"The Professionals," a 1965 motion picture starring Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin, was filmed entirely in the United States, whose desert southwest was portrayed as being north central Mexico.

Opening with the title credit was a background of an adobe brick wall of a burned out building. The wall had numerous pock marks, probably bullet marks, plus graffiti with phrases like "viva Villa," etc. This location was shown twice more as extended locations. Is the wall still standing perhaps as a tourist or scenic location?

There is a extended scene of protagonists and Mexicans during a horrendous sand storm. People wore face scarves to protect themselves. Horses and mules did not. As your best judgment, how severely were the animals eyes and respiratory tracts damaged by the effect from huge fans blowing the sand to create the storm special effect?

All of the handguns were Colts. I've observed that essentially no revolvers in motion pictures were S&W solid frame double action revolvers until the 1950s. In reality were Colt double action revolvers so dominant in the United States, again, until the 1950s?

Swing out cylinder S&Ws are pretty scarce in movies set in time periods like this movie. I had to look at this picture for three hours before I noticed that "Chaquita" was even wearing a gun. In this case a big Colt New Service. You see it close up when she shoots it in the movie.

One of my top three favorite westerns...

Great cast and good story.

OK, you guys have my attention. I have heard of this film, but can't remember seeing it. I'll have to find a copy and see what it's all about. Just Chaquita makes it look interesting!! Plus, as you can see from my avatar, Lee Marvin is one of my favorites.

Some trivia regarding the film and the location of the shoots: The Professionals (1966 film) - Wikipedia

Some more trivia: The Professionals (1966) - IMDb

Best Regards, Les

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Lee Marvin with the 97 Winchester clearing out the canyon is my favorite scene.

Attached Images

professionals2.jpg (49.2 KB, 74 views)

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Straight shootin'
SWCA#2439

it is amazing that somebody would wonder about a brick wall when Claudia is in the movie

My goodness you are right. She is wearing a gun. All these years and I learned something new.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Yep. One of my favorites. I loved the weapons in this movie and in "The Wild Bunch".

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

The scenes shot with the adobe walls of a ruined building were shot in the "Valley of Fire State Park" a few miles northeast of Las Vegas. The wall is no longer in place as it was just a movie set prop.

The dust didn't do the horses and mules any good, but in all likelihood they were not damaged to any great extent. Nature gave the equines good long nasal passages and that alone gives fair protection. The equines also can squint pretty good and their eyes will water profusely to keep them flushed out. The movie horse wranglers probably flushed all the equines eyes out right after that scene was shot. BTW, Horses don't do well handling sand in their food. It always concerned me to see fellow horsemen feeding their horses by just throwing the hay on sandy ground. If a horse ingests enough sand it can colic. .............

One of my favorite movies and one of the greatest lines in movie history.

I saw this movie at the theater a few times in the mid 60s as a kid. It has always been a favorite. The perfect period where cowboy guns can historically be used with 1911s, double actions, 97 pumps, and an occasional machine gun. Chaquita was also "Perlita", Manolito's occasional girlfriend as pictured here. Try to maintain eye contact there, Mano.

Don't forget Lugers and Mauser C96s.

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You're shy a few manners.

Rarely shown, but a good movie.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

"Lt. Si Si Chiquita...she never says no"

Bill Dolworth (Burt Lancaster)
"The Professionals"


Regards,

Dave

A gun? Where?

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A Country Boy Can Survive

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A Country Boy Can Survive

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A Country Boy Can Survive

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A Country Boy Can Survive

I'm surprised at this with You being a Lee Marvin fan and all. You've missed an excellent movie staring Lee and you will quickly need to remedy this Faux pas !!

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I reckon so

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A Country Boy Can Survive

iye iye iye

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I reckon so

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A Country Boy Can Survive

It's also One of favorites and probably underrated and often overlooked.
Have seen it several times.
Just a few months ago it was in one of the cable channels.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Well...this doggone forum is always costing me money!! This movie looks so good that I just got off of Amazon... Ordered the bluray version of "The Professionals", and while I was at it threw in "The Wild Bunch"!!

Amazon free shipping says they will be here Thursday.

I'll have to get back later with my impressions. It sure looks good, have watched the clips above, and read the stuff on IMDB. I'm looking forward to watching it this weekend.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

If you are a Comcast/XFINITY Customer/Victim, it's 'On Demand.'

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

No... I have "Dish" network, and Netflix and Amazon Prime, but none of those seemed to have it. I have a pretty good collection of DVDs and Blurays of my favorite movies... Whenever I see a chance to expand with something great, I jump on it. Westerns aren't my first love, I think that would be "Film Noir", and old gangster and cop movies, etc. but... I do like good westerns as well.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

It was on one of the movie channels last week, I think Starz Retro Western on Dish. I saw part of it. It also shows up on TCM occasionally. I have seen it at least a couple of times.

Both are outstanding films, full of actors who knew their craft to perfection. All the male leads are long gone now, of course...except for Jaime Sanchez...but they left behind them extensive bodies of work that continue to stand the test of time.

I give The Wild Bunch the nod regarding authenticity and more of a basis in historical fact.

Claudia Cardinale is of a generation of women where stunning beauty AND impressive figure were the exception, as opposed to the surgically enhanced generation that is the rule today. 5'8", 130lbs "C" cup - ¡Dios Mio Chaquita!

Haven't checked yet--was the black actor in the poster Woody Strode?

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Oh well, what the hell.

Yabol! Yabol!

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I've seen the professionals at least 10 times and always watch it if I run across it on tv, one of my all time favorites!

There are three guns in that picture. Two very large ones and one little one.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

One of the best westerns ever made in my book. It was made from the book "A Mule For The Marquesa" by Frank Rourke, as I recall.

"The Revolution, she is a *****."

Impressive gun movie; the actors look like they know what they're doing. The bit about knocking the dust off a gun with a shaving brush is pretty old school.

One thing I still wonder about. When Lee Marvin (wearing what is supposed to be a 1911) cuts Burt Lancaster down the gun sure looks like a BHP to me. Enough so that I suspect a prop man grabbed the wrong gun for filming that day. I've paused that scene a lot and still can't make up my mind but I'm calling it a BHP.

This is one of my very favorite movies, and I just watched it again just this past weekend. Many have remarked about Rico's (Lee Marvin) gun handling expertise - the realism and experience - especially. However, I saw Rico perform the "revolver (cylinder) flip" not once, but twice during the film. Oh, the horror - even if they were Colts. That's something I wouldn't do that with a cap gun.

Regards,

Dave

PS - I forgot to mention that I really liked the scene where the banditos ambushed and hijacked the train carrying the Federales. Did you notice in the aftermath that the banditos shot the captured enlisted men, but hung the surviving officers? When I was in the Army, there were several officers I thought would be great candidates for a hanging. Just sayin'

Regards,

Dave

The film industry can't come close to putting together a cast like that today.

" When Lee Marvin (wearing what is supposed to be a 1911) cuts Burt Lancaster down the gun sure looks like a BHP to me."

It did to me also, but I couldn't tell for sure. Lee Marvin himself would never have made that mistake, an ex-combat Marine who knew his way around guns. But maybe not so much around women. His performance in "The Dirty Dozen" was the crowning achievement of his career, the definition of selecting the perfect actor for the role.

Since lots of people like to talk about Claudia Cardinale's performance in The Professionals, it should be noted that she also appeared in Once Upon a Time in the West.

It's interesting to note, too, that out of all those people in the photograph, she's the only one still living. She's about 79-years-old now.

Burt Lancaster really had a ""thing"" for her.

Ive long had the dvd. I like to pay only once call me a cheapskate.

It's hard to pass on a woman carrying that much ammo!

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Yes and ive got a couple great shots of him in this movie-as well as in Spartacus--lying about somewhere.

BTW, Woody Strode was a great swimmer. Just thot id pass that tidbit of free useless info to yall.

The Professionals is a very good one, but The Wild Bunch is a cut above IMO. But I'm not a Lee Marvin fan (although I am a Burt Lancaster fan), so YMMV.

Just a random observation: Amazon shipped my two blurays at 2:17 am yesterday from Ontario, CA. By 11:08 am they were in Wilmington, OH. At 7:29 pm, they were in Pittsburgh, PA. They left Pittsburgh at 1:51 am today, and were in my local PO when the mail carrier left on his rounds this morning. I just received a notification that they are now in my mailbox.

What a great way to buy things.

Just sayin'

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Ok, guys, I just finished watching "The Professionals", and I'm glad that I ordered the Bluray version. On a high def TV, the sharpness and clarity of the film is tremendous. The scenery and cinematography are just spectacular. Some of my favorite actors, and lots of guns!! Well, and two very attractive females, Claudia Cardinale playing "Maria", and Maria Gomez playing "Chiquita". Pretty good story, with lots of gunplay and lots of stuff getting blown up!! What more could we ask for?

Thanks to Naphtali for starting this thread, and to all the folks who inspired me to get the film!!

Now, as I also ordered a copy of "The Wild Bunch", I still have some TV watching to do. By the way, this is supposed to be a restored version which contains all of the original footage, "unseen since its July 1969 release"!!!

Quite a coincidence, since that happens to be the same month and year that I got out of the Navy, so we were both "released" in July 1969!!!

I'll be back after I watch this other classic western.

Great thread!!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I don't think the extra footage is all that important, but it doesn't hurt the movie either. The commentary is pretty good if you like those things.

Take the night off and spend it with The Wild Bunch. Its one of my top faves that had Sam Peckinpah as director. The other two Peckinpah movies I love and tied for Nr 1--Cross of Iron and Major Dundee.

Cross of Iron: W/ James Coburn wearing a Krim Campaign Shield on his tunic


Schell w/ Peckinpah:

Dundee: One of my promotional stills:

Definitely my favorite western of all times. So many quotable lines from this movie. Lancaster and Marvin were equally great performers. Here's my favorite line: Rico to Mr. D: “So what else is on your mind besides 100 proof women, 90 proof whiskey, and 14 carat gold?”

Another favorite of this era in history is the "Wind and the Lion". VERY period correct, with a great cast and screen play.