Les professionnels

This is one of those great, all-star movies where what happens is almost inconsequential because getting there is so much fun. Marvin and Lancaster give sharp-edged, self-assured performances, Palance is delightful as always, and the rest of the cast does their job in yeoman fashion. It has the edge and cynicism that marked the decline of western movie production, but it has enough fun with the audience, and itself to stand out from other westerns made at the same juncture. Richard Brooks deserves a lot of credit for keeping the genre going because few westerns made around this time were or are memorable. This movie is not always mentioned with the all-time great westerns...but it should be.

A rich Texas landowner (the elderly Ralph Bellamy) hires three men (Robert Ryan, Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin) to go into Mexico and return his beautiful wife (the ultra-erotic Claudia Cardinale) to him after she was kidnapped by a gang of ruthless thugs led by Jack Palance (made up to look Hispanic). The three accept the challenge, wanting to get paid handsomely of course, but as they advance and get closer to Cardinale a thin line develops and it becomes unclear if everything is really the way it appears to be. The scope of a quickly changing West before a backdrop of the Mexican Revolution only adds to a movie that nearly touches greatness. Writer/director Richard Brooks (Oscar-nominated in both categories) began to knock on the door with a potentially very dark Western here and in 1969 director Sam Peckinpah would knock that door down with the amazing "The Wild Bunch". Brooks, not known for this genre, created a legitimate winner here with this production. Sometimes though the characters lose out because of the beautiful cinematography by Conrad L. Hall (Oscar-nominated) and the fact that Cardinale is just illuminating when on the screen (she is the only actress with any substantial screen-time). Her amazing beauty overshadows all the males throughout. Thought-provoking, action-packed and highly interesting, "The Professionals" is a sometimes forgotten would-be masterpiece from the usually impressive genre. 4 stars out of 5.

I love Lee Marvin .

Ever since , as a kid , I saw him in Paint Your Wagon , ive loved watching him in movies .

A real man's man . An alcoholic who looked twenty years older than he was but what a natural on the big screen .

This is the story of an arrogant Texas millionaire hires four adventurers to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.

My favourite western of all time is The Magnificent Seven and this definitely has the feel of that great film.

Two brilliant actors in Marvin and Lancaster fighting it out for top billing just like Bryner and McQueen did six years earlier.

Everyone on show is on top of their game .

Marvin , rough and ready as usual . Burt Lancaster doing his own stunts . Woody Strode looking cool and Robert Ryan being Mr Pessimism. Even Jack Palance is totally convincing as the Mexican war lord .

The story is easy to follow and the ending is satisfying even though it didn't work out as they all would have hoped .

The Professionals is a brilliant watch .

I've watched this terrific action-packed Western a couple of times in the past via my full-frame VHS and therefore I'll definitely upgrade now that this release is on its way. I'm certainly glad that Columbia has proved me wrong because I never thought they'd do it given that it's already available as a barebones disc.

Anyway, the fact that THE PROFESSIONALS is indeed something special is borne out by all the major awards (listed below) it was nominated for at the time of its original release and which are not commonly bestowed on this type of genre picture: Best Direction (Richard Brooks) – Academy Awards; Best Adapted Screenplay (Richard Brooks) – Academy Awards; Best Motion Picture Drama – Golden Globes; Best Direction (Richard Brooks) – Directors Guild Of America; Best Written American Drama (Richard Brooks) – Writers Guild Of America

Featuring a great cast (Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance, Woody Strode, Ralph Bellamy and Claudia Cardinale), beautiful camera-work and a typically fine Maurice Jarre score, the film is highlighted by Richard Brooks' witty script and Lancaster's boisterous performance. It's worth noting here that Brooks had already directed Lancaster towards his only ever Academy Award in ELMER GANTRY (1960) and that the former made two other excellent Westerns in his career – THE LAST HUNT (1956) and BITE THE BULLET (1975).

While THE PROFESSIONALS rarely crops up when classic Westerns are discussed, I'd say it lies somewhere between THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) – where a bunch of "experts" on the fringes of the law are recruited for a seemingly impossible mission – and THE WILD BUNCH (1969) – where these same people realize they're getting on in their years and ultimately find themselves out of touch with the times they're living in.

Though not as perceptively grim in tone and style as Sam Peckinpah's epitaph The Wild Bunch, Richard Brook's The Professionals almost certainly inspired the former and was also one of the last great westerns Hollywood ever produced. Made at a time when the 'classical' era was waning, Brooks went entirely nostalgic, creating a story about John Wayne-like characters completely loyal to their cause but also flawed in many ways.

The cast is superb. The exotic beauty of Claudia Cardinale is great fodder for the main cast of Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan and Woody Strode. Although Ryan and Strode have considerably less screen time, the relationship between Lancaster and Marvin is terrifically fleshed out along with Brooks' steady hand guiding the entire process of four men on the hunt to rescue a millionaire's kidnapped wife only to realize all is not as it seems.

Despite the fact that this film will forever be compared to the ones it inspired like The Wild Bunch or The Dirty Dozen, it should be admired on its own terms. It is a very entertaining and satisfying film with solid writing, acting, directing and editing along with some stunning cinematography of the American southwest. Compared to today's films, who could ask for anything more?