The Mercenary (1968)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Simply A Masterpiece

Brilliant and touching

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Again, like I said with Companeros, another great film also directed by Sergio Corbucci, The Mercenary is close to being one of the all-time-greats of the Spaghetti Western genre and one of the most fun and clever. It's also one of Corbucci's best films containing some of the best work of all involved and is for me almost flawless.The best thing about The Mercenary from personal opinion is Ennio Morricone's score, Morricone is one of cinema's most consistent composers and The Mercenary contains some of his best ever work. It not just drives the action or adds so much to the film but often it's the heart and soul of it. Of the score, the highlight is easily L'Arena, thunderously epic and operatic-like it turns what could have easily have been a trite climax into almost a mix of Shakespearean drama and dramatic opera. The other thing that's truly exceptional here is the photography, which is not only beautiful but also gritty, incredibly inventive in the bullring showdown climax. Corbucci gives some of his cleverest and most technically striking direction here, again the highlight being the showdown, which has to be one of the highlights of his directorial career.In case you're wondering why I brought up the bullring showdown a lot just now, it's because it is that brilliant a scene, a masterstroke of visuals, music and mood all in one. The locations are some of the most vivid and evocative of any Spaghetti Western, while the script is deliciously witty and hilarious without ever getting silly or puerile. The story is tight and hugely compelling with a brisk pace, complete with blistering action that is fun and tense but never overly brutal- a few scenes with Curly do show some brutality but it's essential for the character- or sadistic and characters that are actually interesting and ones you care for. The great cast helps, Franco Nero is cool and charismatic in the lead role and Tony Musante is quite heartfelt, their chemistry is dynamite. Giovanna Ralli brings a touching moral compass to the story as well as a sensuality. Eduardo Fajardo brings sliminess to his role, but, despite being a little under-used and Curly could have been a little more interesting than he turned out to be with a slightly more fleshed out subplot(the only complaint I have of the film actually), Jack Palance in deadpan and menacing mode is even more memorable.Overall, a brilliant and unmissable film, that's enormously fun without coming over as too much of a spoof of itself. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Many people consider this some great motion picture. I really don't think it is. While I think that people who went to the theater to see it, whether in Europe or the US, I don't think that it will hold up on subsequent viewings as Leone's last three 'Western based films', (I really don't consider this or Duck You Sucker Westerns. Comparisons have been made with Duck You Sucker, and saying this came three years before. Yes is was made 3 years before, but Duck You Sucker is still a better movie, and has better acting to boot. Also I don't see what people see in the music, certainly Morricone gave greater scores for Leone from Fistful of Dollars, to Once Upon A Time in America. Finally as for Corbucci, this film cannot hold a candle to his real masterpiece, The Great Silence.Much has been made by other reviewers here of Palance being a Gay Gunslinger. While this may be true, I think of more interest is that Palances Curly, is an American working for the Opressors here in this film, while Nero's Kowalski is a man from Poland, a country in 1968 which was communist, working, even if for his own greed, for the rebels. I appreciate that Corbucci made the lead character, Polish, being part Polish myself, and remembering the cruel Polish jokes, however I cannot help but feel that Corbucci and the screenwriters by having these nationalities, made some political, and possibly anti-American statement. The shooting down of the plane in the film, could symbolize the shooting of American Planes by the North Viet Namise, or Viet Cong. Corbucci I believe did have Marxist leanings. Palances character being Gay, which would generally have had greater negative connotations in the 60's, than it does today, might have been a way of the creators of this film masking their true intent. If Nero's character had been Russian, I think considering the time that this story takes place, it would have been very obvious to more viewers, and certainly killed distribution into the US. Also finally, Palances' Curly, when people are killed, on his behest, gives the sign of the cross. Other critics have found this ironic, I however see it more as an attack on the Catholic Church, and considering what I believe to have been their support of Franco during the Spanish Civil War, while the Soviet Union supported the other side.This film has been called a political western, which it certainly is. Its politics are interesting, but this does not make it a great film or memorable one. It does not have the memorable moments that Leones films have, which I think stick in ones memory. For a theater goer or Television watcher, if they are not aware of the creators intent, might just be a way of filling in time.

The Mercenary is one of my favorite movies to watch. As is the case with the Leone westerns, I just can't get enough of this film. This is Sergio Corbucci's most meaningful and well-crafted cinematic work. It comes very close to being as good as any of the movies in the Dollars trilogy, and is definitely a strong contender for the title of "best non-Leone spaghetti western."Franco Nero gives what is perhaps his best performance out of all of the films I have seen him in. It definitely helps that his voice is not dubbed by someone else in this movie. His acting in the role of Sergei "the polack" Kowalski is at least as good if not better than any of Clint Eastwood's performances. There's plenty of Franco Nero style machine gunning action in this movie too. Tony Musante is fantastic as Paco Roman. He's kind of like a less cartoonish version of Tomas Milian, which is perfect for the character of Paco. Giovanna Ralli is wonderful in the role of Columba. Her role in this movie as the strong, cunning female revolutionary is much more significant than women were usually given in westerns. She plays it perfectly, and she really deserves equal billing with Nero and Musante. Jack Palance is entertaining and gloriously over-the top, as always. Eduardo Fajardo puts in a fine performance too, as usual.The music is one of Ennio Morricone's most memorable scores. The title theme is a rousing, festive Mexican sounding instrumental. During the film, there's some great use of organ music, and best of all there's that haunting whistling pattern that will forever stick in your mind, followed by the solemn trumpet melody and building crescendo. It works so well with the action on screen, especially during the showdown in the bullfighting arena, which is one of the greatest scenes in film history. Corbucci and Morricone could definitely create art on screen. It's no coincidence that the greatest spaghetti westerns are the ones with the greatest music scores.This is a very well developed story with intelligence, emotion, a roller coaster ride of action, and even a little bit of comedy. It is also very tight. There are no plot holes here. It's just a damn good flick. I could watch it a million times. Do not miss this one!!

An Mexican outlaw, with the help of a hired Polish gunslinger go out to make an massive rebellious army to take back what they believe is an poorly treated Mexico that is run by crooked and rich upper-class folk. So now they are part of the growing revolution, but the two men seem to have their ups and downs on who really is in-charge here, as the Mexican peasant actually relies on the European cowboy most the time. While, the army might be on the rebels' tails, but also too is another gunslinger that has a score to settle with the two men.I don't know how long I've had this for, but I nearly missed the opportunity of watching this more than decent spaghetti western. Basically I recorded it off TV some time back onto a blank DVD, which I was going to use, until I realised that this flick was ready to go. Phew, lucky I decided to check it before erasing it. Also after the opening credits the film actually went black and dead quiet for 3 minutes or so, and I was thinking maybe I wasn't meant to see it, but that was short-lived and I was back right into it. Anyhow, away from my pointless ramble "The Mercenary" which is first I've seen of any Corbucci's films was an exciting gung-ho spaghetti western that doesn't let up on the violence and colourful characters. Although the violence isn't terribly graphic and sometimes it happens off screen, but these minor glitches don't take away anything from it. The actual characters might be hard to like as they come across as incredibly greedy and downright blood thirsty for violence. Which I say isn't too much of a bad thing for this type of flick, because that's one of the draw cards of this sub-genre, but it's just that the characters are expendable to it, well maybe not Franco Nero's easy going character. Sergio Corbucci direction is the key also because the story isn't planned out with any real sort of purpose but just to stage one comical scene or action packed moment. But at least those moments actually worked to make you forget the plot's shortcomings. Plus it was jokier than I thought it would be. From that point it did kind of reminded me of Leone's 'The Good, the bad and the Ugly', that was because of the buddy humour that they played around with and like another reviewer mentioned Paco Roman did have an uncanny nature to that of Taco from GTBTU. Other than that, you can see other influences from the dollar trilogy evident too. For me Nero's gunslinger has a striking resemblance and steady persona to that of Eastwood's character of Dollar trilogy and the showdown in a bullring you could think the same too. But that's enough about that.What else it has going for it is the great and thunderous score that you come to expect by the ever-reliable Ennio Morricone and the cinematography gets some dynamic treatment. The script is filled with cynical humour and leaden dialog on that of the rich and poor, and how greed can blind you to true intentions. There an over abundance of sharp and witty replies and that's especially between Kowalski, Paco and Columba. The three leads Franco Nero, Tony Musante and Giovanna Ralli as ever gusty but beautiful Columba put in exceptional performances and Jack Palance as Ricciolo 'Curly' the gunfighter on the trail of the group brings the added venom to the villain role, but I thought he was vastly under-used and his agenda with Kowalski would've made for more interest than what is given. We're thrown right into this baroque western with the backdrop splashing off the screen with such exuberant touches of flair and gusto. Corbucci paces the film swiftly by making it more compelling and surprising the further along it went, without letting you doze off because of some well stage scenes like a bank heist, bombing of an Mexican town and the final shootout. Actually it would be hard to doze off with the loud sound effects and bellowing score. Even so just when you think its finished and the climax feels like it came too early, there's even more to come afterwards. Overall, Corbucci takes advantage of this good rolling adventure, even if it does lack some sort of killer punch or impact to make it overly memorable and grand. But nonetheless it's swell escapism fun that's bursting at the seams with madness, double crossings, plentiful violence, promising performances and grit.It's a more than decent way to the past time with. I see 'Companeros (1970)' gets praised a lot, so it looks another to hit my must-see list.