Suave Swedish arms dealer Yodlaf Peterson (smoothly played with charisma to spare by Franco Nero) and crude bandit El Vasco (a wonderfully scruffy portrayal by Tomas Milian) can't really stand each other, but join forces anyway to nab a kindly professor (the always excellent Fernando Rey) who holds the key to a fortune in gold. Meanwhile, the pair are relentlessly pursued by loopy pot-smoking madman John (Jack Palance in peak wacky villainous form), a total nutter sporting a fake hand and a pet hawk with an old score to settle with Peterson. And, to further complicate matters, there's a revolution on the verge of happening in Mexico.Director Sergio Corbucci relates the immensely entertaining story at a quick pace, maintains an engaging lighthearted tone throughout, makes fine use of the dusty desert locations, and stages the thrilling action with considerable rip-roaring aplomb. The winningly easy'n'breezy chemistry between Nero and Milian keeps the picture humming throughout. The sly script by Corbucci and Massimo De Rita not only provides a wealth of spot-on sidesplitting impudent humor, but also makes valid points about the necessity for violence in a revolution and the dangers of idealism overriding rationality. Moreover, it's acted with zest by a lively cast, with especially spirited contributions from Iris Berben as fiery revolutionary Lola, Jose Bodalo as the treacherous General Mongo, and Karin Schubert as sassy saloon gal Zaira. Ennio Morricone's rousing and flavorful score hits the stirring spot. Alejandro Ulloa's crisp widescreen cinematography gives the picture a handsome shimmering look. A super fun film.

Franco Nero exudes his trademark cool in the role of Swedish arms dealer Yodlaf Peterson, who comes to Mexico during the time of the Mexican revolution. He butts heads with volatile revolutionary El Vasco (Tomas Milian), while arranging a deal with El Vascos' boss General Mongo (Jose Bodalo) to travel to Texas to abduct Mongos' nemesis, the peace-minded political leader Professor Xantos (Fernando Rey). This is done for reasons known only to Yodlaf and Mongo, and El Vasco goes along to keep an eye on Yodlaf, a true scoundrel. When the two of them are able to successfully obtain Prof. Xantos, a marijuana-smoking maniacal gunslinger named John (Jack Palance) relentlessly tracks them down."Companeros" is a beautifully shot widescreen Spaghetti Western done by Sergio Corbucci, who did very fine work in this genre and deserves to be just as well known as the other Sergio. Teaming with Nero again after the classic "Django" and the 1968 film "The Mercenary" ("Companeros" is said to be a companion piece to the latter film), Corbucci tells an intelligent, politically loaded, and compelling tale of men who start questioning their own methodologies and learn what is really important to them. It remains to be seen if the self-serving Yodlaf is actually going to take one side or the other; as we can see at the outset, he's basically motivated by money. The antagonistic relationship between Yodlaf and El Vasco generates some good laughs and makes for fine screen entertainment.Nero and Milian do have very nice chemistry; the latter gives a truly excellent performance. Rey is absolutely wonderful as the kind hearted professor. And the oft grinning Palance is a delightfully wicked villain. Even in the midst of a very male dominated environment, lovely ladies Iris Berben as Lola and Karin Schubert as Zaira do make a strong impression.There's not a lot of action here, but when it comes along it's very violent and hard hitting. Ennio Morricone supplies yet another atmospheric and lovely score.Essential viewing for fans of this genre.Eight out of 10.

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.

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...