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Released by: Umbrella Entertainment
Released on: November 1st, 2017.
Director: Richard Brooks
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Claudia Carinale, Ralph Bellamy
Year: 1966
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The Professionals - Movie Review:
Directed by Richard Brooks and released to theaters in 1966, The Professionals tells the story of wealthy and influential Texas oil tycoon Joe Grant (Ralph Bellamy) whose beautiful wife, Maria (Claudia Cardinale), has been kidnapped by a group of Mexican Revolutionaries. The leader of the group, Jesus Raza (Jack Palance), will release her only if Grant ponies up a hundred thousand dollars in cold hard cash.
Rather than pony up the scratch, Grant opts instead to hire a quartet of men - Fardan (Lee Marvin), Ehrengard (Robert Ryan), Jake (Woody Strode) and Dolworth (Burt Lancaster) - and pay them ten grand to head into Raza's territory and bring her back in one piece. Given that Dolworth and Fardan worked alongside Raza when they were involved with Pancho Villa some years back, they figure they've got an 'in' and that this should be a quick nine-days' worth of work, but of course, it doesn't work out that way. They get into a few fights on their way to Raza's headquarters and manage to arrive in time to find Maria without too much difficulty, but after doing so, start to question the truth behind her abduction and who was really behind it in the first place.
Tight, tense, exciting and smart, The Professionals is a top notch American western that is very well directed and which makes use of an absolutely perfect cast. It's a violent picture by the standards of its day, and it deals in some morally ambiguous ideas rather than firm definitions of good and bad, which helps to set it apart from a lot of the 'traditional' American western films that came before it, where heroes were clearly heroes and villains clearly villains.
But again, that cast. Lancaster top bills the film and makes the most of it. He was no young man at this point in his career but still clearly in great shape, bringing a physicality to his role that works really well alongside his genuine acting abilities. He and an equally superb Lee Marvin have great chemistry here, rarely has the screen been witness to such unbridled machismo! Woody Strode is great here too, and Robert Ryan just as good. Bellamy is fine, if never amazing as Joe Grant but Cardinale, as lovely as she is, rings a bit flat as his wife. Jack Palance's casting as a Mexican Revolutionary might seem like whitewashing by modern standards, because it is, but that doesn't take away from the work that Palance does in the part, he's very good and definitely brings his A-game to the film.
The film also benefits from excellent production values. Columbia Pictures produced this one and it's clear that they put a bit of money behind it. The cinematography from Conrad L. Hall does a great job of not just capturing the epic scope of the locations used for the shoot, but also in helping to accentuate the performances by capturing the cast members from all the right angles, employing judicious use of close up shots to heighten tension in certain scenes. Maurice Jarre's score is also very good, a rousing selection of work that suits the mood of the film perfectly.
The Professionals - DVD Review:
Umbrella Entertainment brings The Professionals to DVD in 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen. This is a very nice standard definition presentation with good colors and a decent amount of detail. The image is in very nice shape, showing very little print damage at all. Some compression artifacts are noticeable here and there but otherwise, by DVD standards, this looks good.
Oddly enough, this release has a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track, in the film's native English. There's no sight of the original mix on this disc. Regardless, sound quality is fine. Dialogue is easy to here and the levels are balanced, no problems with any hiss or distortion. There are alternate language or subtitle options provided here.
There are no extras on the disc, not even a trailer.
The Professionals - The Final Word:
The Professionals is a legitimately great film, skillfully directed and played by a fantastic cast. Umbrella's DVD release is devoid of extras, which is a disappointment, but it looks quite good by the standards for the format.
