The Mercenary (film)
| The Mercenary | |
|---|---|
US film poster
|
|
| Directed by | Sergio Corbucci |
| Produced by | Alberto Grimaldi |
| Screenplay by |
Luciano Vincenzoni Sergio Spina Adriano Bolzoni Sergio Corbucci |
| Story by |
Franco Solinas Giorgio Arlorio |
| Starring |
Franco Nero Tony Musante Jack Palance Giovanna Ralli |
| Music by |
Ennio Morricone Bruno Nicolai |
| Cinematography | Alejandro Ulloa |
| Edited by | Eugenio Alabiso |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | PEA (Italy) United Artists (US) |
|
Release date
|
29 August 1968 |
|
Running time
|
107 minutes |
| Country | Italy Spain United States |
| Language | Italian Spanish English |
| Box office | 1,101,445,000 ITL (Italy) |
The Mercenary (Italian: Il mercenario), known in the UK as A Professional Gun, is a 1968 Zapata Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci. The film stars Franco Nero, Jack Palance, Tony Musante and Giovanna Ralli, and features a musical score by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai. The film takes place during the Mexican Revolution and is a well-known example of the Zapata Western subgenre of the Spaghetti Western.
The Mercenary was released the same year as Corbucci's more popular western, The Great Silence (Il grande silenzio). The film is often compared to Corbucci's 1970 film, Compañeros (Vamos a matar, compañeros), which features Nero and Palance in similar roles, and Tomas Milian in a role similar to Musante's in The Mercenary. Both films also had Morricone as the composer, Alejandro Ulloa as the cinematographer and Eugenio Alabiso as the editor. The Mercenary's theme music L'arena was later used by Quentin Tarantino in the 2004 film Kill Bill: Volume 2.
On the northern side of the Mexico–United States border, Sergei "Polack" Kowalski, a well-groomed, greedy mercenary, attends a circus performance where he recognizes the show's lead rodeo clown as Paco Roman. During the performance, Kowalski reminisces on how he and Paco fought together as revolutionaries against the Mexican Government.
...
Wikipedia