Franco Nero is as cool as he's ever been, in the role of the title character. Sergei Kowalski is a Polish scoundrel who tends to only look out for number one - and make a couple of dollars in the process. He makes the acquaintance of Paco Roman (Tony Musante), a peasant tired of mistreatment who assumed the role of revolutionary. They are subsequently united in many episodic adventures as they scheme to rob a bank of silver to fund Pacos' movement. Working against them are characters such as Alfonso Garcia (Eduardo Fajardo), and Curly (Jack Palance), a rival who turns bitter and vengeful."The Mercenary" is considered by some to be one of the finest Spaghetti Westerns ever made, and this viewer would have to agree. It manages the neat trick of combining action, comedy, and drama, without ever getting too maudlin, silly, or gory. Both Musante and the fiery, incredibly sexy Giovanna Ralli supply the necessary humanity in a story often hinging on the differences between the Pollack and the freedom fighter. Paco has found a cause bigger than his own personal comfort, but Kowalski remains mostly concerned with financial gain. Special guest star Palance is very funny; sporting an appropriately curly, ridiculous looking wig, he's good for a number of chuckles. He also bares his backside for the camera, in a comic dose of nudity. Nero is priceless as a man who always uses what's available to strikes matches for his cigarettes, and who continues "billing" Musante for services during a gun battle.The fact that this story uses the Mexican revolution as a backdrop allows for some political / social commentary, as it did for various other Italian oaters that did the same thing. It also boasts typically wonderful Ennio Morricone music and splendid widescreen photography by Alejandro Ulloa.A fine film with subtly poignant moments and a resolution that will leave a smile on ones' face.Eight out of 10.

Despite being well aware of his name in creating the original Django,I for some reason have never seen a title by Spaghetti Western auteur Sergio Corbucci. Taking part in a poll on ICM on the best films of 1968,I was excited to find two Corbucci's from '68,which led to me joining the mercenary.The plot:At a circus, mercenary Sergei "Polack" Kowalski recognises performer Paco Roman from their battles against the Mexican government. Unexpectedly meeting Roman afterwards,Kowalski learns that Roman and his gang of revolutionaries have done a deal to take silver safely across the border. Cutting a deal with Kowalski to help fight the army and get the silver across the line,Roman soon discovers that his new brother in arms is a gun for hire mercenary.View on the film:Saddling the audience in the middle of the Mexico Revolution,co- writer/(with Franco Solinas/ Giorgio Arlorio/ Luciano Vincenzoni/ Sergio Spina and Adriano Bolzoni) director Sergio Corbucci & cinematographer Alejandro Ulloa light the fuse for a red-hot Western atmosphere, which shoves the viewers face in the dry dirt of war with ultra-stylised whip-pans and invented,circling camera moves capturing the urgency of the Revolution. Backed by an enchanting score from Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai, Corbucci closes works with editor Eugenio Alabiso for a lightning fast,action pace,as razor sharp edits and an earthy,sun-kiss appearance is cast on the revolution Kowalski and Roman are firing up.Replacing James Coburn after he quit over not getting the top billing, Franco Nero hits the audience with both barrels in his performance as Kowalski,thanks to Nero playing on the gun for hire ambiguity of Kowalski,which allows Nero to turn Kowalski from a devilish ladies man to a firebrand revolutionary with one shot. Personally chosen by Nero for the role, Tony Musante gives a superb performance as Roman,who is given a playful, mischievous side by Musante,which gets punched by Roman's fiery howls for revolution.Loaded up from a difficult writing phase which saw the original writers and directors quit,the new writers impressively keep all the troubles off screen, with the revolution "tour" that Roman, Kowalski and their fellow revolutionaries take around Mexican towns giving the tale an excellent episodic feel,as resentment grows with each town they visit. Crossing guns,the writers make the relationship between Kowalski and Roman wonderfully conflicted,as Roman's hopes of finding a brother in arms are shot by the mercenary gun for hire.

Going into this film I did have expectations. After all it was directed by Sergio Corbucci (director of the original Django), music by Ennio Morricone (who hasn't heard of him?), and has an all-star cast with Franco Nero (original Django and a lot more), Jack Palance, Tony Musanti, and even Giovanna Ralli. So there is the amoral and self-serving Pollack Sergei (Franco), the immoral bad guy Curly (Palance), idealist revolutionary Paco (Musanti), and revolutionary idealist female Columba (Ralli). And look at all these raving reviews here. Hey, and even nudity. So what can go wrong? Well I did stick it out (sigh) but the story is really downright ridiculous where I was utterly bored stiff. So much so that I thought to write its first really negative review (as of this writing) to balance things out and warn those who have tired of ridiculous westerns. It is 102 minutes of your life, and there is a whole slew of westerns that I think are much more worthy of these 102 minutes. But on the other hand you might like a ridiculous story where the impossible keeps happening over and over and over. So it's just my take, it's just my opinion. Oh, and if you are looking forward to the nudity, no it's not the luscious Giovanna Ralli, it's a full-nude of **Jack Palance** (from the rear). And well a brief look at a Mexican hooker's (?) fanny.

Sergio Corbucci's often violent, often comic western is a classic. Franco Nero (as the Polak) is a self-serving gun for hire who finds himself aligned with Mexican rebels circa 1910. Tony Musante is the Simon Boliva wannabe who pays Nero to help him & his motley band stave off a pursuing army. Also in the mix is ruthless hired killer "Curley," played by Jack Palance. A fast paced, extremely well made spaghetti western with all the accoutrements of the genre: it's produced by Alberto Grimaldi; scored by Ennio Morricone; the supporting cast includes the likes of Giovanna Ralli and Eduardo Fajardo. Nero and Mustante have a lot of chemistry and Palance, looking oddly fey with black curly hair and perpetual grimace, is very menacing.