A Professional Gun (1968)
"Il mercenario" (original title)

While a Mexican revolutionary lies low as a U.S. rodeo clown, the cynical Polish mercenary who tutored the idealistic peasant tells how he and a dedicated female radical fought for the soul... See full summary »

Director:

Sergio Corbucci

Writers:

Giorgio Arlorio (story), Adriano Bolzoni,

Stars:

Franco Nero, Jack Palance, Tony Musante

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Franco Nero	...	Sergei Kowalski, the Polish
Jack Palance	...	Ricciolo ('Curly')
Tony Musante	...	Paco Roman
Giovanna Ralli	...	Columba
Eduardo Fajardo	...	Alfonso García
Lorenzo Robledo	...	Officer
Álvaro de Luna	...	Ramón
Raf Baldassarre	...	Mateo
Vicente Roca	...	Elias Garcia
José Canalejas	...	Sebastian
Franco Ressel	...	Studs
Guillermo Méndez	...	Captain
Enrique Navarro
Simón Arriaga	...	Simón
Ugo Adinolfi

Storyline

While a Mexican revolutionary lies low as a U.S. rodeo clown, the cynical Polish mercenary who tutored the idealistic peasant tells how he and a dedicated female radical fought for the soul of the guerrilla general Paco, as Mexicans threw off repressive government and all-powerful landowners in the 1910s. Tracked by the vengeful Curly, Paco liberates villages, but is tempted by social banditry's treasures, which Kowalski revels in.

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Plot Keywords:

mexican | mercenary | revolutionary | clown | machine gun | 

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Taglines:

He sells death to the highest bidder! Buy or die!

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Genres:

Comedy | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence and brief nudity

Details

Country:

Italy Spain

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

29 August 1968 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Mercenary

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 21,793,177 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA), Produzioni Associate Delphos, Profilms 21

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jack Palance plays a character named "Curly". Palance later won an Oscar for City Slickers, in which he also played a character named "Curly".

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Goofs

A plane is used to bomb Paco's fort. However planes did not begin to drop bombs until the late stages of WWI, in which they were dropped by hand.

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Quotes

Kowalski aka the Pole: Dream, Paco, but dream with your eyes open.

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Connections

Referenced in Django Unchained (2012)

User Reviews

One of the best spaghetti westerns

I recently got hold of the Japanese DVD print via ebay. This is of really high quality and I was amazed that this film is not more widely known or appreciated. What a brilliant film. In many ways it is similar to Companeros and if you liked that wonderful film you will also love this. The story is somewhat far-fetched but is very enjoyable and fast paced in a 'boys own' way. The machine gun makes its familiar appearance. Franco Nero, as always, delivers a superb performance and Jack Palance gives a very good performance as a very unpleasant killer. The music is brilliant and the duel in the bullring is incomparable and is perfectly choreographed to the wonderful music. If you are interested in westerns you have to see this film.