The Mercenary (1986)

Classic Spaghetti Western set in the Mexican revolution. Franco Nero is a Polish mercenary hired by some Mexican mine owners to protect their silver. He arrives to find the mine has been taken over by a revolutionary band led by Paco (Tony Musante), and so ends up working for them. For reasons that aren’t completely clear Curly (Jack Palance) takes a dislike for both of them and tries to hunt them down.

The main story is the classic theme for the revolutionary Western – Paco starts out of something of an opportunistic bandit, albeit one with a genuine dislike of his rulers. He gradually becomes more idealistic and committed to the cause, partly due to the influence of his love interest (Giovanna Ralli), partly out of dislike for Nero’s completely cynical and mercenary attitudes, and partly as he sees the consequences of his actions on the towns he “liberates”.

There’s a lot to enjoy here. There’s a wonderful whistled Morricone theme song, there’s great locations and action scenes. The final duel in a circus ring is classic (and someone unusual for Sergio Corbucci). My one criticism is that it resorts a little too often to the “surprise from off-screen” to advance the plot – for example help turning up to dig Paco out of a hole. But that’s a minor criticism of a hugely enjoyable film.

Sergio Corbucci’s later “Companeros” is very similar, sharing a lot of the same cast and plot, and is also well worth a watch.

I have a German Koch Media DVD (with English audio). Quality is excellent, although a Blu-ray disk is now available too.