Le Professionnel (1981)

On July 6TH, the world of cinema lost one of the greatest composers of the 20TH century when Italian legend Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) passed away at the age of 91. So in order to pay tribute to one of the greats, I decided that I would heck out another film that he scored and thanks to Kanopy, I decided to check out 1981's Le Professionnel (a.k.a. The Professional) which was a French film that was directed by Georges Lautner (Galia). The film stars Jean-Paul Belmondo (Casino Royale) as special agent Josselin Beaumont who was sent on a mission to Africa to assassinate a president that went absolutely wrong as it landed him two years in jail. Now he has escaped and he has made it back in time to France to teach all of them a lesson including finishing a mission as the president of that country is visiting France. The film also stars Cyrielle Clair (Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) as Alice, Marie-Christine Descouard (The Last Romantic Lover) as Doris Frederiksen, Elisabeth Margoni (Love Actually) as Jeanne Baumont, Jean-Louis Richard (The Bride Wore Black) as Le colonel Martin, Michel Beaune (Body Of My Enemy) as Le capitaine Valeras, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu (The Tenet) as L'inspecteur Farges, Pierre Saintons (Last In, First Out) as President N'Jala, and Robert Hossein (I Killed Rasputin) as Le commissaire Rosen.

This was actually a really good film from beginning to end all because of a couple of factors with one being that Jean-Paul Belmondo had enough swagger to pull off the role and the second reason being that the writing was really good. The film had a really solid story of this guy who was trained so well that he was always a step ahead of everyone, but most importantly he was pissed off because they ditched him. He was caught and the country acted like he wasn't there problem anymore so he wanted to get even with those who hired him. The character he portrays is very interesting because he has the skills of Liam Neeson's Taken character (to a point) with the swagger of James Bond (65% Connery/35% Moore) all rolled into one which is another factor of why I liked him. I definitely liked Ennio's work for this soundtrack as it had a subtle (not over the top) feel to it much like the French so it fit nicely. I liked some of the action in the film as it definitely does the trick, but I have to question the tactics of police officers in France because they do some shady stuff to get the answers they want. The last thing that I liked is that they throw a monkey wrench at you in the end and they end the film in a way that shocked me. It was like sorry no one gets away with anything in our film. You'll have to watch to know what I am talking about, but in the end it was enjoyable to watch. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.

30 Day Movie Challenge: Day 27: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

I am not a huge fan of westerns to the point that I will not go out of my way to watch a John Wayne film, but every once in a while I catch myself watching a modern western or even a spaghetti style western. Admittedly, I have not seen a lot of Clint Eastwood's (Dirty Harry) westerns so when I saw that today's task was to watch any of the films listed on IMDB.com's top trending films, I took the opportunity to see 1966's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly which was ranked 9TH on the list. The film follows three different men with Eastwood playing Blondie (The Good), Lee Van Cleef (Escape From New York) as Angel Eyes (The Bad), and Eli Wallach (Keeping The Faith) as Tuco (The Ugly). Each man is after a sum of $200,000 which is said to be buried in a grave somewhere that only Tuco knows and in a grave that only Blondie knows so they need each other to make it, but will they in this roller coaster adventure. The film also stars Aldo Giuffrè (When Women Had Tails) as Alcoholic Union Captain, Luigi Pistilli (For A Few Dollars More) as Father Ramirez, Rada Rassimov (Don't Wait, Django... Shoot!) as Maria, Enzo Petito (Night Train To Milan) as Storekeeper, Antonio Casale (Duck, You Sucker) as Bill Carson, Mario Brega (A Fistful Of Dollars) as Cpl. Wallace, and the film was directed by Sergio Leone (Once Upon A Time In America).

What an amazing film this was from beginning to end as they take you on this journey of ups and downs that seems like it's never going to end. There is definitely a reason why each one of them is labeled the way they are and it's simple as Tuco is just an ugly dude inside and out and he'll pretend to be your friend while stabbing you in the back. Angel Eyes may be a deceiving dude to some, but he is all around just a bad dude. He is all business and you know that he doesn't care about you unless his pockets are not getting fat. Meanwhile, Blondie is a good dude who lives by a set of rules and morals that he does not break and he gives some the benefit of the doubt. Sure was he scamming people with Tuco, but at the end of the day he was being fair with Tuco as far as money was concerned. I absolutely loved the cinematography in this film as every shot was just about amazing and I loved the sets that they built for this film. There was a lot of action at times and you definitely do not miss it. You also can not forget about the amazing score by the incredible Ennio Morricone which helped set the moods in the film and you can't forget The Ecstasy Of Gold which plays during the famous scene when Tuco finds the cemetery. If you have never seen any of the films, definitely give this one a shot because you will not regret it. It has amazing actors and everything in between which is why I am giving the film an A+ for a final grade.