COMPANEROS (1970)

COMPANEROS ( * * * ) - Not too be confused with the John Wayne classic "The Comancheros", this spaghetti western from 1970 featured Franco Nero AND Tomas Milian and was directed by Sergio Corbucci of "Django" fame. Nero plays an amoral Swedish arms dealer during the Mexican Revolution who makes an uneasy alliance with a peasant turned unlikely bandit hero as they search for an idealistic professor who happens to be the only one with the combo to a safe. meanwhile, Jack Palance plays one of the oddest villains in the history of filmdom as a amputee pot-head falconer gunman out to kill the Swede. pretty good political western with the professor obviously supposed to be the leftist Zapatista and the general bandit being the greedy Pancho Villa, but before you dismiss it as inane liberal propaganda, be advised that this is entertaining. sure, it starts slow but it is epic and has enough humor to keep things moving through the slow stretches, and the violent climax is classic. it's also funny that they place Fort Yuma in Texas! good stuff. Blue Underground has reissued this, so should not be too difficult to find…