We meet our 4 professionals in various scenes at the top. They are picked up by a train in the employ of a millionaire who wants to hire the 4 to get his wife back from a Mexican Bandit. She was kidnapped. He is offering the 4 ten grand each to deliver the $100,000 ransom and get his wife back. The odds are not in the four’s favor. They have to travel deep into Mexico through hard, rough country then try to get the woman away from overwhelming numbers. There is also a twist to the job. Two of our guys know the bandit. They fought with him in the Mexican revolution. So we set off with the four as they make their way to get the job done. It’s going to be a rough ride.
CB is a sucker for a good duster with a basic story-line. Go get the girl back and get paid. This film did not disappoint. Richard Brooks directs and uses what’s at his disposal to make a good entertaining picture. His cinematographer Conrad L. Hall captures the environment and takes you into this beautiful hard landscape. Great work. Brooks also casts it near perfect.
Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance and Woody Strode. Come on man, you can’t miss. They all bring what’s needed to the roles. Burt running around throwing dynamite, Lee playing with guns, Robert taking care of the horses, Woody brings his bow into play and Jack just being Jack and hanging with Claudia Cardinale.
Cool characters, adventure, great setting, bad odds and a western. CB couldn’t lose. The film delivers. If you like westerns I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Films like this made me a movie fan. So bring whatever talent you have to do the job, bring it and join the Professionals.
Not as famous as The Wild Bunch and The Magnificent Seven, but I think The Professionals is still one of the better westerns of the era. The story never drags and as you said what a great cast
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‘Bunch’ is a special film but yeah you’re bang on. I think ‘The Professionals’ does its job and takes us to a different time and place for a couple of hours. Great cast and the cinematography is fantastic.
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I’ll stick this on my to-see list. Do love a good Western.
I am watching the TV show The Professionals at the moment though, which is a bit of a coincidence.
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HMO, I know you like a good western and I think this will meet your criteria.
Is the TV show a western?
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No. It’s an old British action show. Like a cop show kinda thing.
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I just checked it out. I vaguely remember this. I love that style. I might have to check it out. I like those old (and new) British crime/spy flicks. So much to watch and listen to. I have ‘River’ on my watch list. It was recommended to me.
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It’s a fun show. It was on TV for a while and I just got addicted to it.
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CB, from reading your essays over the last few years, I realize that there are a lot of holes in my movie-watching. I know I’d love this movie, but I’ve never seen it. My bad!
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I think you said the same thing about ‘Hombre’ if i remember. One night when you feel like taking a trip to Mexico and don’t want to actually go there. Watch this film and get a little piece of the country and hang with Lee, Burt and the boys. You can be the 5th “Professional’. Later fella
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I guess I expected more from this great cast, director, and cinematographer. I thought it an OK way to kill two hours, but nothing exceptional. Leonard Maltin calls it a good actioner, but farfetched story, and I guess I agree.
(BTW, I’m halfway through Stegner’s “The Sound of Mountain Water.”)
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Yeah, it’s a bit of a fantasy film for guys like CB. I’m sure you would get lots of agreement on how it grabbed you. Like I said from my experience with it back in the day “I’m a sucker for a good duster” . Lots that I liked.
(So you started with a non fiction huh. Lots of good stuff in that one. If you have the same copy, the middle of last paragraph on page 256 “western myths” talking about his friend Bernard DeVoto. I love that piece. Enjoy Pete).
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Side note. We’d been reminiscing about how there used to be so many TV Westerns back in the day. Then on Jeopardy the other night they said there were 25 on TV in 1959 alone. I found a site that detailed them and if I’m reading it right there were twice that number. Now they’ve largely disappeared to be replaced by hospital, cop and reality shows.
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Paladin, Wanted Dead or Alive, Rawhide, Wagon Train, Rifleman …..
I was and still am a big Marvin, Ryan, Palance and Lancaster guy. They were made for westerns and made some good ones. I like this movie.
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Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel. I dug the Lone Ranger as a kid. Anyway, sounds like a good flick.
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I liked the TV shows when I was kid but the films are a step up in all aspects but basically the same stories with a little more guts and production values
I betcha you were a big ‘Kung Fu’ guy.
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Not so fast, grasshopper. Actually I was a big spy guy. So marrying Westerns and spies together I dug “The Wild, Wild West,” long before Will Smith came along.
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Wild West was a good one. Double Knot Spies, Cowboys, Private Dicks .. CB was all over that stuff.
I heard through the “Hollywood Grapevine” (I have my sources) that the stunt guys wouldn’t work with the Kung Fu guy because he wouldn’t pull his punches. Could be bullshit but I like it. So there you go Grasshopper.
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This!! I was thinking “I don’t know this” until I started reading and saw the pictures. I’ve seen this, but somehow never knew the name. Likely one of those that has been on TCM when I’ve dropped in on the old man and I just kept watching without checking the title…
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CB wanted to be in this gang. I could have been the professional horse turd custodian.
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Could you imagine hanging out with these dudes? Just riding through the badlands looking for the right side of trouble. Knowing these guys have got your back if things get out of hand. That would have been awesome
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The cinematographer captures the country. Like ‘3 Burials’ you feel you’re there. Yeah J, they had so many actors back then who were perfect casting. All the guys in this, the Wild Bunch, Eastwood, Van Cleef. They had the weight for these hard men.
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There aren’t many of today’s actors that could saunter around those badlands, that’s for sure.
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Lee and Jack together.. That’ll do it for me! Regards Thom
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With a side order of Strode, Ryan and Burt.
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I haven’t seen this one. It sound like it would be right in my wheelhouse. Adding to the recommendation pile.
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It’s a man crush film for CB.
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When they cast The Professionals, someone obviously had a vision of my perfect film cast. Just look at those names you listed. It’s what the word ‘powerhouse’ was invented for.
What could be finer than watching Lee Marvin picking off guys with a pistol whilst hoisting a machine gun on his shoulders; Woody Strode calmly firing off a volley of arrows with lit dynamite attached; and Burt Lancaster doing, well, basically anything over the course of this film? and not forgetting Jack Palance, who despite being shot multiple times still gets to ride off into the sunset with Claudia Cardinale.
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And rolling a cigarette in a dust storm on top of every thing else. I was happy for Jack.
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