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"Elmer Gantry Out West": The Professionals (1966)
Review Copyright Roger Zotti, 2002
Burt Lancaster said that The Professionals was "about a bunch of cynics...but it has a sort of Elmer Gantry humor. Elmer Gantry out west."
The cynics are four skilled mercenaries hired to bring back the wife of a wealthy Texas oilman kidnapped by a Mexican rebel named Raza.
When told about his character, Bill Dolworth, dynamiter Lancaster said, "Dynamiter? There's no dynamiter in the book."
"There will be by the time you get to do the movie," responded director and screenwriter Richard Brooks.
Lancaster's Dolworth is a free spirited, fun-loving individual. On occasion, he waxes philosophical. "Maybe there's only one revolution," he says. "The good guys against the bad guys. Question is, who are the good guys?"
In a scene with Lancaster, Lee Marvin showed up drunk, apparently nothing new for the Academy Awards® winner. An important scene, it took place atop a rock twenty-five feet in the air.
Enraged, Lancaster used a number of expletives in telling director Richard Brooks that if Marvin repeated his behavior, he (Lancaster) would throw Marvin off the rock.
Shooting was halted and resumed the next day. Marvin appeared, drunk again.
Lancaster is at his athletic best as Dolworth, and Marvin is convincing as the group's leader, an angry vet skilled in weaponry and tactics. Woody Strode is Jake Sharp, a trapper and expert archer. Robert Ryan, though underused, plays Hans Ehrengard, a tough but compassionate horseman. Also on hand are Claudia Cardinale as the "kidnapped" wife and Ralph Bellamy as her rich husband. Excelling as the villainous Jesus Razas is Jack Palance.
A slam bang, rousing action tale set at the turn-of-the century, the film is solid entertainment. And unlike most westerns, it has a surprise ending.
Maurice Jarre's musical score is first-rate.
Best line:
J.W. Grant (Bellamy) You bastard!
Fardan (Marvin): In my case an accident of birth, but you, sir, are a self-made man.
Directed by: Richard Brooks
Cast:
Burt Lancaster . . . Bill Dolworth
Lee Marvin . . . Henry "Rico" Fardan
Robert Ryan . . . Hans Ehrengard
Woody Strode . . . Jake Sharp
Jack Palance . . . Jesus Raza
Ralph Bellamy . . . J.W. Grant
Claudia Cardinale . . . Maria Grant
Joe De Santis . . . Pascual Ortega
Marie Gomez . . . Chiquita
Screenplay by: Richard Brooks
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