Companeros is a 1970 Italian Western directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Franco Nero.
Companeros tells the story of Yodlaf Peterson, a Swedish arms dealer who forms a shaky alliance with El Vasco, the leader of a Mexican revolutionary group. They aim to protect Professor Xantos, the intellectual head of a student resistance group, from military leader General Mongo and mercenary John, the Wooden Hand.
Companeros is a fun, stylish Italian Western that essentially represents the greatest hits of Sergio Corbucci. It’s a vivid, cleanly shot movie that is equal parts violent and campy.
The characters follow the formula created in earlier Corbucci movies – Franco Nero is the suave foreign mercenary who reveals a soft heart, Tomas Milian is the hardened gunslinger turned revolutionary, Eduardo Fajardo plays a boisterous Mexican general and Jack Palance takes another turn as a warped but quirky villain. There’s also yet another female revolutionary who plays the love interest.
And of course, it just wouldn’t be a Corbucci movie if Nero doesn’t let a machine gun rip….
Nero basically plays his role from The Mercenary, only he swaps Polish roots for Swedish. He’s suave, self-assured and playfully stoic. Again, he arrives in town to sell weapons, then gets mixed up in a revolution. Along the way, his professional lone wolf persona gets assimilated into a buddy comedy. There’s a fun running joke between his character and Milan’s El Vasco regarding a silver coin.
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