The Professionals
by Richard Brooks
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Woody StrodeDirector: Richard Brooks
Cinematographer: Conrad L. Hall
Producer: Richard Brooks
Writer: Richard Brooks
Editor: Peter Zinner
Writer: Frank O'Rourke
DVD: 2 Sides, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Georgian (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-07-13
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of The Professionals
Movie Review: mixed elements of A and B in this old west genre
Summary: 4 Stars
There's several qualities that contribute to this being a top 10 western classic and few 'corny' elements that keep it out of the top 5 for this genre. The 4 main characters (Lancaster, Marvin, Strode and Ryan) have enough screen presence on their own to make a "shoot 'em up" (Lancaster/Marvin being the obvious best of the 4). First, the good.
Lancaster doesn't stray completely from his goofy athletic screen persona with his "tite" pants and some of his athleticism (climbing up a canyon on a rope vs. going down the rope). He puffs cigars, bares his pearly-whites and swigs some whiskey... along with plugging a few banditos (and horses) in cool/gritty fashion. Sly glances, great one-liners and some suave playboy genuiness couple with a "burned too many times" cynicism. Great stuff. His character does a great job of personifying the young Hollywood Golden Age actor transitioning into his role as a, well, no longer young/ athletic does-it-on-looks-alone actor.
Lee Marvin clearly steals this movie. With a grittier than usual tone, and cold / calculating deliveries of lines (regarding life, romance, money and the future), it seems each scene is crafted to compliment and conclude with Marvin's presence. The way he handles firearms with obvious ease stems, in part, from his time as a United States Marine. In the first scene, he is demonstrating the capabilities of a Maxim machine gun.. and very cooly as usual. Later on he wields a Lewis [machine] gun. He departs from the Colt SAA's .. the ubiquitous 'cowboy gun' .. and uses a Colt DA .38 spl.. and looks cool as heck handling it. The 'knucklebuster' Winchester '97 is used with cool dexterity as well.
Ryan and Strode play complimentary roles and do them pretty well. Ryan shows some of his stale deliveries at times. Strode has fewer lines, but is very believable as a tracker. Was his character the model for Zen archer in Conan the Barbarian? Maybe.
Jack Pallance does kind of a laughable job as the stereotypical Mexican bandito. The scene where he goes for broke.. a desperate last ditch effort .. on the back of some donkey is pretty corny.. which made me kinda grimace.
The music is a bit overdone by modern standards. Kind of all over the place and a bit too cliche.
Oh yeah.. the scenery is worth the price of admission. Great desert southwest xeriscape; sandstone canyons, playas, arroyos, bajadas... like I said, good stuff.
Over-all, the story is just ok. Nothing compelling and you won't be surprised. Believable action. Great dialogue. Unique. Hard to describe, but it's a mix of cynicism and hope coupled with the characters obvious motivations and what really makes them tick. Yeah.. hard to explain. I definitely recommend this one to anyone who appreciates westerns OR this assemblage of actors.
Summary of The Professionals
Before The Wild Bunch, there was The Professionals, Richard Brooks's marvelous ode to friendship, loyalty, and disillusionment. It may not have the stylistic bravado or fatalistic doom of the legendary Sam Peckinpah film, but Brooks's storytelling is simple and steady and just as insightful. The difference is Brooks is a lot more optimistic. Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster are buddies who have drifted into oblivion after fighting together in the Mexican Revolution. Marvin, the principled loyalist and munitions expert, lost his wife and his heart. Lancaster, the dynamite expert and unprincipled adventurer, keeps losing his pants. They team up with wrangler Robert Ryan and archer Woody Strode to rescue the beguiling Claudia Cardinale, who has been kidnapped by their old revolutionary buddie Jack Palance. So it's back into bloody Mexico they go on a "mission of mercy" for railroad tycoon Ralph Bellamy, who's paying handsomely for the return of his wife.But nothing is what it seems in this exciting, existential adventure, which was beautifully shot by Conrad Hall. Sarcastic quips, philosophical musings, and heart-rending reversals underlie Brooks's humanistic sentiments. These are tired, world-weary men who somehow find the strength and the will to pull together for the sake of love and commitment. Through it all, Brooks seems to be lamenting a decline in professionalism much deeper than his story. He's decrying Hollywood and the society at large, anticipating Peckinpah's later strategy. --Bill Desowitz
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