Synopsis
An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four adventurers to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.
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Cast
- Burt LancasterDolworth
- Lee MarvinFardan
- Robert RyanEhrengard
- Woody StrodeJake
- Jack PalanceJesus Raza
- Claudia CardinaleMaria
- Ralph BellamyGrant
- Joe De SantisOrtega
- Rafael BertrandFierro
- Jorge Martínez de HoyosPadilla
- 89
Austin Chronicle
Wonderful but improbable tale about a group of mercenaries sent to Mexico to rescue their employer's wife from bad man Jack Palance. - 88
Chicago Tribune
Exciting, beautifully shot '60s political western. [10 Apr 1998, p.M] - 80
The New Yorker
There's something to be said for this kind of professionalism: the moviemakers know how to provide excitement and they work us over. - 80
Washington Post
Written and directed by Richard Brooks, the picture is more style than content, but what style. - 75
Chicago Reader
This 1966 film was eclipsed in many people's minds by The Wild Bunch three years later, but it's a good, solid job, and with Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, and Woody Strode, how could you miss? - 75
TV Guide Magazine
A truly adventuresome, action-filled film that is played more for thrills than for conveying a story, The Professionals offers a field day for Lancaster, Ryan, Marvin, and Strode. - 70
Variety
Exciting explosive sequences, good overall pacing and acting overcome a sometimes thin script. - 60
Time Out
Brooks could certainly write a line and direct action, but his taut and disillusioned yarn of American mercenaries intruding into the Mexican revolution to "rescue" Cardinale had only a couple of years in critical favour before it was comprehensively eclipsed by Peckinpah's ostensibly similar The Wild Bunch.