Professionals (1966)

"3 Stars. Real action, taut excitement, throughout.  Leonard Maltin
"...one of Brooks's more eloquent and witty films.  Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
"...an enjoyable Western with an all-star cast...a great movie for any fan of the genre.  Dumb Distraction
"Real action, taut excitement, throughout.  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"A rock-solid piece of Western Adventure entertainment. Marvin, Lancaster & Palance!  Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
"Top notch western adventure laden with macho stars Lancaster, Marvin and Palance.  Steve Crum, Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers
"A truly adventuresome, action-filled film...  TV Guide's Movie Guide
"Exciting explosive sequences, good overall pacing and acting...  Variety

Editor's Note A wealthy rancher, Frank Carter (Ralph Bellamy), hires four tough gunslingers to rescue his wife (Claudia Cardinale), who is being held captive by Captain Rasa (Jack Palance), one of Pancho Villa's most desperate revolutionaries, in this dynamic and hard-hitting Western set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution of 1917. The wild West commando team consists of a dynamite expert (Burt Lancaster), an ex-revolutionary and munitions expert (Lee Marvin), a horse specialist (Robert Ryan), and a tracker (Woody Strode). On their mission to return Carter's highly prized wife, they track the Mexican revolutionaries through rough and rugged desert terrain, determined to outsmart, outshoot, and outride anyone they come across--until they meet the the charismatic Rasa and discover that Carter's seductive wife is in love with the Mexican outlaw and has no intention of returning with the band of "professionals." Based on the novel A MULE FOR THE MARQUESA by Frank O'Rourke, this beautifully rendered Western features a star-studded cast delivering finely crafted and charismatic performances. Burt Lancaster is at his acrobatic and mercurial best as the rowdy gunslinger.

	Burt Lancaster
	Claudia Cardinale
	Jack Palance
	Lee Marvin
	Ralph Bellamy
	Conrad Hall - Cinematographer
	Frank O'Rourke - Based On Novel By
	Maurice Jarre - Musical Score
	Peter Zinner - Editor
	Richard Brooks - Producer
	Richard Brooks - Director
	Richard Brooks - Writer

When a millionaire hires a group of mercenaries to rescue his wife, Maria, from a local Mexican leader, the old soldiers discover that the kidnapper is their old ally, Raza. Once they dig around a bit deeper, they find that they've been duped--and that Maria is not Raza's captive at all: The two are actually lovers. The realization comes too late, however, for the old comrades have prepared for a final showdown. Empire
"Burt Lancaster is on terrific form as one of four grizzled mercenaries..." 09/01/2008 150

Dumb Distraction 9 of 10
The Professionals is an enjoyable Western with an all-star cast set and a simple story. When Maria Grant (Claudia Cardinale), wife of railroad tycoon J.W. Grant (Ralph Bellamy), is kidnapped and held for ransom, Henry 'Rico' Fardan (Lee Marvin) is called to lead a small team of mercenaries into Mexico to retrieve her. Each member of Rico's team is picked for their expertise in a particular field: Hans Ehrengard (Robert Ryan) is the go-to man when it comes to horses...The Professionals is a 100% guy movie. You've got gun battles, stuff blowing up, a stunningly gorgeous woman, and the man himself, Lee Marvin. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm a huge Lee Marvin mark. The guy is just so damn cool. Seriously, take a look at the famous Lee Marvin glare when he's angry and tell me you wouldn't be pissing your pants if you were the one he was staring down. This movie gets extra points in my book for having tons of classic Lee Marvin lines. At one point, someone calls him a bastard. He thinks about it for a minute, and agrees: "Yes sir. In my case, an accident of birth. But you sir... you're a self made man." Hell yes... The Professionals is Marvin at his best. Throw in the brillian cinematography of Conrad L. Hall (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke) and you've got a great movie for any fan of the genre.

Nehring The Edge 5 of 10
Richard Brooks proves that even good writer/directors can write/direct bad movies...This is a seriously flawed piece and it's just a morally vacuous one to boot. Without a central, pointed moral, a story simply is a series of events. This is the problem with post-modern storytelling. Without the acknowledgement of a specific morality, there is no purpose to the exercise. In the case of this film, when our "heroes" rescue the wife of the rich Texan we discover she loves the bandit who reportedly stole her. We then learn that the rich Texan is actually the bad guy...but then again, so is the bandit...then again, so are our heroes. Everyone is bad. No one is moral. The only value is the "love" between the wife and the bandit...Love is an emotion, not a value...This leaves the piece with no central function other than to sell the notion that an emotion is the highest calling. This teaches "desire over duty" and is thoroughly post-modern, which translates into meaningless. Stories have a function in society. They teach us how to live. This is why Christ offered parables instead of just pronouncements. This is why we have developed film and publishing empires. Stories have meaning and they have function. When post-modern thinkers attempt to strip stories of traditional morality they end up with hollow shells of uninteresting crap such as this. - Scott Nehring