Four soldiers of fortune – Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan and Woody Strode – are hired to rescue Maria Grant (Claudia Cardinale), the wife of a cattle baron, who is being held by a ruthless Mexican bandit (Jack Palance).
Bill Dolworth (Lancaster) is a demolition expert and an attractive womaniser; Fardan (Marvin) is an army veteran who plans the strategies; Ehrengard (Ryan) is good with horses, and Jake (Strode) is an expert tracker and very useful with a bow and arrow.
After a gruelling ride across frontier country to the bandit’s stronghold, the mercenaries discover their mission is not all it seems.
Grittily shot in canyon country, bursting with violence and with pit stops for pithy philosophising, this is one of the last westerns one can call a “classic”.
With more than a passing nod to The Magnificent Seven(1960), made six years earlier, Richard Brooks’s action-filled addition to the genre was a box-office smash, repairing the damage that the flop Lord Jim had done to his reputation two years before.
Prolific film composer Maurice Jarre provides a suitably evocative score.
Bill Dolworth
Burt Lancaster Henry Rico Farden
Lee Marvin Hans Ehrengard
Robert Ryan Captain Jesus Raza
Jack Palance Maria Grant
Claudia Cardinale JW Grant
Ralph Bellamy Jacob Sharp
Woody Strode Ortega
Joe De Santis Fierro
Rafael Bertrand Padilla
Jorge Martinez de Hoyos Chiquita
Marie Gomez
Director
Richard Brooks
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After a gruelling ride across frontier country to the bandit’s stronghold, the mercenaries discover their mission is not all it seems.
