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

Director:

Sergio Corbucci

Writers:

Giorgio Arlorio (story)
Adriano Bolzoni (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

29 August 1968 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy | Western

Tagline:

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

Plot:

While a Mexican revolutionary lies low as a U.S. rodeo clown, the cynical Polish mercenary who tutored...

Plot Keywords:

Mexican | Mercenary | Revolutionary | Clown | Machine Gun

Cast

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
José I. Zaldua	...	Innkeeper
Francisco Nieto	...	Antonio
A. Jiménez Castellanos
Tito García	...	Garcia's Cousin
Franco Giacobini	...	Pepote
José Riesgo	...	Mexican #2
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Julio Peña
Ángel Álvarez	...	Notary
José María Aguinaco	...	Ramirez (uncredited)
Juan Cazalilla	...	Mayor (uncredited)
Remo De Angelis	...	Hudo (uncredited)
Alejandro de Enciso	...	Juan (uncredited)
Ángel Ortiz	...	Mexican #3 (uncredited)
Milo Quesada	...	Marco (uncredited)
Herman Reynoso	...	Curly's 2nd Man (uncredited)
Fernando Villena	...	Sergeant (uncredited)

Directed by
Sergio Corbucci

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Giorgio Arlorio		story
Adriano Bolzoni		writer
Sergio Corbucci		writer
Franco Solinas		story
Sergio Spina		writer
Luciano Vincenzoni		story and screenplay

Produced by
Alberto Grimaldi	....	producer
Francesco Merli	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Ennio Morricone
Bruno Nicolai

Cinematography by
Alejandro Ulloa		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Eugenio Alabiso

Production Design by
Piero Filippone

Art Direction by
Luis Vázquez		(as Luis Vazquez)

Set Decoration by
Tomás Fernández		(settings)
Augusto Lega		(settings)
Félix Michelena		(settings)
Luis Vázquez		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Jürgen Henze		(as Jurgen Henze)

Makeup Department
Giusy Bovino	....	hairdresser (as Giuseppina Bovino)
Alejandro Millón	....	makeup artist (as Alejandro Millon)
Raul Ranieri	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Manuel Castedo	....	production manager
Santiago Marugán	....	production manager
Francesco Merli	....	production manager
Manuel Muñoz	....	production manager
Pietro Nofri	....	unit manager
José Nuño de la Rosa	....	assistant production manager
Norberto Soliño	....	production manager
Manuel Sánchez	....	assistant production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Filiberto Fiaschi	....	assistant director
Ricardo Huertas	....	assistant director

Art Department
Santiago Marugán	....	property master

Sound Department
Renato Cadueri	....	sound mixer
Carlo Diotallevi	....	sound engineer
Alfredo Polo	....	sound engineer

Special Effects by
Manuel Baquero	....	special effects (as Manuel Vaquero)
Celeste Battistelli	....	special effects

Stunts
Miguel Pedregosa	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Antonio Benetti	....	still photographer (as Tonino Benetti)
Sergio Bergamini	....	camera operator
Hans Bürmann	....	camera operator
Julio Leyva	....	assistant camera (as Julio M. Leyva)
Isidro Muro	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Victoria Ayllón	....	wardrobe
Isabel Perales	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Enzo Ocone	....	supervising editor

Music Department
Bruno Nicolai	....	conductor

Other crew
Remo De Angelis	....	master of arms
Serafín García	....	production secretary
Nando Gazzolo	....	voice dubbing: Franco Nero
Franca Invernizzi	....	script supervisor (as Franca Santi Invernizzi)
Orlando Pierfederici	....	production secretary
José Nuño de la Rosa	....	production secretary (as Jose N. de la Rosa)
Manuel Sánchez	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA) (as P.E.A. - Produzioni Europee Associate - Rome)
• Produzioni Associate Delphos (as Produzioni Associate Delphos S.p.A. - Rome)
• Profilms 21 (as Profilms 21 - Madrid)

Distributors

• United Artists (1968) (Italy) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1969) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1969) (France) (theatrical)
• United Artists Corporation (1970) (UK) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1970) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• United Artists Films (1970) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print Panavision)
• Dipenfa Filmayer Video S.A. (19??) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Koch Media (2010) (Germany) (DVD)
• Showtime DVD (2003) (Australia) (DVD) (as "Professional Gun")

Other Companies

• Vázquez Hermanos  props (as Hermanos Vazquez)
• S.A.F.A.S.  dressmakers (as S.A.F.A.S. - Rome)
• Cornejo  dressmakers (as Cornejo - Madrid)
• Eureka Edizioni Musicali  music publishers
• Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)  approved by

Also Known As:

"Il mercenario" - Italy (original title)
"The Mercenary" - USA (alternative title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and brief nudity

Runtime:

Italy:110 min | Spain:111 min

Country:

Italy | Spain

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | USA:GP (original rating) | UK:AA (1970) (cut) | Norway:16 (cut) | West Germany:18 (nf) | USA:PG-13 | France:-12 | Germany:16 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA)

Trivia:

Jack Palance plays a character named "Curly". Palance later won an Oscar for City Slickers (1991), in which he also played a character named "Curly".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: 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.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Great fun, good action and characters. Should be a classic.

Franco Nero, sporting a burly mustache and sideburns, stars as Segei `The Pollack' Kowalski, an angelic opportunist, who, for profit not nobility, helps a revolutionary, Paco (Tony Musante), overthrow the corrupt Mexican generals. It is a very good Spaghetti Western, with a nice pace, good action, and interesting characters playing off one another. Jack Palance is Curly, an obviously gay bad guy, whose prissy demeanor hides his ruthlessness- that is until he kills his own partner out of spite and blows a few men's heads off. The story starts with Nero establishing his badassness while catching a dice cheat, forcing the gambler to eat the dice and saying, "When you get them back, I suggest you dont use them again." He is then hired to help protect a trainload of silver make it through rebel territory to the States. Nero goes to the mining town only to find it overthrown by Paco and his gang, and the mine collapsed. Nero luckily finds himself able to offer his help to the rebels and guide Paco in the art of stealing, strategically avoiding, and attacking the corrupt army, eventually overthrowing it. But, mostly it is not a buddy-buddy relationship, Nero is in it for the money, Paco is in it for the righteousness, yet they both respect each other. (To give a good example, at one point, while crossing the desert, Nero makes Paco and the revolutionaries empty their canteens so he can have a shower while they go thirsty.)

Aside from nice bits of humor, it sports some religious allusions, such as, Paco begins with only twelve men + Nero (their Jesus), they masquerade at one point during a religious parade and attack while dressed as angels and virgin Mary's, as well as Nero being strapped to a t-shaped cross when captured. There is also a nod to Macbeth when Paco's woman uses his power drunk naiveté to convince him to turn against Nero. The film makes use of an obviously fairly high budget, with many large battles, crowd scenes, entire towns destroyed, planes bombing, and many locales. It has an interesting structure, since the bulk of the film is told in flashback before returning to the beginning and then reaching the grand finale. The Morricone score is great, and amazingly enough, very understated. Corbucci's direction has never been better.

(Any film that opens with a shot of a dwarf clown dressed like a matador, you just know is going to be good)