I loved this film. Not as much as I loved Il Mercenario but still…
A very lovely revolution story and Milian is just excellent. Of course I also loved young Iris Berben in that film and the nice soundtrack. To me it’s one of the best Spaghetti Westerns
For more info visit:
DATABASE PAGE: Vamos a matar, compañeros - The Spaghetti Western Database (spaghetti-western.net)
0 voters
One of my favorites too. In my opinion it’s better film than Mercenary. They are such a similar films but Companeros got better cast and better music. In Mercenary Franco Nero steals the show but in Companeros the pairing of Milian and Nero works perfectly. Palances role is also much better and more sinister in Companeros.
I love “Companeros” too
Milian like Vasko ;D and ofcorce Franco Nero .They are just great
I really enjoyed Franco Nero as The Swede aka “The Penguin”. One of my favorite scenes in the film is when The Swede is hung up on that pole and Basco climbs up on top and sorta taunts him. It reminded me alot of Tuco and Blondies relationship in GBU. Its one of my favorite of the Zapata Westerns too.
is it companeros where he’s buried in the ground only with his head out or is that mercenario… havent watched both in a while
Yeah Basco buries him in the arena too. Then the General saves him before Bascos men trample his head like a melon.
This is one of the classics that establishes what a great genre this is. And yeah, I perfer this one over Mercenario—Due to the fact that I make it a tradition to watch this once every summer!
My thoughts on Companeros…
With a dream cast of Franco Nero (as Swedish mercenary Yod Peterson aka “penguin”) and Tomas Milian (Mexican rebel Vasco), a soundtrack by Ennio Morricone and Sergio Corbucci at the Directors helm, this film was always likely to deliver. And it delivers 100%.
The story centres around the town of San Bernardino, and a fight for power between General Mongo (Bodalo) and Professor Xantos (Fernando Rey). Xantos, a pacifist with a young and dedicated following, has been imprisoned at Fort Yuma by the Americans. His absence has left the town, and its safe, at the mercy of Mongo. However, without the combination for the lock, he is unable to access the wealth of the town.
Mongo enlists the help of Peterson to rescue Xantos, for both the combination code and probable execution. Vascos is sent to accompany him, having already suffered much humiliation as a result of an earlier confrontation with the Swede. This makes for a very uneasy relationship.
A brief fracas with Xantos’ followers at a hold-up on a train enables Peterson to escape from Vacos’ close watch. However, he is soon relying on his companion to rescue him, after he is captured by a former partner John (Jack Palance) - who he had previously betrayed some years ago to save his own skin. This betrayal had resulted in John being nailed to a tree, and relying on his faithful pet falcon, Marsha, to rescue him by biting off his hand. Not surprisingly, John holds a grudge (as well as a wooden hand!).
On escaping John’s grasp, the two make an assault on Fort Yuma in an attempt to free Xantos from the Americans. As the adventure really heats up, they’re paths will soon cross with the American army, General Mongo, Xantos’ followers and, of course, John and Marsha.
The first third of the film is perhaps a little slow and episodic, but does successfully reveal the characters of Peterson and Vasco to the viewer (with fantastic character play by Nero and Milian respectively). Once the background is established, the film soon explodes into action with a series of exciting and highly effective chases and battle sequences. Corbucci at his best.
Probably the strongest element of this movie however is its subtle use of humour. Much of this is provided by the chemistry between the two leading roles, but the laughs really reach a crescendo with Peterson and Vasco’s final liaison with Jack’s falcon Marsha. Just one great scene in a film full of them.
It is no doubt a crime to have got so far into my review without mentioning Jack Palance’s performance in much detail, because his performance as the unhinged, marijuana smoking John is scene stealing. Quite possibly one of the greatest villains of all the Spaghetti Westerns I have seen.
Music is provided by Morricone, and as always the score is a perfect accompaniment to the action - both memorable and rousing. In fact it always amazes me how the man could be so consistent! In summary, this is a must view film from the ever reliable Corbucci. And my mouth waters at the prospect of watching his other mexican revolutionary movies (‘A Professional Gun’ and ‘What Am I Doing in the Middle of a Revolution’)… very shortly, hopefully!
As usual… if you have seen it and would like to vote, http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/spaghettiwesterns/reviews/companeros.html is the place to do so!
…or do it right here :_)
Sorry Sebastian - I didn’t see the poll here, otherwise I wouldn’t have posted the link to my poll. I certainly didn’t intend to tread on any toes.
no problem at all. on every topic, a poll can be added. in case you dont see a little button at the very top, tell me and i’ll check and enable that option
I recently added this to my netflix queue… The question is to see this first or Mannaja.
Now if Netflix would just get Django and Django Kill… though I might buy the set anyway… if I can find it.
Companeros is loads better that Mannaja ;D
How’s anchor bay’s dvd?
the best on the market. uncut, good quality.
A very good sw indeed, and being swedish myself I find it funny to hear the swedish conversation between Nero and Rey. They manage ok… ;D But I haven’t heard of any real swede named “Yodlof”… :
One of my personal faves, and as a swede i loved the swedish conversation. ;D
Damine: Botholf is a Swedish name, so you never know! 
I´ll Have to check that out…
I love it too. It is great to watch Nero making jokes and Milian being the kinda stupid guy. It could be that Nero is so funny because of the fact that his synchro-voice is the one of Terence Hill on german DVD, isn’t it?
The score is incredible, in my opinion one of the best!
But I think that his name was YodlAf. I know, on DVD and everywhere stands Yodlof, but when I remember the movie, on the wanted poster is he named as YodlAf…
Another thing: Does anybody understands the cuts on the german DVD? (Except of the brawl on the trainstation)
This DVD will soon be redundant because there will be a new companeros DVD out soon that also features the uncut version (albeit with the older dub, also german).
the cuts on THAT dvd are
41:35: Franco Nero beat up by Palance’s men
89:06: a line of Rey’s dialogue missing
104:56: another line of Fernando Rey missing
