Compañeros
Compañeros (Spanish: Vamos a matar, compañeros, lit. "Let's Go and Kill, Companions") is a 1970 Zapata Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci. The film stars Franco Nero, Tomas Milian, Jack Palance and Fernando Rey. The soundtrack for the film was written by Ennio Morricone, and the orchestra was conducted by Bruno Nicolai.
| Compañeros | |
|---|---|
 US film poster | |
| Directed by | Sergio Corbucci |
| Produced by | Antonio Morelli |
| Screenplay by | Dino Maiuri Massimo De Rita Fritz Ebert Sergio Corbucci |
| Story by | Sergio Corbucci |
| Starring | Franco Nero Tomas Milian Jack Palance Fernando Rey Iris Berben Francisco Bodalo Edoardo Fajardo |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Alejandro Ulloa |
| Edited by | Eugenio Alabiso |
Production company |
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| Distributed by | Titanus Distribuzione (Italy) |
Release date | December 1970 |
Running time | 119 minutes |
| Country | Italy Spain West Germany[1] |
| Box office | ₤1.451 billion |
Compañeros is one of Corbucci's best-known westerns, as well as one of the best-known spaghetti westerns altogether. The film has been compared to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as it intertwines the paths of several characters in the middle of a conflict, but takes place during the Mexican Revolution instead of the American Civil War.[2] Due to the setting and Nero's and Milián's characters, it is similar also to Corbucci's earlier Zapata Western, The Mercenary, which was released two years earlier. Alejandro Ulloa was the cinematographer for both films.
Compañeros is the only film in which the two stars of Italian genre films, Franco Nero and Tomás Milián, acted together. Nero later complained that Corbucci concentrated too much on Milian, and refused to act in Long Live Your Death if Corbucci was to direct it.[3]
Contents
PlotEdit
During the Mexican Revolution, a peasant named El Vasco (Milian) starts a revolt in his town by killing the army colonel in charge. Rebel leader and self-appointed General Mongo (Bódalo) soon arrives on the scene and hires El Vasco to his revolutionary gang. However, Mongo is more interested in gaining fortune for himself than for his country. Yodlaf Peterson (Nero), a Swedish mercenary arrives in Mexico to sell guns to General Mongo. The safe containing the money is locked and only Professor Xantos (Rey) knows the combination. Xantos is the leader of a student counter-revolution that opposes violence, and is held in a prison by the United States army, after he tried to find funding from the US and did not agree to give the monopoly of his country's entire oil wealth in return.
El Vasco dislikes the suit-wearing Peterson and calls him a "penguin", but at the suggestion of General Mongo, the two reluctantly join forces and set out to capture Xantos. Their task is made harder by the American army and a wooden-armed American named John (Palance), who wants to exact revenge on Peterson, his former business partner. Peterson had left John to die after he was crucified, and his pet hawk had to peck his right hand off to save him. In order to maximize their personal gain and to support Xantos' rebel fighters, El Vasco and Peterson have to doublecross Mongo. They receive help from Lola (Berben), the leader of Xantos' rebel group, who El Vasco falls for, and her group of young revolutionaries.[4]
CastEdit
- Franco Nero as Yodlaf "Penguin" Peterson
- Tomas Milian as El Vasco ("the Basque")
- Jack Palance as John
- Fernando Rey as Prof. Xantos
- Iris Berben as Lola
- José Bódalo (as Francisco Bodalo) as Gen. Mongo
- Eduardo Fajardo (as Edoardo Fajardo) as Colonel
- Karin Schubert as Zaira
- Gino Pernice (as Luigi Pernice) as Tourneur
- Gérard Tichy as Lieutenant
- Álvaro de Luna as John's henchman
- Tito García as Pepito Tigrero
- Lorenzo Robledo as Captain Jim
ReleaseEdit
Compañeros was released in Italy in December 1970.[5] The film grossed a total of 1,451,782,000 Italian lire domestically in on its release in Italy.[6] It was released in West Germany in 1971.[1]
ReferencesEdit
- ^ a b c "Zwei tolle Companeros" (in German). Filmportal.de. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
- ^ Thom, Fred. "Compañeros". Plume Noire. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
- ^ Kiral, Cenk. "An Exclusive Interview with Mickey Knox". Fistful of Leone. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
- ^ Young, Timothy. "Compañeros". Mondo Esoterica. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
- ^ Hughes, Howard (2019). "Shooting from the Hip - The Westerns of Franco Nero". Keoma (Booklet). Arrow Video. p. 23. AV196.
- ^ Fisher, Austin (2014). Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western: Politics, Violence and Popular Italian Cinema. I.B.Tauris. p. 220.
External linksEdit
- Compañeros on IMDb