two to scoop the treasure away. Betrayal is not an issue. It's not even personal. It's just business. After a few gunfight and ambush scenes between the Maxmillian's escorting army and the peasant rebels, justice reigns and Ben Trane emerges as the noble soul who triumphs over crass materialism despite the "soft spot" in his heart that Joe Erin took it for weakness. Written by Gary Kencey