This is some kind of classy action western. Killer script by Richard Brooks, some of the best cinematography you're ever going to see in an action-based film by Conrad Hall, and note-perfect performances from the likes of Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, and an unbelievably gorgeous Claudia Cardinale.
Like Lancaster says about Cardinale: "That's a lot of woman. Hard enough to kill you, and soft enough to change you."
Wealthy Texan Ralph Bellamy hires four mercenaries (Lancaster, Marvin, Robert Ryan, and Woody Strode) to track down his kidnapped wife and return her to safety. The kidnapper, Palance, just happens to be a leader of the Mexican revolution, hiding in the desert.
There are plenty of twists and turns as you would expect of the genre, but so much terrific character development that you would never expect. What other action film can you think of where the climactic confrontation turns out to be a conversation about human nature and the self-serving motivations of revolution? And it actually works? Man, what a movie.
Woody Strode has a somewhat silly role as a deadly archery expert, but he manages to emerge with his dignity. I have no idea what Robert Ryan is doing in this film--his character serves absolutely no purpose, and one must suspect some tinkering in the editing room. These are my only complaints about an absolute hidden gem--as sure-fire a recommendation as I'm likely to give on this site.
Lancaster and Brooks had teamed up a decade earlier to bring the world "Elmer Gantry," Burt's only Oscar-winning role. For his next film following "The Professionals," Brooks would team up with Conrad Hall once again to create the classic "In Cold Blood."
Hall is one of a handful of classic cinematographers still active in Hollywood, having received recent Oscar nominations for "American Beauty" and "A Civil Action," the latter featuring some of the finest photography I have ever seen. Anytime a great photographer is teamed with a keen-eyed director, the results are stunning. There are a number of unfogettable shots in "The Professionals," including an amazing tracking shot of a train turning a corner, being chased by bandits on either side of the track. Seek out Hall's work at any expense.
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