Nothing to do with the British TV series by the same title, nor does it relate to Léon: The Professional. It's a western with a whole posse at the center, something I hadn't seen in a while. If my mood didn't convince me to watch, the fact that it stops streaming on Netflix next week would.
In the late 1910s, a bit later than usual for the genre, wealthy rancher Joe Grant (Ralph Bellamy) hires four talented if unruly individuals -- explosives expert Rico Fardan (Burt Lancaster), general weapons expert Bill Dolworth (Lee Marvin), horse wrangler Hans Ehrengard (Robert Ryan), and scout Jake Sharp (Woody Strode) -- to head into Mexico and retrieve his wife, Maria (Claudia Cardinale), from Jesús Raza (Jack Palance), a former soldier and continuous rebel in the Mexican Revolution. The movie is less than half over when the pros reach Maria, but the plot thickens when they realize that despite Joe's claim, Raza didn't abduct her. She loves him, and her marriage was forced by purchase. Each searcher must decide whether he wants the reward money enough to take her back against her will.
You may have noticed the mixed bag of casting. On one hand, some of them are big names and a treat to watch. OTOH, for all the spoken Spanish, Palance and Cardinale are not the right ethnicity. Neither is Strode, playing an Apache, as reflected in his use of a bow and arrows. And the treatment of women leaves something to be desired.
This being slightly post-Hays Code, the picture doesn't shy away from steamy scenes that don't quite expose anything. Characters also freely use the word "whore" in its literal sense. As for violence, I think only The Wild Bunch features more machine gun fire among westerns.
If that's your jam, with a fair amount of drawn-out tension, you may be plenty entertained. Me, I prefer more ongoing plot progression. The 117 minutes felt pretty darn long to me. Maybe the pacing has something to do with the basis on a Frank O'Rourke novel.
I like a few choice lines and borderline iconic moments. Nonetheless, TP hasn't aged well, and I hesitate to recommend it.
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