The Mercenary

The Mercenary (Il Mercenario) (1968)

Runtime: 110 minutes

Directed by: Sergio Corbucci

Starring: Franco Nero, Tony Musante, Eduardo Fajardo, Jack Palance, Giovanna Ralli

From: Several companies in the United States, Italy and Spain

This film playing on MGMHD last night, my having heard of this before, and not having watched too many Westerns as of late meant that it was only logical to check this out. This entry from Sergio Corbucci is a Spaghetti Western... or to be more precise, a Zapata Western, termed so as it featured a revolutionary Mexican bandit-if you don't know, Emiliano Zapata was an important figure in the Mexican Revolution.

The plot: Franco Nero is the titular mercenary, doing work for hire. He gets paid to help out a bandit (who is kind of a goof and for certain was woefully unprepared for his role as the leader of a band of revolutionaries) but of course there is frequent conflict, especially after a rather fetching lady-Giovanna Ralli-enters the picture. There's also Jack Palance who sometimes appears and has issues with both guys; he's known as Curly because he actually sports a hell of a curly hairdo.

To echo what others have said-including a mutual-while Leone was more serious in the genre, Corbucci decided to have fun and spectacle instead. There's plenty of exciting action scenes which has various items blown the F up, the two leads having glee on their faces as they machine gun down dozens of SOB's, and a big scene in a bullfighting ring. The bandit is not necessarily someone to root for despite his idealistic beliefs, but neither is Nero, a Polish character who is often referred to as an ethnic slur which I better NOT repeat here. He also engages in some not so nice behavior so that made for a fascinating watch how those two had a love-hate relationship, a marriage of convenience. There's also the unique methods in which Nero lights a match, and more than one moment Tarantino “borrowed” for his films.

There's even a typical quality score from Morricone, featuring Bruno Nicolai. The Mercenary was something I had a lot of fun with.