Compañeros (1970)

Django writer-director Sergio Corbucci returns with this off the wall violent and quirky comedic R-rated Western that revives an all star eccentric cast of Franco Nero, Tomas Milian, Jack Palance and Fernando Rey in a typically political spaghetti gun-fest. Ennio Morricone's score is on a whole other level as usual, and is too epic to be confined to this tale of mere mortal drunken bandidos and a cracker ass gringo. A melodramatic italo-story of political and personal loyalties during the Mexican revolution, counterbalanced with the comedic "odd ball" pairing of Yodlaf Peterson (Nero), a cool and clam Swedish arms dealer, and the emotional and impetuous El Vasco (Milian), a wild Mexican revolutionary. Long story short, the two need to go on a journey to find the only man who who knows how to open an impenetrable safe full of gold back down in Mexico, the Prof. Xantos (Rey); but it's not a pleasure tour, as he is being held captive in an American garrison, and all the while the two are being hunted by a 'marijuana-crazed' Jack Palance. The movie is full of ridiculously fun machine gun fights and and a large dose of good humored violence, and each characters personality is so exaggerated there is a clashing of egos in almost every scene in the film which makes for a memorable two hours. Recommended for anybody else like me who lives for these types of free-spirited dual- crossed-bandoleers stories where the fate of the sun drenched universe is decided by those with the biggest sombrero and tequila induced machismo. viva la muerte, pinche...

By 1970 the initial gold rush of the spaghetti western was over and directors were seeking new ways to push the genre forward. Trinita opted for a satirical approach while Sabata brought James Bond sensibilities to the classic anti-hero. Others chose to use the Mexican revolution as the backdrop for the escapades of their heroes. That is the case for Sergio Corbucci's Companeros.It is essentially a remake or a reimagining of Corbucci's The Mercenary, using much of the same cast, and swapping Tony Musante as the Mexican revolutionary for the great Thomas Milian. Franco Nero plays once again the European (this time a Swede) and Jack Palance returns to the fold as the ruthless if not semi-insane baddie. All of them hit all the right notes and Nero and Milian's interactions are a joy to behold. The story opens with a duel between the two in a dusty Mexican village and the whole movie is a flashback that leads us to the events at the start of the movie, again as in The Mercenary two years earlier. Nero and Milian are employed by corrupt Mexican General Mongo to travel to the US and free the Mexican professor Xantos that is held captive in Fort Yuma. Xantos is the leader of another small group of student revolutionaries, but General Mongo wants him for more practical reasons. Xantos knows the code to a safe that is impossible to open and with the gold General Mongo hopes to finance the revolution against Porfirio Diaz. Or does he? Each one has his own personal agenda of course. As they make their way back to Mexico, a semi-insane Jack Palance with a wooden hand (do I sense a small Son of Frankenstein tribute here?) and a hawk will hunt them down and the two companeros will slowly begin to take to the more noble attitude of the professor.Here Corbucci goes for a more Leone-esquire approach, leaving the dark and brooding nature of his previous westerns (like Django and The Great Silence) behind. As Leone used to say, this is a "fairytale for grown ups". The story takes us from the Mexican revolution to the Fort Yuma prison to the Rio Grande to a spectacular showdown in the end, with comedic touches, wild shootouts, explosions, a typically great Morricone score and excellent performances and cinematography. This is more of an adventure spaghetti western in the Leone tradition. It's considerably light-hearted but fused with the same political undertones one could find in Sergio Sollima's work and brilliant pacing. Above all, this is A grade entertainment like only the Italians can deliver.Sergio Corbucci is not considered only second to Leone in the spaghetti western realm for no reason. His attention to detail, from the sets, camera angles, props, costumes and cinematography is impeccable and he manages to convey that iconic aspect of the west only the Europeans were able to capture. Don't miss it.

"Vamos A Matar, Compañeros" is another terrific and indescribably entertaining Spaghetti-western from the talented hands and brains of Sergio Corbucci ("Django", "The Great Silence"). Damn, what a fun movie this was! This film amazingly pairs two of the coolest and most brilliant contemporary Italian acting icons in the genre (Franco Nero & Tomas Milian); it has the catchiest Ennio Morricone score imaginable, a sublime albeit unobtrusive "Viva the Revolution" atmosphere, delightfully insane villains and a pleasing amount of exhilarating & violent shootouts. Franco Nero plays a smooth-talking Swedish weapon salesman, dealing with the corrupt & greedy army General Mongo. Tomas Milian is an ennobled street bandit also fighting for Mongo. They team up – reluctantly – to kidnap a certain professor Xantos, who teaches his youthful students to fight a bloodless revolution, but once they found and freed him from his prison cell, the way back to San Bernardino is still very long and full of obstacles, like defeating a marijuana-addicted criminal (the always-amazing Jack Palance!) with an artificial hand and a loyal pet-falcon. "Compañeros" is just pure fun! It's definitely not as sophisticated as Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western efforts and not even as politically engaged as most revolutionary westerns, but its entertainment value is enormous! The on screen chemistry between Franco & Milian is irresistible, mostly because they constantly argue and try to abandon each other, and whenever the action sequences are about to kick in the splendid title song begins to play. Jack Palance is deliciously OTT as loathsome gangster, while Iris Berben (as Lola the cherubic freedom-fighter) and Karin Schubert (as Zaïra the helpful prostitute) provide the film with some welcome eye-candy and even nudity. The script demonstrates a great and almost unique sense of humor, the filming locations are often extremely enchanting and the action sequences are rough and ingeniously filmed. "Compañeros" is a total winner and highly recommended to fans of the genre.

A whimsically breezy surface makes way for a bang-up, ball-breaking and noisy spaghetti western by the talented Sergio Corbucci (the man also behind "The Great Silence" and "The Mercenary"). Actually I might still put those two films ahead of this one. Hell, there was an explosion of excitement ringing from this this highly competent and vivid outing. The cheeky style dripping from the fascinating material was well placed and delivered. Even from the action, the grand state of it feels like something out of a comic strip and how can't you love the flat-out, bloodthirsty machine gun activity towards the finale. What a sensational climax it builds up to! The trio of Franco Nero, Tomas Milian and Jack Palance were nothing but marvellous, and the chemistry between the former two was a blast. But Palance's sophisticatedly leering menace was the real draw-card. Fernando Rey makes for a solid turn too. Ennio Morricone plucks in with a gleefully passionate and killer music score, which is one of his best and the rugged location was captured by Alejandro Ulloa's free-flowing and expressive cinematography that had plenty of poignant scope and detail. Corbucci stews up some inventive directorial flushes amongst the grit, chaos and exuberance. The atmospheric setting hit's the spot and sets up many potboiler and comedic scenes. It can lull at times, and might feel somewhat overlong.The hard-boiled story sticks to something rather stable and less than flashy, but can be thoughtful in its wide arrange of antics and tactics. It's gusty political sub-text (on the treatment of the poor and use of violence to get your point across) can get a bit wishy-washy and preachy, however it definitely makes up for it in other areas like the chewy script with its constant wit and surprises.Over-the-top entertainment equals a totally baroque and enjoyable Corbucci spaghetti western.