The Professionals (Special Edition)
by Richard Brooks
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Woody StrodeDirector: Richard Brooks
Brand: Sony
Cinematographer: Conrad L. Hall
Producer: Richard Brooks
Writer: Richard Brooks
Editor: Peter Zinner
Writer: Frank O'Rourke
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 3.0; Spanish (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-04-05
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of The Professionals (Special Edition)
Movie Review: The Professionals (Special Edition)
Summary: 5 Stars
The Professionals is one of Hollywood's last great Westerns. It's not the last great one made; Westerns that followed it include The Wild Bunch, Once Upon a Time in the West (non-American) & Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, just to name a few but not all. The cast is loaded: Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale, Woody Strode, Jack Palance & Ralph Bellamy. It's almost a who's who listing of actors.
J. W. Grant (Bellamy) wants his kidnapped wife, Maria (Cardinale) rescued. He hires a team of professionals to accomplish this: Bill Dolworth (Lancaster), an explosives expert; Henry Fardan (Marvin), expert in tactics; Hans Ehrengard (Ryan), a horse expert; & Jake Sharp (Strode), an expert with the longbow. All of these come in handy because there's a call for their particular expertise.
They are given 9 days to pull off the rescue. They have to enter the Mexican desert & the fortress stronghold of Capt. Jesus Raza (Palance). Not only will this be difficult, Dolworth & Fardan had fought alongside with Raza earlier in the Mexican Revolution. The film takes place in 1917 which makes it one of the latest Westerns ever done. Let it be suffice to say that not all things are as they seem as this team of crack professionals go after Raza. There are some plot twists & a surprise ending.
The Professionals is an extremely well done film directed by Richard Brooks. Brooks was not on Hollywood's A-list but he was one of their better directors & had some excellent films to his credit. Brooks began his career as a screenwriter then went into directing. In the vast majority of the films he directed he also did the screenplay.
The Professionals was nominated for 3 Academy Awards in 1966: Best Adapted Screenplay (Brooks), Best Color Cinematography (Conrad Hall) & Best Director (Brooks) but didn't take any of them home. The Directors Guild also nominated Brooks for Best Director but failed to capture this award either.
This Special Edition has some bonus features: "The Professionals - A Classic", "Burt Lancaster - A Portrait" & "Memories from The Professionals". These are all entertaining & informative. The audio & video are in excellent condition.
Summary of The Professionals (Special Edition)
A rich texan j.W. Grant selects three men and invites them to his private train to offer them a contract: rescue his wife who has been kidnapped by a mexican revolutionary. The leader of the men rico decides they would be a better team if grant would hire one more man an explosives expert. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/22/2005 Starring: Burt Lancaster Lee Marvin Run time: 117 minutes Rating: Pg13Before 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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