Macho Men

THE PROFESSIONALS (1966) (B) - A pretty cool '60s-era western stars rugged men and a voluptuous woman, in a gripping adventure featuring a band of misfits. Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster team up with two others (Robert Ryan and Woody Strode) to form a gang hired by a Texas millionaire to find his kidnapped wife across the border of Mexico.

The screenplay adaptation is by the legendary Richard Brooks ("Key Largo," "Elmer Gantry," "Looking for Mr. Goodbar"), and his macho dialogue crackles. Samples:

"Go to hell."
"Yes, ma'am. I'm on my way."

"You bastard."
"Mine was a mistake of birth. You, sir, are a self-made man."

Jack Palance shows up as the gruff bad guy, and Claudia Cardinale ("Once Upon a Time in the West") smolders as only she could 50 years ago. This clocks in a few ticks short of two hours, but it packs in a lot of action and suspense.

THE STUNT MAN (1980) (C+) - This one has not aged well at all. A hackneyed directing effort by Richard Rush ("Freebie and the Bean"(!)) and starring Steve Railsback (from the "Whatever Happened To" files) as a fugitive who stumbles on a movie set and lucks into the job of stunt man. It's full of corny camera tricks and embarrassingly outdated (even at the time) musical flourishes. This plays like a classic porno without the (explicit) sex.

Presumably celebrating the remnants of the old studio system, "The Stunt Man" wallows in traditional gender conceits, as well. Peter O'Toole is on board as the cliched eccentric director, and Barbara Hershey is wasted as the love interest. The script is sloppy and the plot meanders. I remember liking this one when it came out, but I was a teenager then. This time through, I winced a lot.