Mercenario: Der Gefürchtete

One of Corbucci's better westerns. The story concerns a bandit (Musante) who wants the legitimacy of being a "revolutionary", but needs the help of a hardened professional (Nero) to do it. Palance gives the movie some of its best moments as a gay gunslinger ( a rival mercenary) out to revenge himself on Musante for humiliating him. Not much plot, but Corbucci's fluid direction keeps it from growing stale and the god performances from the stars make it worth watching. Also look for fun, cynical dialogue and story elements from genre expert Vincenzoni. Contains the dark undertones present in other Corbucci (and Leone) westerns, but not to as great an extent as his masterpiece, "The Great Silence".

Last week, I came across a sale of Italian DVDs of several Spaghetti Westerns; I managed to purchase 4 of them and, being one of 2 I hadn't watched before, this ended up as the first I checked out.

Actually, I had missed this on late-night Italian TV; considering that a similar 'political' Spaghetti Western directed by Corbucci and co-starring Franco Nero and Jack Palance, namely COMPANEROS (1970), had been a bit too much tongue-in-cheek for my taste, I expected this to be in the same vein. However, while certainly lighthearted in comparison with Corbucci's DJANGO (1966; which I should revisit again in a couple of days) and especially THE GREAT SILENCE (1968), it's a more balanced proposition than COMPANEROS (particularly with respect to Palance's performance - quietly menacing here as opposed to the campiness of the later film) and, thus, superior to it in practically every way.

Nero has already matured quite a bit from the youthful gunslinger in DJANGO; here, he's basically playing a variation on Clint Eastwood's iconic Man With No Name figure in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" (incidentally, Nero's own voice resembles that of Enrico Maria Salerno - who used to dub Eastwood in those films!). Indeed, the ongoing game of cat-and-mouse revolving around Nero, Palance and Mexican revolutionary Tony Musante is clearly inspired by the tricky relationship that went on between Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966)! This is most evident in the numerous scenes where the taciturn Nero gets the brash Musante out of trouble or, conversely, 'sells' him to the authorities...and even more in the rather splendid showdown between the three characters, undoubtedly the film's highlight - given another dimension by being set in a bullring with Palance sporting a wig (he's nicknamed Curly!) and Musante made up as a clown!!

Despite her belated entrance in the film, Giovanna Ralli makes quite an impression as a fiery Mexican woman who hitches up with Musante; Euro-Cult and Spaghetti Western regular Eduardo Fajardo is also on hand as the requisite figure of oppression (who, at one point, is made to eat a living lizard by Musante!). While the comedy never quite descends into spoofiness and the political content is thankfully downplayed, the action sequences are very well handled...and the film is further blessed with a memorable theme tune by the one and only Ennio Morricone (with a little help from his friend and protégé Bruno Nicolai).

A Spaghetti-Paella Western directed by Sergio Corbucci, one of the most representative directors of the genre, including an international cast and many supporting Spanish family members. This is an entertaining Zapata/Spaghetti Western set in Mexico during the confrontation between Madero and General Huertas, which includes communist revolutionaries and evil bandits. A Pole named Sergei Kowalski (Franco Nero) is a mercenary, working for the highest bidder. While Paco Román (Tony Musante), who is a laborer who works in a silver mine owned by Elías García, rebels against his boss and humiliates him and his two brothers, including Colonel Alfonso García (Eduardo Fajardo). He is soon captured, but his friends save him from the firing squad. Kowalski is ordered to transport silver to a mine, but only finds that the Mexican rebel named Paco has formed a guerrilla group and taken control. Meanwhile, Kowalski makes a deal with Elias and his brother to get their money safely across the border. However, Sergei is hired by Paco and teaches the revolutionary leader how to put his idealistic fervor into practice. They are pursued by Curly (Jack Palance), a gay gunman dressed in white. Fate brought them together, greed made them inseparable, violence made them companions!.

The picture mingles violence, thrills, shootém up, comedy with tongue in cheek and it's fast moving and that's why it's quite amusing. It's a thrilling western with overwhelming and violent shootouts between the protagonists Franco Nero and Tony Musante and the enemies Jack Palance and Eduardo Fajardo. Tony Musante, such as Tomas Milian, puts faces, laughing, crying and overacting, but he plays splendidly. Agreeable intervention of an italian beauty as Giovanna Ralli. Furthermore, here appears usual secondaries from Italian Western as Franco Ressell, Raf Baldassarre, Jose Canalejas, Alvaro De Luna, Simon Arriaga, Lorenzo Robledo, Tito Garcia, and of course Eduardo Fajardo, Corbucci's ordinary. The highlights of the film are the Tony Musante's burying edge neck similarly to Franco Nero's ¨Corbucci's The Professional ¨, the confrontion at the bullfighting square and the Polish wielding a machine gun and shooting though with anachronism because is a modern model, in fact this is a fictional machine gun similar to the one used in Django (1966): Hotchkiss Mle 1914. This film belongs to the numerous group that are set during the Mexican revolution, called ¨Zapata Western¨ , like are the Italians: ¨Leone's Duck you sucker¨, ¨ Corbucci's The professional¨ ,¨ Giulio Petroni's Tepepa¨ and the Americans : ¨Peckinpah's The wild bunch¨, ¨Buzz Kulik's Villa rides ¨, and ¨Richard Brooks' The professionals¨. There are many fine technicians and expert assistants as the cameraman Alejandro Ulloa who makes an excellent photography with barren outdoors, dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun shot on location in haunted town of Cuenca and of course Almeria, Spain. The musician Ennio Morricone composes a classic Spaghetti soundtrack and well conducted by his habitual collaborator Bruno Nicolai. Well produced by Alberto Grimaldi -PEA productions- famous producer of ¨The trilogy of the dollars¨ filmed by Sergio Leone, along with the Spanish priction 'Copercines' . Sergio Corbucci's direction is adequate , he made several classic Italian western : ¨ Django¨, ¨The great silence¨, ¨Hellbenders¨ , ¨The specialist¨ and the ¨Compañeros¨, the latter bears special resemblance to ¨ The mercenary ¨ and along with ¨ ¨What am I doing in middle of the revolution¨ belongs a Corbucci's trilogy about Mexican revolution. Rating : 6,5/10. Good Spaghetti Western.

This is one of the better Spaghetti westerns from the late 1960's. Franco Nero, Tony Musante, and Jack Palance are all in good form. My DVD copy is a cheap one and seems badly edited but the fun and vibrancy of the film still comes through. A cool political western the theme of which was continued in Sergio Corbucci's next film Companeros (another very good 'Spaghetti Western').

Revolution, repercussion, robbery, shootout, greed, treachery, cynicism, retribution, all comes together in this fervently crafted, stylishly filmed and unabashedly violent spaghetti western flavoured with Mexican spices. The Mercenary is fun, amusing & thrilling from start to finish, and is laden with political underlinings that provide more depth & richness to its plot & characters.

Directed by Sergio Corbucci (Django & The Great Silence), while there is a playful, adventurous vibe to how the events unfold and are presented, the film doesn't hold back on brutality when the occasion calls for it. Corbucci's direction isn't as precise as in aforementioned classics but he nonetheless exhibits sufficient control over all aspects to give us another satisfying extravaganza.

Franco Nero plays the eponymous opportunist with charisma & pizzazz as he aids an idealistic peasant, finely acted by Tony Musante, in leading a rebellion in return for monetary gains. The on-n-off collaboration & fluid rapport they share with each other is what keeps the drama flowing. And then there is Ennio Morricone's terrific score that effortlessly elevates certain moments to new heights.

Overall, The Mercenary is a fascinating combination of skilful direction, solid acting & spirited soundtrack, and is easily amongst the finest examples of zapata western. A spicy mix of action, humour & violence that delivers the desired goods and also serves as a critique of Hollywood's handling of Mexican revolutions, Corbucci's film is engaging & entertaining in equal measure and comes thoroughly recommended.