Professionals.....

..... two days ago I found some time to re-watch 'The Professionals' in its entirety.... and damn, but I do love me a Lee Marvin flick.... I've been a fan of his flea-bitten self since the first time I saw him in 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'.... and in later years I bought his biography and could not get enough....

.... did you know that he was wounded as a young Marine on Saipan and spent 9 months in the hospital recovering from his gunshot wounds?..... and that while he was an island-hopping jarhead his father was a sergeant in the army in Europe trying to kill Nazis?....... and more than that, after healing from his wounds, he was declared 80% disabled well before his acting career ever took off....... he was a true old corps combat vet of the highest caliber, folks.......

..... but I mention all of this because I watched the middle and end of 'The Professionals' again yesterday with The Missus..... and after an hour (just after the scene where Burt Lancaster scaled the rope to place the explosives in the canyon), she arose and sallied off to fetch my Oxford Biographical Dictionary from the living room bookshelf....

... and after leafing through quite a few pages she arrived back and sat herself down with a thud.....

Her: ..did you see Burt just climb that rope?....

Me: ...... oh yeah.... huge upper body strength..... and you know, he always did his own stunts...... he was in GREAT shape for this movie...... I've climbed a few ropes before, and he was doing that shit the HARD way...... .

Her: ..this movie was made the year that I was born...... I just checked..... he was 53 when he climbed that rope..... Lee Marvin was nearly ten years younger than him when they shot this.....

Me: ..... yeah, well, he certainly kept himself really well...... did you know that he was actually drafted during the war?..... and he spent all of his time entertaining the troops in Africa and Italy?...... never saw any combat....

Her: .. no, I didn't know that..... but wow, what a fine figure of a man he was.... even at 53....... I mean, just look at him!...... and Pompey, too!.... remember him from 'Liberty Valance'?...... he was Wayne's valet during the movie....... just look at those two guys.....

Me: ...... ummm, yeah, I guess.... that's Woody Strode as your Pompey, but you miss the point.... I think that Marvin has much more character than either of those two in this movie...... just look at him...... he's ten years Lancaster's junior, and he looks like he's 65.... and yet you still know that he can kick some ass when some ass-kicking is needed........

Her: .... I wonder what you'll look like when your 53.......

Me: ... me?.... I doubt I'll make it that long, honestly........ but if I do, I imagine that I'll look a bit more like Lee Marvin than Burt Lancaster......

Her: .... wait.... how old was your Father when he died?....

Me: ... he was born in the autumn of 1945 and died in the spring of 2001...... so he was just shy of being 56 years old.......

Her: ..... wow..... you know, I remember his 55tth birthday...... he'd just been diagnosed with cancer and your Mother sent us those photos of him peeling back the swimming pool cover and doing that backwards flip into the water on his birthday....... in September of 2000...... there wasn't an inch of fat anywhere on him.....

Me:.... yeah, I remember that...... he did a flip on his birthday every year that they had the pool..... they'd close the pool on Labor Day and he'd open it back up on the 26th - his birthday - just so he could act crazy and celebrate a little.......

Her: ...... you know, you can have Lee Marvin....and I'll keep Burt and Pompey.........

Me: .... heh.... thanks... now, shut up and watch the end of the movie..... this is the part where they all tell their "boss" that he can kiss their ass and they'd rather see Raza run off with is True Love than collect their blood money... it's the best part of the movie!....

Her:...... Jack Palance was a God as well, you know?....... but your Dad could have kicked ALL of their asses..... in turn....... and then still have done a back-flip.......

Me: ...... you're probably right........ now, shush........ and watch the movie!!....

... here's the trailer in case you've never seen the movie before.....

.... I'm pretty sure that my Dad could have taken them all in a fair fight....... but not all at once...... he'd have needed to whip them one at a time......