The Professionals

Writer-director Richard Brooks' career had highs and lows but he was never more on the mark than when he put together The Professionals, a tightly written and directed adventure that fulfills the spirit of its title in all departments. A wonderful cast of he-man action heroes handles both the constant physical exertion and Brooks' slick script with style and grace. And the cinematography of Conrad Hall gives the film a gloriously colorful desert setting for 1001 wild gags with gunplay, horses, trains and arrows laced with sticks of dynamite. Synopsis: Maria (Claudia Cardinale), the wife of Texas millionaire Joe Grant (Ralph Bellamy) has been kidnapped by the powerful Mexican revolutionary Jesus Raza (Jack Palance). Grant hires three supreme talents to bring her back: Weapons expert Rico Fardan (Lee Marvin), horse master Hans Ehrengard (Robert Ryan) and bounty hunter/bowman Jake Sharp (Woody Strode). Rico enlists a fourth comrade, dynamiter Bill Dolworth (Burt Lancaster). They accept Grant's generous terms and prepare to pull off an almost impossible job: Cross into Mexico, defeat an army and escape with the lady in question. The Professionals comes from a long line of matinee thrillers with athletic stars like Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn, the kind of movies that just make one's blood circulate better. Fresh from the failure of Lord Jim, writer-director Richard Brooks immediately doubled back into straight adventure territory. His tale is The Magnificent Seven de-mythologized: This band of mercenaries are definitely not noble warriors riding to the rescue of grateful peasants. Simplistic themes are displaced by the cynical outlook of men who have seen too much of real war and revolution. Initially, at least, their only aim is to fulfill a contract and earn a whopping paycheck. Brooks cast his adventure with hardened veterans at the top or just over the peak of their acting careers. Lee Marvin has his keen-eyed stare and monotone purr down cold, and walks with the kind of swagger that says he means business without showing off. Burt Lancaster knows he has only a few years left in which he'll be able to perform his signature screen acrobatics; his essential vitality is doubly impressive in athletic feats like sprinting and rope climbing. His toothy grin used to be a parody of male arrogance and vanity; now it's the friendly how-do-you-do of a man proud to be a survivor and still fit to tangle with the young guns. Woody Strode's wiry commando was considered a big step in the breaking of the color barrier. His magnificent presence on the screen is a race statement better than any Richard Brooks could have written. Robert Ryan has the least exciting role but his authority and integrity anchor the film; if he's riding with these guys, they must be okay. The fact that each member subordinates his personal feelings to the mission makes us identify with the team all the more. The fun part is watching these men in action. They size up the opposition like big-league talent scouts and leap into fights like linebackers eager to get off the benches. Brooks' terse dialogue affects a certain degree of macho cool, but takes care not to become too cutesy, as would quickly become tiresome in 'hip' westerns. Some of the best material uses no dialogue at all. The Professionals takes place in rocky desert country, and these guys become part of the landscape, clinging to slabs of stone like lizards and leaping about in ways almost guaranteed to produce broken limbs. When the jeopardy looks real, we're seeing true Hollywood professionalism. The Professionals is also an All-American production. Instead of going to Mexico, Brooks elected to shoot in the deserts and mountains of California and Nevada. I'll bet the Unions were eager to show that U.S. location shooting doesn't have to cost millions. Key Mexican cast members were imported to insure ethnic credibility. The ravishing Claudia Cardinale is a sexy Mexican firebrand with an Italian accent and a penchant for sweaty plunging necklines. When Marvin's guerrillas finally free her from her captors, the story takes a jarring narrative twist: The mercenaries realize that they have been betrayed by their own employer. The mission is a fraud from the get-go, with honest soldier-adventurers once again abused by lies from above. The essentials of Richard Brooks' story haven't changed since Vera Cruz: American cowboys cross the border for money or an abstract principle, and kill a lot of Mexicans. When Lancaster and Marvin talk about lost causes in Cuba and the soured hopes of earlier revolutions, we are perhaps meant to think of the Vietnam conflict. Brooks has made a vaguely subversive statement, but one that dedicated soldiers can get behind. Jack Palance's bandit chief will be a joke to Spanish speakers but he's a good fit as the wily revolutionary who can't quite catch Marvin and company. He's abetted by a good performance from Marie Gomez as a lusty camp follower, and who also has an early MPAA-approved semi-nude scene. Ralph Bellamy is acceptably emphatic as the panicked tycoon who turns out to be less sympathetic than we first thought. Bellamy and Lee Marvin exchange terse remarks about what makes men what they are, giving Brooks' film its most quotable quote. Sony Pictures' Special Edition DVD of The Professionals adds three reasonable featurettes by Laurent Bouzereau to their earlier 1999 release. Burt Lancaster's daughter and others contribute to a memoir of the major star. The other two pieces examine the movie with interviews that include the great cameraman Conrad Hall, who passed away in 2003. I compared the new transfer to the old disc and found little difference in picture quality - both are excellent. There is a newly created 5.1 track, said to be from original theatrical elements as opposed to a fake-stereo job. Maurice Jarre's percussive, Mexican-flavored score creates so much excitement, there's no need to hype the action with fast cuts to keep the film at full pitch. It's a lesson that most modern action pictures have forgotten. The original trailer is included, with its signature "X" motif formed by crossed bandolier belts: "EXcitement!" For more information about The Professionals, visit Sony Pictures. To order The Professionals, go to TCM Shopping. by Glenn Erickson