The Professionals

I don't *quite* understand the ending....was the money in the cart
that Claudia and Jack ran off in? And if not...after killing about 150
men, all FOUR decide to let Claudia go cause Ralph Bellamy slaps her
around?

Sorry, if I'm being a bit thick, I thought it was a great film, but
the ending seemed a bit forced and out of character from what Burt and
Lee have been telling me (the audience) for the whole film....unless
they did gt the money. But Burt seems to be saying they didn't.

On Oct 16, 6:20 pm, "Magnus, Robot Fighter" wrote:

***** spoilers throughout for various films *****





> I don't *quite* understand the ending....was the money in the cart
> that Claudia and Jack ran off in? And if not...after killing about 150
> men, all FOUR decide to let Claudia go cause Ralph Bellamy slaps her
> around?
>
> Sorry, if I'm being a bit thick, I thought it was a great film, but
> the ending seemed a bit forced and out of character from what Burt and
> Lee have been telling me (the audience) for the whole film....unless
> they did gt the money. But Burt seems to be saying they didn't.

It's been a great many years since I've seen this movie, so someone
please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think your initial impression is
indeed correct: They let Cardinale go and they don't get the money.

While it may strike you as out of character, this sort of message is
fairly common in Westerns and especially in a certain subgenre of
Westerns. It's kind of a variant of Jean Jacques Rousseau's "noble
savage" theme that can be found in American literature at least as far
back as James Fenimore Cooper -- the notion that however ruthless and
mercenary these figures might be, they still possess some sort of
inner "code" that is often lacking in their so-called "civilized"
counterparts. Something very similar happens in another film that has
been mentioned, _Valdez Is Coming_ (1971). At the end of that movie
Barton Heyman, the gang boss of the rich and amoral Jon Cypher,
suddenly does an about-face -- when ordered by Cypher to kill the
cornered Burt Lancaster, he refuses, telling Cypher "She's not *my*
woman" (she in this case being Susan Clark).

Yrs,

Michael