The Professionals was written, produced and directed by Richard Brooks who received a couple of oscar nods for both this film and a year later for his direction of the true story In Cold Blood.
Brooks assembled a fine cast with Lee Marvin the hottest ticket in town after his Oscar win the previous year for Cat Ballou and a cast that included Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Ralph Bellamy, Jack Palance and the beautiful Claudia Cardinale.
Its a superbly acted film.
Woody Strode is also featured in a leading part. This was a brave decision at such a volatile time in history but it was the right decision to make as Strode holds his own against some heavyweight acting talent. The film was shot at the height of the civil rights movement in America.
The movie was shot on the outskirts of Las Vegas and one memorable story recounts how Woody Strode and Lee Marvin shot arrows at the famous cowboy neon sign damaging it slightly. In the film Strode is an expert with a bow and it appears he put in a lot of practice on his days off and he had good fun with Marvin.
Another story recounts how the stuntwoman filling in for Claudia Cardinale was badly injured in an explosion while filming a scene involving riding through a canyon rigged with dynamite. Claudia who had never ridden a horse before then did the stunt herself and escaped injury.
Nowadays the insurance companies who oversee film production would not allow this but back in the sixties film productions had real stunts and a grittier approach to film making.
Film Plot
An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four mercenaries to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican revolutionary bandit.
Each mercenary has a specific skill needed for the mission and two of the mercenaries have personal inside knowledge of the bandit having worked on his side in the past.
The mercenaries discover that not everything is as it seems and the mission becomes more personal and dangerous than even they could have imagined.
Positives
This is one of the most film like prints available to buy on Blu Ray.
Most scenes look like proper film.
There is a great level of detail on display.
The film's grain structure is intact.
Read our Glossary regarding grain and film.
Closeups, medium shots and long distance camera shots all look superb and i actually felt like i was watching a cinema presentation. This is one of those films from the sixties which has aged beautifully and the film itself is as exciting and engrossing now as it was back then.
Strong dialogue in what i consider to be a very well crafted film with a wonderful script and great acting by the entire cast.
In particular i felt Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin shared some great scenes together with some witty dialogue and Jack Palance was not just a cardboard cut out villian and in the end we actually see he has a cause worth fighting for. Lancaster always had atheletic ability and actually performs much of his own stunts in this film.
The sound has been remixed into 5.1 and is reasonable considering the source materials available and it does sound decent enough and dialogue is clear and audio fidelity is quite nice and it even has a few surround moments although the surrounds are mostly used for ambience such is the way with remixes of older films.
Negatives
There is minor ringing caused by the lenses and the photochemical processing and this has been confirmed by an expert who works in the transfer of movies to Blu Ray.
I did not consider this ringing to be too much of an issue although it can be seen in several scenes during the movie.
This ringing might be mistaken for edge enhancement but the image itself does not look like it has been sharpened therefore it's probable that the lenses and photochemical process are the cause of this.
This minor issue with ringing may spoil for some what is otherwise a very film like viewing experience.
They should have included the original mono audio track.
Final Thoughts
A great script and a memorable cast plus a director who knew his business raises this film well above the average and what we have is a western which will still be appreciated no matter how much time passes. This goes to show that a well written script and competent actors will always be worth watching.
I think the director saw this film as a metaphor for the film industry with the professionals being the film makers who strive to do their best and the bad guys being the studio who constantly try and get in the way of making a great film production.
This film is like a fine wine and gets better with age.
I must also mention the amazing cinematography of Conrad L Hall whose last film was Road To Perdition and the music score of Maurice Jarre who also composed one of my favorite film scores with Lawrence Of Arabia.
The cinematography is beautiful and the landscape is shown off to good effect. Jarre's score for The Professionals is both appropriate and inspirational and really fits the mood of the film well.
I can recommend this film not only to all western fans but to anyone who enjoys film. A true classic with a superb cast and this is a film that deserves a place in everyone's movie collection.
For Blu Ray screencaps of this movie click here.
Technical Disc Specifications
Releasing Studio – Columbia Pictures
Film Running Time – 117 minutes
Disc Format – BD-50
Encoding – AVC ( MPEG-4 )
Film Aspect Ratio – 2.35:1
Blu Ray Resolution – 1080/24
Audio Format – English Dolby True HD 5.1
Starring Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Woody Strode, Robert Ryan, Ralph Bellamy, Jack Palance and Claudia Cardinale
Directed by Richard Brooks
This is a region free release
Film Entertainment Rating – 9/10
Transfer Quality Rating – 9/10
Sound Mix Rating – 7/10