The Professionals (1966)

An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four adventurers to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Frank O'Rourke (novel), Richard Brooks (written for the screen by)

Stars:

Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Burt Lancaster	...	Bill Dolworth
Lee Marvin	...	Henry 'Rico' Fardan
Robert Ryan	...	Hans Ehrengard
Woody Strode	...	Jake Sharp
Jack Palance	...	Jesus Raza
Claudia Cardinale	...	Mrs. Maria Grant
Ralph Bellamy	...	Joe Grant
Joe De Santis	...	Ortega
Rafael Bertrand	...	Fierro
Jorge Martínez de Hoyos	...	Eduardo Padilla - Goatkeeper (as Jorge Martinez de Hoyos)
Marie Gomez	...	Chiquita
José Chávez	...	Revolutionary (as Jose Chavez)
Carlos Romero	...	Revolutionary
Vaughn Taylor	...	Grant's Banker

Storyline

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. Grant quickly agrees and soon the four are off to complete the contract. However, while on the trail, they discover some interesting facts, like has Mrs. Grant 'really' been kidnapped?

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Plot Keywords:

mexican | contract | explosives expert | mexican revolution | mexico | 

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Taglines:

It Captures The Flavor Of A Brawling Lusty Mexico!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence and nudity

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

2 November 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die gefürchteten Vier

Filming Locations:

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Pax Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording) Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lee Marvin was drunk throughout a lot of the filming, and was in fact so drunk during a scene atop a giant rock that assistant director Tom Shaw intervened out of fear that Burt Lancaster would "take Lee Marvin by the ass and throw him off that mountain".

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Goofs

When the team makes it back to the train after capturing Mrs. Grant Claudia Cardinale and the ambush is waiting for them, Ehrengard Robert Ryan is initially shown from inside the train car sitting facing sideways to the open door of the train car, then from outside he is shown with his back to the door of the train, then back to inside and he is sideways again.

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Quotes

Bill Dolworth: Maybe there's only one revolution, since the beginning, the good guys against the bad guys. Question is, who are the good guys?

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Connections

Referenced in The Story of Eloise (1976)

User Reviews

excellent action-adventure yarn

This was an excellent movie with only one minor quibble on my part. Towards the end, when Burt Lancaster is taking on the Jack Palance and his men in the canyon, the dialog suddenly becomes REALLY annoying and at one point consists of about 15 metaphors spoken by both characters in about 2 minutes time--as well as the many clichés! What happened to the good dialog prior to this? Well, I guess any writer can have a lull.

Apart from that, the acting and writing are good. I especially like the actors they chose--I always like seeing Woody Strode, and Ryan, Lancaster and Marvin are all good as tough but professional guns for hire. And, despite Cardinale being Italian and Palance being an American, both were fine as Mexicans. Really I have no complaints about the movie except for the still scene in the canyons--WHAT occurred wasn't the problem it was just how the characters suddenly TALK and TALK and TALK--something that was thankfully avoided in the first 80% of the movie.