Die gefürchteten Vier

Ein ziemlich solider Western, der dreieinhalb Sterne verdient. Die runde ich – weil mir gerade danach ist – auf vier auf. Die vier Haupthelden (ausgezeichnet besetzte Rollen) schleppen sich durch die Wüste, um eine wirklich schöne Frau eines wirklich reichen Mannes zu retten (?). Man hat fast das Gefühl, dass man auf dem glühenden Weg neben ihnen geht. Die Figuren wachsen den Zuschauer*innen schnell ans Herz. Es macht Spaß, sie zu beobachten. Die gegenseitigen Sticheleien sind unterhaltsam. Es ist schade, dass der Film so lang ist. Nach anderthalb Stunden fand ich ihn langwierig und nicht mehr so interessant wie während der ersten Stunde. Ein paar langweilige Minuten später kommt aber die Abschlussschießerei von zwei alten Bekannten, in der außer Pistolen auch Worte und Gedanken sehr wichtig sind. Das hat mir gefallen. Ich möchte auch die Musik von Maurice Jarre loben. (14.08.2010)

Dirty work. Cleanly executed. A western from the old days. One of the last, though it is still paraphrased to this day in the most diverse variations (for example, Fast 5 cannot deny its western spirit). Cinematography that makes the landscape look majestic. Music that makes you want to conquer that landscape. An on top of that, Lee Marvin with a machine gun and a pocket full of dynamite. He’s masculine in every gesture, every brusque line cutting off further/longer discussion. The woman only as a (beautiful) burden. Cynicism and disregard for life are not signs of rottenness; greed is, because money is the real evil. It’s obvious that action scenes were not Richard Brooks’s forte. They are neither long nor clear enough for us to enjoy them, even though they demonstrate the inclination of the time toward more openly depicting violence in mainstream films. The peak of the genre came with The Wild Bunch (whose slow-motion shots allow us to feast our eyes on the spurting blood), a film more radical in its blatant use of violence and the ambivalence of its protagonist. Even so, The Professionals is a western as it should be. 75% (08.08.2013)

Please do not confuse this version of The Professionals with the famous British action series. This is a classic western, set on the Mexican border during the end of the Mexican Revolution, where a wealthy financier sends a group of four adventurers to rescue his wife from the clutches of kidnappers. The fact that something is different is already signaled by the information about the film's content, so I wasn't surprised by the "big" surprise and I have a fairly indifferent relationship with the western genre; I tolerate its clichés much worse than, for example, gangster films or other lighter genres. This film really does have all of the genre shortcomings, which fans of westerns will appreciate, but I just shrug my shoulders at them. And so the four gunmen fearlessly eliminate dozens of their enemies and practically massacre the entire rebel unit to save the Mexican federal army some work. The actors, who exude authority and charisma, just barely earn this film three stars. They were simply Actors with a capital A, not bodybuilders, boxers, or wrestlers, who would go on to dominate the action genre twenty years later. The film is also harmed by the screenplay that culminates in a finale that is expected, but truly idiotic in the context of the previous massacres, making the previous human casualties completely unnecessary. Overall impression: 50%. (18.08.2011)

A Western version of “The Hobbit”. It's also kind of a journey there and back again, and as with “The Hobbit”, the journey there is much more fun. (08.12.2009)

It's a great western, lacking just a little something to make it phenomenal. Excellent actors playing good characters. Perhaps some of those characters are played a bit too lightly, as a darker approach would have suited them better. But it was still good, and Claudia Cardinale was absolutely beautiful here, much more vibrant than in Once Upon a Time in the West. (02.01.2017)