kluseba Companeros is one of the most popular Spaghetti Westerns, directed by Sergio Corbucci who was responsible for popular genre movies like Django, The Mercenary and The Great Silence. The starring roles belong to Italian actor Franco Nero of Django and The Day of the Owl fame and Cuban American actor Tomas Milian who appeared in The Ugly Ones and The Big Gundown. The film is often compared to Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as both movies focus on two lonesome outlaws who are trying to make money in the middle of a conflict. There are some important differences between the two films however. Sergio Leone's film takes place during the American Civil War while Companeros is a so-called Zapata Western which takes places during the Mexican Revolution. While Sergio Leone's film features distinguishable cinematography, a memorable soundtrack and multiple tense build-ups, Sergio Corbucci's movie focuses less on cinematography, features a very good but not excellent score by Ennio Morricone and has a more fluid pace instead of multiple climaxes.On the positive side, Companeros convinces with charismatic characters in form of a chaotic rebel leader played by Tomas Milian who teams up with a womanizing tongue-in-cheek Swedish arms dealer portrayed by Franco Nero. The two characters have an entertainingly ambivalent relationship. Things are spiced up with a psychopathic antagonist with a wooden arm and a dangerous pet hawk played by American actor Jack Palance. The movie also features German actress Iris Berben as idealistic rebel leader who is briefly romantically involved with the two protagonists. Another positive element of the film is the epic journey that takes the two protagonists from Mexico to the United States of America and back again. The landscapes and settings are beautiful and at times memorable. The historical context is an important part of the movie which portrays the downsides of the Mexican Revolution in a dry and sarcastic manner. Instead of offering a heroic Image of the rebels, they are shown drinking, fighting and swearing all the time while intellectual minds are mistreated for egoistic purposes.Companeros also has a few downsides which explain why it is a good Spaghetti Western but not among the very best of its kind. The film overstays its welcome with a length of two hours and especially the dragging middle section could have been shortened by at least fifteen to twenty minutes. Moreover, the movie focuses too much on slapstick comedy centered around Tomas Milian's character that takes away from an already quite simplistic story line. The conclusion feels somewhat random and one would have liked to witness a final showdown.In the end, fans of Spaghetti Westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly should definitely give this film a try. The great actors, stunning landscapes and epic settings pardon for a shallow story line with a few too many slapstick scenes. Companeros is authentic and entertaining but just not a quite memorable and unique film.

JohnHowardReid You want action, you got action. We were all literally knocked out of our socks at the preview screening. True, "Companeros" makes a not particularly certain start. The English dubbing certainly doesn't help, but some of the players, particularly Iris Berben and the students, seem to be taking the script seriously, whereas everyone else is hamming it up no end, playing the whole thing as broad farce. Mr. Rey when he comes on, is also cast in serious mode, though he does make an effective contrast. Bodalo is great as General Mongo, though some of his dialogue could be trimmed to advantage. His speeches all owe their effectiveness more to his energetic hamming than to any latent wit in the writing.Though the early scenes have their intriguing moments, the film doesn't really get into stride until Jack Palance appears, about 30 minutes in. It's at this point that any pretense of seriousness is irrevocably cast aside. We are then free to enjoy the stunning locations, fast cutting of marvelous 'Scope images strung together by Morricone's typically rousing thematic and choral score, — and of course the splendidly staged action fights with our heroes brawling their comic-strip way out of one spectacular scrape after the other.

TheLittleSongbird Not in any way is this meant to sound biased, because actually there are some truly great spaghetti westerns out there. Companeros may not be one of the absolute best of them, but to me it's among the most fun. It is a little of a slow-starter and a touch episodic at first and it's less than original, but when the rest of the film is so much fun and so well put together they don't seem to matter.Companeros is a brilliantly made film, with gorgeously evocative scenery and costumes and stylish cinematography that give off a dream-like quality and harsh realism. Sergio Corbucci's direction as to be expected is exemplary, it's technically faultless while never getting in the way of the storytelling. Ennio Morricone's music score will not disappoint any fans of his and is one of the film's best assets, it's not quite one of his all-time greats but it's haunting and stirring and the theme song is one of the catchiest theme songs for any film. Like almost all his work, it really gives the film soul. Companeros is smartly scripted filled with subtle witty humour, it has blistering action especially one of the most suspenseful and entertaining shoot-out scenes I've ever seen for a film and the story is exciting, tense and fun-filled with a truly sensational and quite emotional ending.The cast is a talented one and Companeros in no way wastes the actors. Particularly good is Jack Palance, here he has one of his most loathsome characters and Palance's performance is devilishly enjoyable, clearly looking like he was having a ball. While he is a scene-stealer, Franco Nero and Tomas Milian do wonderfully in the lead roles too, in performances filled with charisma and likability, and work like dynamite together in a film where their chemistry ties it together. Overall, a great film and a huge lot of fun to watch. 9/10 Bethany Cox

superguapo2000 Sergio Corbucci's Vamos a Matar, Compañeros is a Spaghetti Western about a Swedish weapons dealer and a shady mercenary who must smuggle an idealistic professor into Mexico in the midst of a revolution. The movie tries for the epic status of Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly but falls short by a mile. Where Leone managed to create a poignant, albeit hyper-stylized image of the Old West, Corbucci comes close only in style and fails everywhere else.Compañeros has some of the makings of a classic: a promising (though unoriginal) premise, a fantastic bad guy played by Jack Palance, a stunning supporting actress, and an excellent score by Enio Morricone. The scenery and costume design are also outstanding. But the story is underdeveloped, disjointed and at times ridiculous. Too many flaws get in the way of what could have been a great movie: the overdone moments of unfunny comic relief, the uninspired performances, and the confused political message make for an ultimately superficial caricature of the epic Western.Given its potential, it's a shame that this movie turned out how it did. There's a reason this movie was forgotten, while Leone's films are still talked about.