Companeros (1970) Vamos a matar, compañeros (original title)

Director:

Sergio Corbucci

Writers:

Sergio Corbucci (screenplay)
Sergio Corbucci (story)
(more)

Release Date:

April 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Western | Comedy

Tagline:

Fate brought them together. Greed made them inseparable, and violence made them Companeros!

Plot:

Arms dealer Yolaf Peterson aims to make a sale to guerilla Mongo, but the money is locked in a bank safe...

Plot Keywords:

Hawk | Pacifist | Gold | Mexican Revolution | Train

Cast

Franco Nero	...	Yodlaf Peterson
Tomas Milian	...	El Vasco
Jack Palance	...	John
Fernando Rey	...	Prof. Xantos
Iris Berben	...	Lola
José Bódalo	...	Gen. Mongo (as Francisco Bódalo)
Eduardo Fajardo	...	Colonel (as Edoardo Fajardo)
Karin Schubert	...	Zaira
Gino Pernice	...	Tourneur (as Luigi Pernice)
Álvaro de Luna
Jesús Fernández
Claudio Scarchilli
Lorenzo Robledo	...	Man Dancing with Zaira
Giovanni Petti
Gérard Tichy	...	Lieutenant
Gianni Pulone		(as Giovanni Pulone)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ramón Fernández Tejela
Simón Arriaga	...	Mongo Henchman (uncredited)
José Canalejas	...	Mongo Henchman (uncredited)
Tito García	...	Pepito Tigrero (uncredited)
Víctor Israel	...	Rosenbloom Henchman with Brown Suit (uncredited)
Vicente Roca	...	Rosenbloom Henchman with Tropical Hat (uncredited)

Directed by
Sergio Corbucci

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Sergio Corbucci		screenplay
Sergio Corbucci		story
Massimo De Rita
Fritz Ebert
José Frade		dialogue
Arduino Maiuri		(as Dino Maiuri)

Produced by
Antonio Morelli	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Ennio Morricone

Cinematography by
Alejandro Ulloa

Film Editing by
Eugenio Alabiso

Production Design by
Adolfo Cofiño

Costume Design by
Jürgen Henze

Makeup Department
Giuseppe Capogrosso	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Maria Alabasio	....	unit manager
Enrique Bellot	....	unit manager
Norberto Soliño	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sabatino Ciuffini	....	assistant director
Ricardo Huertas	....	assistant director
Manfred R. Köhler	....	assistant director (as Manfred Köhler)

Sound Department
Nick Alexander	....	dubbing engineer
Antonio Forrest	....	sound engineer

Camera and Electrical Department
Giovanni Bergamini	....	camera operator
Ruggero Radicchi	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Osanna Guardini	....	wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Giuseppe Romano	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Bruno Nicolai	....	conductor

Other crew
Lamberto Andreani	....	production coordinator
Francisco Bellot	....	production coordinator (as Paco Bellot)

Production Companies

• Tritone Cinematografica
• Terra-Filmkunst (co-production)
• Atlántida Films (co-production)

Distributors

• Atlántida Films (1970) (Spain) (theatrical)
• GSF (1972) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Constantin Film (1971) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• Argentina Video Home (2009) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Astro Distribution (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Reserva Especial (Brazil) (VHS)
• Terra-Filmkunst (2005) (Germany) (all media)

Also Known As:

"Vamos a matar, compañeros" - Italy (original title)

Runtime:

118 min | Spain:110 min | Germany:115 min

Country:

Italy | West Germany | Spain

Language:

Italian | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (1970) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1995) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1971) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (2005) | West Germany:18 (nf) | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Tritone Cinematografica

Trivia:

In the beginning, the one who voted against Porfirio Díaz is called Ricardo Huerta, the same name of an assistant director in the film.

Quotes:

Yolof Peterson:Excuse me, but your mother is a prostitute, your father is a crook, and your grandfather is a man with a very broad buttocks.
Mexican:What?
Yolof Peterson:Allow me to explain. Your mother is a whore, your father is a damn thief, and your grandfather is a notorious fag.
[Yolof punches out the Mexican]
Yolof Peterson:I generously spared your sister...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Jack Palance is the standout in this whimsical spaghetti western

Not really a comedy western per-se, but it doesn't take itself too seriously, either.

Takes place in revolutionary Mexico during WWI. The Swede (Franco Nero) agrees to sell guns to guerrilla general Gen. Mongo but first they have to break into a safe in order for him to get paid and only the professor (Fernando Rey) knows the combination. Or so we are led to believe.

The professor also leads a rival rag-tag army of students who are fighting both the Mexican Army as well as Mongo's men with Lola (Iris Berben) as the professor's second in command.

It turns out the professor is being held by the Americans in Texas and the Swede and El Vasco (Tomas Milian), Mongo's right hand man, has to accompany him north to free him. However an ex-partner of the Swede's, John (Jack Palance) show up and has other plans for the Swede. The psychotic John like to smoke a lot of dope and has a pet falcon named Marsha (?) who lands on John's prosthetic hand after every scouting mission.

This is one of Corbucci's better westerns in spite of the ridiculous political overtones he gives it. The story is entertaining and moves swiftly along for 2hrs. without me getting bored by any of it. I don't rate it as highly as the Leone's similarly themed DUCK YOU SUCKER (1971), but it's well worth watching all the same.

The standout here for me is Jack Palance and I wish his part was bigger. He really does chew up the scenery and the part where he tortures Milian with a rat in a basket tied around his stomach, is a hoot. Ever notice how one of Palance's sidekick, the little oriental guy, has an old telephone receiver strapped onto his ear as a hearing aid? Nice touch. And the ending where Nero throws a large cross under the boxcar filled with explosives and a detonator, blowing up Palance in the process, is a welcome end to one of the main baddies of the film.

The lighthearted Morricone score fits this film very well and I like the musical cues that are sprinkled throughout that alternate between that familiar fuzz guitar and whistling banjo playing that happens while the action has quieted down.

Anchor Bay is up to it's usual standards using an excellent widescreen anamorphic print with nary a hair or scratch through it. It looks like it was made yesterday. Some of the dialog is in Italian with subtitles because it was taken from a Euro print and was never dubbed into English. However the transitions between Euro and American versions are seamless. There's also a fairly interesting 15 minute interview with Franco Nero, Tomas Milian and Ennio Morricone where they recount their experiences while they were involved in this film.

7 out of 10

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