The Specialists (1969) on Netflix
Hud Dixon comes back to Blackstone, where he was raised, after his brother Charly is lynched for robbing a bank. The town allows no guns, and Hud means to settle with it.
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- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.3/101,765 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Hud Dixon rides toward Blackstone and interrupts a coach robbery, killing several of the bandits and driving off the rest. A group of rebellious teenagers watches and asks him to join their plan to seize the town, but he refuses. He has come back because his brother Charly was lynched for robbing a bank, and he blames the town. Blackstone permits no guns, so Hud gives up his own, yet many residents are quietly armed and come at him; he survives each attempt. He lodges with Sheba, an old friend who loves him. Virginia Pollicut, who runs the bank and knew him before, tries to draw him in. The sheriff distrusts Hud and follows him, and bandits in the service of El Diablo, a former partner of Hud and his brother, want the money Charly stole and hid.
Cast
- Gabriella Taverneseas Apache
- Stefano Cattarossias Kit
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Specialists (1969)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sergio Corbucci first developed The Specialists as a starring vehicle for Lee Van Cleef, but dropped it after the two fell out; French producer Edmond Tenoudji had it retooled when he asked Corbucci to write and direct a film for singer Johnny Hallyday.
- In the UK the film came out in June 1973 as an English-dubbed version titled Drop Them or I'll Shoot; rated X by the BBFC, it ran 92 minutes against the 104-minute uncut European prints and lost scenes including the whole pre-credits sequence.
- Françoise Fabian argued with Sergio Corbucci over his plan to include a rape scene for her character, and the director's wife defended his position as tensions rose between the Italian and French crew members.
- Most of the dialogue was performed in French to accommodate the lead actors and sell the film in France, and Johnny Hallyday recalled that much of the film was improvised, with scenes written as they were shot.
- Retrospective critics and scholars of Sergio Corbucci's Westerns have called The Specialists the final film of his "Mud and Blood" trilogy, which also includes Django (1966) and The Great Silence (1968).
