Vera Cruz is a 1954 American Western film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, featuring Denise Darcel, Sara Montiel, Cesar Romero, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson and Jack Elam.

Set during the Franco-Mexican War, the film centers on a group of American mercenaries tasked with transporting a large shipment of Imperial gold to the port of Veracruz, but begin to have second thoughts about their allegiances.

The picture's amoral characters and cynical attitude towards violence (including a scene where Lancaster's character threatens to murder child hostages) were considered shocking at the time and influenced future Westerns such as The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Professionals (1966), Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969), and the spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone, which often featured supporting cast members from Vera Cruz in similar roles.

Burt Lancaster and Harold Hecht had just signed a contract with United Artists to make two films, starting with Apache, also directed by Robert Aldrich.

[9] Before taking the role of Ben Trane, Gary Cooper was advised by Clark Gable not to work with Burt Lancaster, fearing the younger actor would upstage him.

[10] Mamie Van Doren claimed in her autobiography Playing the Field that Lancaster interviewed her for the role of the Countess, but she lost the part after refusing to sleep with him.

[14] Vera Cruz was also the first production to use the SuperScope widescreen process, which was designed to achieve anamorphic prints from standard flat 35mm negatives.

According to Eli Wallach, the Mexican authorities were appalled at the unflattering depiction of their country, so any subsequent Hollywood productions (including The Magnificent Seven) were thoroughly overseen by state censors.

[18] Critic and historian Dave Kehr would later cite Vera Cruz as one of the most influential films of the 1950s, inspiring later Westerns by such directors as Sam Peckinpah and especially Sergio Leone.

[4][19] Kehr also praised Cooper and Lancaster's performances in the film, writing that "the generational transition from an aging star to his up-and-coming replacement has seldom been handled with better humor or more biting wit.