Professionals for a Massacre

Moviecut—Professionals for a Massacre

During the American Civil War, a trio of criminals are given a reprieve from execution and instead are given a dangerous mission to find a corrupt army general and retrieve the gold he has stolen. A gang of Mexican bandits enter the scene and complicate matters further. I would have to consider this one as a better than average spaghetti western. There's nothing precisely very original about it or anything but it manages to do a thing which is quite rare in these kinds of movies in that is successfully integrates a comic tone into its narrative without being annoying in doing so. Most westerns that attempt to use comedy aren't very successful at it and the spaghetti ones in particular are usually pretty dire, so it was a pleasant surprise to see a movie pull it off well. It's not all japery here though as the story includes a healthy amount of action and even a massacre, so it never forgets to cover its bread and butter elements too. Its well-paced as well with some decent performances, especially from Italian genre film regular George Hilton who appears as an ex-priest who has turned to crime. Nobody would claim that this flick breaks the mould as such but it does what it does with energy and some fun.

George Hilton, Edd Byrnes and George Martin play 3 thieves who chase a much more successful thief: Major Lloyd (Gerard Herter) who stole a wagon-load of gold from the confederate army. As soon as he moves into the borderland, Mexican bandits are also attracted by the yellow metal. So much black powder was spent during the making of this movie, apparently, that you could make three westerns with it, but in between all the shooting and countless explosions, "Professionisti per un massacro" displays a certain sense of humor. It is a spaghetti western of the kind that likes to play with the rituals typical for the genre, using coffins and machine guns, and if you like this sort of thing, you'll find the movie easy to sit through... even if it is nothing surprisingly new.

This 1967 spaghetti western features former teen idol Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and Italian western favorite George Hilton. The somewhat confusing plot involves hired gun mercenaries doing battle with a series of would-be tough guys and their corrupt leader. Byrnes starred in several foreign westerns during this period of his career, with varying degrees of success. Several in 1967 paired Byrnes with Hilton. These were entertaining, though hardly memorable. Fans of the spaghetti genre will find this one interesting, with both lead actors doing their best to raise the level of the film a few notches. Others beware, this one can be a little hard to follow at times!

After being captured for robbing a bank in Arizona and trying to desert from the Confederate army, 3 outlaws named "Chattanooga Jim" (Edd Byrnes), "Fidel Ramirez" (George Martin) and "Steel Downey" (George Hilton) are given a choice of either facing a firing squad or helping to recover a wagon full of gold that was stolen by a fellow Confederate officer named "Major Lloyd" (Gerard Herter) and his men. Naturally, they decide to cooperate and along with another Confederate officer named ""Lieutenant Logan" (Milo Quesada) they ride out to catch the gold thieves before they can cross into Mexico. Along the way, however, they encounter other obstacles which they must overcome-or die trying. Now, rather than reveal any more of the story I will just say that as far as "Spaghetti Westerns" are concerned this particular movie didn't quite measure up with some of the great ones out there. For starters, the characters lacked depth and some of the scenes seemed a bit outlandish even for the sub-genre mentioned. In essence then, I think most Spaghetti Western fans will probably like it but general audiences may or may not. Slightly below average.

Despite the title, this is an easy-going Spaghetti Western with tongue firmly in cheek; plot-wise, it’s basically THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967) out West and with the Civil War for backdrop – as a trio of adventurers (George Hilton, George Martin and Edd Byrnes) are saved from the gallows, so that they can retrieve gold stolen from the Confederates by a renegade band of soldiers led by Gerard Herter (from Sergio Sollima’s marvelous THE BIG GUNDOWN [1966]). Along the way, they also have to deal with a band of Mexican outlaws (who, naturally, covet the gold): interestingly, this is presented as a family unit (albeit a loutish and ugly-looking bunch) controlled by an old woman who all she seems to do is stuff herself with food! The heroes, then, all have their characteristics: Martin is himself a Mexican horse-thief, Hilton a defrocked priest with a penchant for explosives(!) – this combination of sardonic piety and ecstatic outbursts results in an occasionally hammy performance, while Byrnes is the requisite renegade American (amusingly called “Chattanooga Jim”); for the record, Hilton and Byrnes would re-unite soon after for the similarly lightweight ANY GUN CAN PLAY (1967). Given that they’re technically prisoners till the accomplishment of the mission, their movements are overseen by an officer; however, half-way through, the latter leaves with a girl they come across at an isolated house (whose other inhabitants had all been murdered by Herter & Co.) in order to drum up support for the inevitable confrontation between prisoners, soldiers and outlaws…except that the Cavalry that charges to the ‘rescue’ is from the opposite side, the Unionists, since the officer turns out to have been a spy all along! Anyway, being a generally light-hearted entertainment, the heroes still end up in possession of the gold – amid brawling, double-crosses and shoot-outs galore! Incidentally, director Cicero would spend most of his later career helming low-brow sex comedies featuring Edwige Fenech and the like. The film under review does provide a typically pleasant score courtesy of one Carlo Pes.