March Madness Preview #1: 1960s "Europe's Most Wanted"

The Professionals (1966): A Mini-Review

The Professionals is a well-made, fast-paced action-adventure western starring Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Woody Strode. It's a sharp, witty caper flick with a team of amusing specialists engaged in a job—rescuing a rich man's wife from a Mexican revolutionary—that should get everybody killed by the end of the first reel but you damn well know won't. A sort of Ocean's Eleven, if you will, set in the Mexican desert.
But underneath all the rousing action is a melancholy meditation on the end of things (in this specific case, the Mexican Revolution) that, to me at least, makes The Professionals both a sublime western and something other than a simple caper flick.

"La Revolución," Jack Palance says in a great speech toward the end of the film, "is like a great love affair. In the beginning, she is a goddess. A holy cause. But every love affair has a terrible enemy—time. We see her as she is. La Revolución is not a goddess but a whore. She was never pure, never saintly, never perfect. And we run away, find another lover, another cause. Quick, sordid affairs. Lust, but no love. Passion, but no compassion. Without love, without a cause, we are nothing! We stay because we believe. We leave because we are disillusioned. We come back because we are lost. We die because we are committed."

It's a very good western, and may be the best of a list of those that, despite its cast and three Oscar nominations, no one seems to have ever heard of. Written and directed by Richard Brooks, with Oscar-nominated cinematography by the great Conrad Hall.

Oh, and Claudia Cardinale is spectacularly bosomy.

My rating 4.5 stars (out of 5).

Round Two (And More Round One Results)

Okay, round two is up and running—well, for the most part.

Kristen, who is hosting the 1950s bracket over at Journeys in Classic Film, discovered to her chagrin that the "free" site she was using to generate her poll wasn't so free after all. So she's starting part two of round one over again. Click here to recast your votes.

In the meantime, the rest of us are good to go. We'll be running half of round two through Wednesday afternoon, then the rest of round two on Wednesday night through Saturday (Kristen will run all of her round two Wednesday through Saturday). Got that?

In the 1960s bracket, here are your match-ups:

Song and Dance
#1 Natalie Wood versus #4 Ann-Margret

#6 Liza Minnelli versus #7 Shirley Jones

A Foreign Affair
#1 Catherine Deneuve versus #5 Claudia Cardinale

#2 Liv Ullmann versus #6 Romy Schneider

To vote in the other Round Two contests:

Monty of All Good Things is hosting the 1930s bracket (click here).
Desiree of Rosalind Russell: Dazzling Star is hosting the 1940s bracket (click here).

Oh, and for those keeping score at home, these were the results of Round One (Part Two) here at the Monkey:

#1 Julie Andrews def. #8 Margaret Rutherford, 41-14
#7 Diana Rigg def. #2 Julie Christie, 43-19
#6 Angela Lansbury def. #3 Jean Simmons, 44-22
#4 Maggie Smith def. #5 Vanessa Redgrave, 50-16
#1 Anne Bancroft def. #8 Julie Harris, 42-10
#7 Tuesday Weld def. #2 Jane Fonda, 41-24
#6 Paula Prentiss def. #3 Faye Dunaway, 38-25
#4 Patricia Neal def. #5 Geraldine Page, 33-30

Sneak Preview: 2013 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament: The 1960s Bracket #3

Voting starts March 3rd.

Catherine Deneuve

Birth Name: Catherine Fabienne Dorléac
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "A Foreign Affair" #1
Birth Date: October 22, 1943
Birthplace: Paris, France
Height: 5' 6"
Academy Awards: 1 nomination
Signature Role: Séverine Serizy (Belle de Jour)

versus

Jeanne Moreau

Birth Name: Jeanne Moreau
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "A Foreign Affair" #8
Birth Date: January 23, 1928
Birthplace: Paris, France
Height: 5' 4"
Academy Awards: none
Signature Role: Catherine (Jules et Jim)

with the winner to take on the winner of

Giulietta Masina

Birth Name: Giulia Anna Masina
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "A Foreign Affair" #4
Birth Date: February 22, 1921
Birthplace: San Giorgio di Piano, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Height: 5' 2"
Academy Awards: none
Signature Role: Maria 'Cabiria' Ceccarelli (Nights of Cabiria)

versus

Claudia Cardinale

Birth Name: Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "A Foreign Affair" #5
Birth Date: April 15, 1938
Birthplace: Tunis, Tunisia
Height: 5' 8"
Academy Awards: none
Signature Role: Jill McBain (Once Upon a Time in the West)

Notes: Deneuve versus Moreau—Paris-born actresses. Masina and Cardinale were both muses for Fellini.