. . . as in, an amusement park, with the title character carrying simple tunes by noted spaghetti western composer Ennio Morricone, as he cackles maniacally while gunning down legions of Mexican troops who put up LESS resistance than the target wooden ducks in a carnival midway shooting gallery. The lead characters here pull off more close escapes than John Dillinger and the Boston Marathon Bombers combined, no matter how hopeless their many predicaments appear to be. THE MERCENARY will work as a feel-good comedy, as long as none of your ancestors served in the Mexican Army. It also provides a chance to see actor Jack Palance in the buff, BEFORE he won an Oscar. (Palance is so busy stripping down in THE MERCENARY, he does not even have time for any of his trademark one-armed push-ups.) This flick packs so much action into its 106 minutes that you barely notice that the allegedly "Polish" title character looks as Latin as his co-stars. Though some guys probably would have preferred to see MORE of the mercenary ladies and LESS of Jack, this flick is about making War, not Love.
Review of The Mercenary
