The Professionals (Columbia Pictures) (1968)

(Mat 2B; Still No. 17-28) After rescuing her, Lee Marvin stands off Mexican guerrillas determined to recapture Claudia Cardinale as Maria, while Burt Lancaster and the tempestuous beauty await the outcome in this scene from "The Professionals,"" Columbia Pictures release in Panavision and color by Technicolor. Also starred in the adventure film are Robert Ryan, Jack Palance and Ralph Bellamy. Richard Brooks directed, from his own screenplay. Robert Ryan Robert Ryan, who made his motion picture debut in 1938, has had one cardinal rule to guide him in his career: he has steadfastly steered clear of typecasting. Currently, he is amply filling the role of a tough adventurer in “The Professionals,” the Columbia Pictures’ release now bathers cierecsix Theatre also starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Ryan, Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy and Claudia Cardinale as Maria. Written for the screen and directed by Richard Brooks, “The Professionals” was filmed in Panavision and color by Technicolor. During Ryan’s career he has appeared in such _ diversified parts as a punch-drunk fighter, a fanatical anti-semite, a priest, a school-teacher, a killer, a playboy millionaire, a screaming lunatic, a Georgia sharecropper and an American general. In “The Professionals,” Ryan is one of four soldiers of fortune who invade Mexico to bring back to her millionaire rancher husband a girl held by a Mexican guerrilla leader. Born in Chicago, the son of a well-to-do contractor, Ryan entered Dartmouth and became the college heavyweight champ. Ryan couldn’t see himself working in an office and there was no percentage in becoming a fighter and ending up with bells in his head, so he went to work in a variety of jobs that included coal stoker on a freighter, sandhog, sewer builder and ranch hand. But a desire to act gnawed away at him and, finally, he headed for New York. In 1941, Ryan hit the pivotal point in his career when cast in a leading role with Tallulah Bankhead in “Clash by Night,” which won him Hollywood attention. He hit his stride with his portrayal of a vicious racist in “Crossfire” and later starred as prizefighter in “The Set-Up.” Ralph Bellamy Ralph Bellamy, who received international acclaim for his vivid portrayal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the stage and motion picture versions of “Sunrise at Campobello,” brings a solid acting talent to his starring role in “The Professionals,” written for the screen and directed by Richard Brooks and currently at the Theatre in Panavision and Technicolor. Starred in “The Professionals” also are Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance and Claudia Cardinale as Maria. Bellamy plays a wealthy Texas rancher who hires a band of soldiers of fortune to rescue his wife from a Mexican bandit leader. Bellamy, who has reached the pinnacle of a profession he entered at the age of 18, won the coveted Antoinette Perry Award as “best stage actor” for his portrayal of President Roosevelt in “Campobello” in 1958. The son of a Chicago advertising executive, young Earl was president of the drama club of Trier High School in Winnetka, and he also organized the North Shore Players. Bellamy descended on Broadway in 1928, appearing in two plays which promptly closed. Broadway exposure, however, won the handsome leading man many offers. His first film was M-G-M’s “The Secret Six.” After making more than 80 films during the next 12 years, Bellamy returned to Broadway as _ the professor who harbors a Nazitrained boy in “Tomorrow the World.” He made the film version, “Guest in the House,” and then appeared on Broadway in “State of the Union.” He re turned to Hollywood to star with Gary Cooper in “The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell” and, subsequently, after many TV appearances, appeared in “Sunrise at Campobello.” (Mat 2A; Still No. R770) While Burt Lancaster and Woody Strode guard Claudia Cardinale, Lee Marvin prepares to defend the group in this scene from "The Professionals,'' Columbia Pictures release in Panavision and color by Technicolor. Story of four men who invade Mexico to rescue a tempestuous beauty from guerrillas, "The Professionals" also stars Robert Ryan, Jack Palance and Ralph Bellamy. Richard Brooks directed, from his own screenplay. Richard Brook Having come to motion pic tures as a novelist, writer-direc tor Richard Brooks knows a goo story when he sees one. He sav one in “The Professionals,” th action drama at the Theatre based on a novel by Frank O’Rourke. A Columbia Pictures’ release, “The Professionals” stars Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy and Claudia Cardinale as Maria. It was directed by Brooks in Panavision and color by Technicolor from his own screenplay. Brooks was born in Philadelphia, and was educated in public schools there and at Temple University School of Journalism. He worked as a reporter on the Philadelphia Record, Kansas City Star, Atlantic City PressUnion and New York WorldTelegram; as a New York radio newswriter. He wrote and directed short stories for the NBC Blue Network, and wrote radio stories for Orson Welles. In World War II, Brooks served in the U. S. Marine Corps for three years. After the war, he wrote three novels, “The Brick Foxhole” (later filmed as “Crossfire”) ,““The Boiling Point” and “The Producer.” Brooks then wrote the screenplays of “Swell Guy,” “Brute Force” and “Key Largo.” His first film as a writer-director was “Crisis” followed by ‘Deadline, U.S.A.” and “The Last Time I Saw Paris.” His other films are “Blackboard Jungle,’ “Something of Value,” “The Brothers Karamazov,” “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof,” “Elmer Gantry,” which won him an Academy Award for best screenplay and won Burt Lancaster an “Oscar” as_ best actor, and “Sweet Bird of Youth.” Brooks also wrote and directed Conrad’s “Lord Jim.” Woody Sirede Woody Strode, who plays one of “The Professionals,” four soldiers of fortune in the Columbia Pictures’ release at the ........ Theatre, is one of the few famous athletes to win success in motion pictures. The action drama of high adventure stars Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy and Claudia Cardinale as Maria. Written for the screen and directed by Richard Brooks, “The Professionals” was filmed in Panavision and color by Technicolor. After engaging in professional football and wrestling for almost 20 years, Woody quit to concentrate upon building an acting career. Strode’s marvelous physique and chiselled features made him a winner almost from the start. His first role of any consequence was that of a soldier who refused to fight in “Pork Chop Hill,” a war film starring Gregory Peck. From then on, it was clear sailing for the gaunt, sixfoor-four inch, 210-pound giant and, in rapid succession, he appeared as the King of Ethiopia in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments,” a gladiator in “Spartacus,” an African witch doctor in “The Sins of Rachel \Cade” and the title role in John Ford’s “Sergeant Rutledge.” Advance Notice “The Professionals,” new Columbia Pictures release starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy and Claudia Cardinale as Maria, opens ...... at Chet sa wees Theatre. Written for the screen and directed by Richard Brooks in Panavision and color by Technicolor, “The Professionals” is the story of four soldiers of fortune who set out to rescue a girl held in a Mexican desert stronghold. Based on a novel by Frank O’Rourke, “The Professionals” has music composed and conducted by Academy Award-winner Maurice Jarre. (Mat 1B; Still No. 7-20) Lee Marvin is one of "The Professionals," four soldiers of fortune who rescue a girl held by Mexican guerrillas. Also starred in the Columbia Pictures release are Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy and Claudia Cardinale as Maria. Richard Brooks directed the adventure drama, in Panavision and color by Technicolor, from his own screenplay based on a novel by Frank O'Rourke. (Mat 1D; Still No. 36) Jack Palance plays the Mexican bandit who holds Claudia Cardinale in ‘The Professionals,"' Columbia Pictures release also starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, and Ralph Bellamy. Richard Brooks directed the adventure drama, in Panavision and color by Technicolor, from his own screenplay based on a novel by Frank O'Rourke. Music was composed and conducted by Maurice Jarre. ‘The Professionals’ Review Set against Mexico’s turbulent background, a lusty, thoroughly satisfying drama of heroic action and high adventure has been fashioned in “The Professionals,” which opened yesterday at the Pe Te Theatre. Written for the sereen and directed by Richard Brooks in Panavision and color by Technicolor, this brawling, entertaining new film stars Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy and Claudia Cardinale. The Columbia Pictures release recounts the efforts of four soldiers of fortune to rescue the beautiful young wife of an American millionaire held in a Mexican bandit desert stronghold. The would-be rescuers must pit their expert knowledge and cunning in battle against a band of some 150 skilled guerrillas. They must also overcome an even crueler enemy—the rugged, waterless wasteland and towering mountains of northern Mexico. How they carry out their mission, employing raw courage as well as every artifice and the special skills of each individual “professional”, makes for an exhilarating action film that sweeps along with the fury and impact of a desert sandstorm. Lancaster plays the demolition expert of this tight little band of professional fighting men, an adventurer with a swashbuckling appeal for the ladies who takes time out from his bravura agilities for amorous dalliance with Claudia Cardinale, as the tempestuous beauty. Marvin stars as an Army veteran, expert with all manner of small arms, who leads the band with cool courage. Robert Ryan is the professional with horses, a former cavalryman who cares for the horseflesh that must transport them over mountains and waterless desert, while Woody Strode is the fourth member of the fighting quartet, an expert tracker and bounty hunter, a man without peer in the use of the lariat, knife and bow-and-arrow, Ralph Bellamy stars as the ruthless American millionaire, who knows exactly what he wants and is willing to pay any price to get it, and Jack Palance plays the colorful guerrilla leader, a seasoned veteran of desert campaigns whose last desperate battle is against the professionals seeking to return from Mexico with the girl they have rescued. Director Richard Brooks has kept the action boiling in “The Professionals” and has managed to inject a great deal of suspense as well. His taut and muscular screenplay is based on a novel by Frank O’Rourke, and Maurice Jarre’s film music is a decided asset. Page 11