Compañeros (1970)

Great Film overall

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Italian actor Franco Nero gained some new fame recently thanks to the release of Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained", based on Sergio Corbucci's 1966 spaghetti western starring Nero as a gunfighter. Nero had a bit part in Tarantino's movie as the man who knows that the D is silent. Corbucci's "Vamos a matar, compañeros" (simply called "Companeros" in English) casts Nero as a Swedish mercenary who comes to revolutionary Mexico to sell guns to a general, only then finds himself having to rescue a professor, with peasant El Vasco (Tomás Milián) accompanying him. Definitely a feeling of Django Freeman and King Schultz.It's a very fun movie, as can be expected. There's something energizing about Django's and El Vasco's trip across the border. One of the most surprising cast members is Jack Palance as Nero's former business partner out for revenge. I'm not sure whether his character's wooden hand recalls Dr. No or Han (from "Enter the Dragon") more, but his pet hawk has a cool personality. Also starring is Fernando Rey. Basically, the movie has the original Django co-starring with Curly Washburn and the "French Connection" villain! And Tomás Milián? Born in Cuba, he spent a number of years starring in Italian movies. Since returning to the US, he's worked with Sydney Pollack (in "Havana"), Oliver Stone (in "JFK"), Steven Spielberg (in "Amistad") and Steven Soderbergh (in "Traffic"). What a combination. It's a movie that you're sure to love.PS: Franco Nero also co-starred in "Camelot" with Vanessa Redgrave. He and Redgrave had a son who directed her in an adaptation of Wallace Shawn's politically charged play "The Fever", co-starring Michael Moore and Angelina Jolie.

In Mexico, during the revolution,the arms dealer Yodlaf "Swedish" Peterson is going to sell most of his weapons to the corrupt General Mongo. But there is a problem : The money Mongo is going to use to pay Yodlaf is locked in a bank safe almost impossible to break. Since Mongo and his men killed most men of the Village that could know the combination, the only man that is alive that knows the combination to open the safe is professor Santos,prisoner of the Americans in Fort Yuma.Yodlaf agrees to bring Santos to Mongo, but he needs to go with Vasco to this mission, since Mongo suspects of the Swedish.Besides most of the problems Vasco and Yodlaf need to deal with in their way to US, they even need to face Yodlaf's former business partner and now hater, John 'The Wooden Hand' and his Hawk, Marshall.I watched "Vamos a Matar, Compañeros" because of my father's recommendation. I am not a western expert, so I cannot compare it to other movies of this genre, but I can say that this movie is very 'watchable' even for people who are not very familiar with the Spaghetti Western genre. I liked the character of Yodlaf Peterson, mostly because of his courage and his bad-ass -but-polite -gentleman actions. The clothes and the cinematography of this movie are also very good, as well some of the lines. I need to highlight two moments: First, when Yodlaf gives a dollar coin to Vasco, and the Second one when they transform Marshall (the hawk) into a barbecue! Priceless!

"Companeros" is a disjointed tale of Mexican revolutionary factions enlisting the aid of a pair of double crossing mercenaries. Sound familiar? Probably, because it's all been done before and far better by Sergio Leone. This movie is very derivative, using "The room is free now" from "For a Few Dollars More", safe opening problems from the same movie, hanging precariously balanced as in "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" cemetery, and lastly substituting a nose for Kinski's hunchback in a match striking scene. The erratic script is lighthearted almost to the point of being cartoon-like. There is even a pot smoking Jack Palance character doing a pretty good imitation of the crazed "Indio" from "For a Few Dollars More" The only originality is Ennio Morricone's choral score, which will stay with you long after this very average "spaghetti western" is long forgotten. - MERK

I had been disappointed by this tongue-in-cheek Spaghetti Western and a second look has only re-inforced that opinion! By this time, the genre was well on its way out and had started to lampoon itself; as such, it's enjoyable if needlessly inflated and given that it's also one of the most political examples of the genre, the two styles don't sit very well together! Besides, the three stars seem to be attempting to outdo each other with their hammy portrayals: Franco Nero is even further away here from the stoic gunslinger of DJANGO (1966) than he was in A PROFESSIONAL GUN (1968), of which film COMPANEROS is a semi-remake!; it was interesting to watch the evolution of Tomas Milian's acting style through the course of five Spaghetti Westerns I watched this past week, but his performance here is certainly the least convincing (even if his foul-mouthed peasant/revolutionary is still a pleasant characterization); however, it's Jack Palance (in a relatively brief role) who steals the show with his dope-smoking and revenge-seeking mercenary, fitted with a wooden hand and having as his constant companion a hawk (which meets with a sticky end at the hands of our antagonistic heroes!).The cast also features Fernando Rey as an old peace-loving Professor and a prospective political candidate, with a group of naïve students (led by the lovely Iris Berben) as followers; Eduardo Fajardo appears briefly at the beginning as a ruthless Colonel dispatched by Milian, turning the latter from an unassuming shoe-shine boy to a lieutenant of the bandit horde led by 'General' Mongo (Jose' Bodalo); and Karin Schubert as a lisping and bespectacled madam who helps Nero and Milian liberate Rey from the Army fort where he's being kept prisoner. The action set-pieces deliver the goods and, as ever, Ennio Morricone's rousing score is tops; it's only that the film pales in comparison to Corbucci's earlier work and, as I said, the stars are merely content to send-up their respective image...