VIVA "THE PROFESSIONALS" ON ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY!

THE PROFESSIONALS (1966) came stampeding into movie theaters about 50 years ago.....and half a century later it's as robust,muscularly red blooded and legendary as ever, a timeless showcase for the kind of primal no nonsense filmmaking that simply doesn't exist anymore....as well the iconic actors who populated these films. Compared to the chopped up rubbish that passes for action movies today, "The Professionals" looks and sounds practically mythic....like watching the Greek gods party up on Mount Olympus.

Directed by Richard Brooks ("Lord Jim", "In Cold Blood", "Looking For Mr.Goodbar") the film is a men-on-a-mission adventure set on the Mexico border around 1915. A ruthless land baron (Ralph Bellamy) collects a team of four battle-hardened mercenaries (Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Woody Strode) to rescue his young Mexican wife (Claudia Cardinal). She's been kidnapped and spirited across the border by revolutionary turned bandit Jesus Raza (Jack Palance). Marvin and Lancaster are tough crusty cynical compadres, having come away disillusioned from their days of fighting along side Pancho Villa. Ryan is the horsemaster for the team, way too compassionate and gentle-hearted for his own good while Strode serves as the mostly silent tracker and scout, deadly with a bow and arrow.

Into Mexico they go, surviving bloody skirmishes with Palance's men until finally reaching the bandit's hacienda headquarters....and his captive, Cardinale. From this point, director-screenwriter Brooks throws in an astonishing twist while keeping up the literally explosive action sequences....right up to the film's satisfyingly ironic conclusion. And it's all perfectly capped off with Marvin's final line of dialogue....still one of the best ever in movie history.

Brooks fills his script, taken from a novel by Frank O' Roarke, with pithy, funny world-weary zingers. (Lancaster: "Well, I'll be damned..." Marvin: "Most of us are...") Palance, of all people, is the only cast member afforded long eloquent speeches about  the Revolution and the men who fight it. Lancaster takes full advantage of his prowess as a former circus acrobat, doing almost all his own stunts and Marvin, as the group leader, epitomizes cool grace under fire.

Throw in cinematographer Conrad Hall's vivid Southwest landscapes (filmed mostly in Nevada) and Maurice Jarre's pulsating score, driven by castenets and pounding drums, you have a classic delivering close-to-orgasmic movie pleasure. As Frank Sinatra opined during his section of "That's Entertainment"....'you can wait around and hope, but you'll never see the likes of this again.'

How true. Another FIND OF FINDS...."The Professionals" easily earns 5 stars.