Les cruels

This film (which I saw as "The Hellbenders") is not much like the average western. As you watch, it is not easy to decide if we are supposed to be rooting for or against the main characters. Even when it becomes apparent which side of the good/evil line most of them stand on, Jonas (the real focus of the story) remains in a grey area. In the end, wether he is a hero or villain depends on the ideals of the audience. That is what I found most refreshing about this film. It lets you make up your own mind, rather than forcing one opinion of what is virtuous on you.

After the Civil War a dedicated ex-Confederate officer leads a hearse with a coffin full of money to New Mexico where he wants to revive the Confederation. His company is formed by his three very different sons and an alcoholic women. After the woman gets killed she is replaced by a seasoned female gambler who is well played by Norma Bengell. The whole story unfolds in the way of a road movie where the characters are passing through the typical obstacles of a Western environment. Due to a massacre the bunch committed in the beginning they are hunted by unionists and government officials. Corbucci manages to make the characters who are basically all criminals very likable and I was more often than not at the edge of my seat when the bunch run into trouble. Probably THE WILD BUNCH from Peckinpah got some inspirations from here and Corbucci's COMPAÑEROS can be considered a later variant with a different mood.

The mood of the film is excellently supported by Morricone's score which belongs to his best. Cinematography is above average. The Spaghetti Western Web Board rated this film at #24 of all SW in 2005.

7 / 10

a special western. because the classic ingredients of genre are only details. because the theme of illusory dream becomes, scene by scene, more dramatic and complex. at the first sigh - the film of Joseph Cotten proposing an ambiguous hero. in fact, few interesting performances - Norma Bengell and Julian Mateos are the most easy to name - , a story who is far to be predictable, a powerful end who has the mark of period but who transforms entire story in a kind of parable. a film who is different by basic expectations. and that fact does it special. because it has not exactly genre apart, the theme is more profound by fights, love stories and line between good and bad guy, the meetings with different people, from the original sin to the desire of justice of the Indians , the memorable performance of All Mulock as the beggar, are steps to the verdict of viewer. a waste trip, madness of lost cause, justice or simply destiny. a film with many touching scenes. and with an useful message.

Sergio Corbucci's Western is packed with noisy action and lots of violence. Italian-Spanish co-production financed by Jose G. Maesso and Albert Band with full of action , exaggerated characters, shootouts and drama. This is a surprisingly low-key Spaghetti Western set in the post-Civil War era in which a washed-out confederate Colonel (Joseph Cotten) and his band of three sons (Julian Mateos ,Guido Pernice, Angel Aranda) lead a hearse and taking on a variety of problems and risks with the aim to go on the rebel cause. As three diverse characters and their father who call themselves ¨The Hellbenders¨ joining forces to carry a stolen currency and weapons. The crazed ex-Confederate Cotten plans to utilize it to reorganize Confederacy and rekindle the war but finding numerous complications .

This entertaining picture contains a twisted plot, Western action , crossfire and bits of campy and refreshing events with twists and turns. An improbable blending of standard Western with pursuits, high body-count and it's fast moving as well as quite entertaining. An interesting casting full of usual Spaghetti faces make this oater well worth the watching. Delightful Western in which the violent family uses their wit, breaking all the rules and kicking virtually every cliché in the pants, as the group relentlessly deceives, plunders, robs and kills. Decent but sometimes lumbering Western goes on and on about the same premise , as minutes are superfluous, it has quarter hour of excess , as it pack some moments turn out to be dull and tiring . Furthermore, here appears ordinary secondaries of Spaghetti/Paella Western, such as: Julián mateos, Ángel Aranda, Aldo Sambrell , Ennio Girolami, Jose Canalejas , Alvaro De Luna, Simón Arriaga, Rafael Vaquero and Benito Stefanelli who is also master of arms and stunt. The musician Ennio Morricone or Leo Nichols composes a nice soundtrack with catching leitmotif and well conducted ; it's full of guttural sounds with use of harmonica , trumpets and guitar. Striking cinematography by Enzo Barboni or E. B. Clucher (author of Trinity series with Terence Hill, Bud Spencer) who does an adequate cinematography with barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun and photographed in Eastmancolor with negative regularly processed, that's why results necessary an urgent remastering . Interiors filmed at Italia , Cinecitta studios , and outdoor sequences shot on outskirts of Madrid La Pedriza , Colmenar Viejo , and of course , at Almeria, Spain, as usual. In addition , there are many fine technicians and good helpers, intervening as assistant direction Ruggiero Deodato, future director of ¨Cannibal Holocaust¨ and evocative Art Direction by Perez Cubero and Galicia.

The direction by Sergio Corbucci (along with the uncredited Albert Band) is well crafted, here is more cynical and less inclined towards humor and contains too much action, but especially this attractive western contains ample violence. Therefore the film contains shootouts, bloody spectacles and fist fights. Sergio Corbucci filmed his first Western in Spain, explaining the following: ¨I saw that in Spain there were these magnificent horses, these extraordinary canyons, this desert landscape that looked a lot like Mexico or Texas, or rather how we imagined them. So, when Sergio Leone and I were filming 'The Last Days of Pompeii' (1959), we often said to each other: "Wait a minute, we could make an incredible Western here, right?" Corbucci was an expert in Spaghetti Westerns, but also in comedies, his Western scores were usually composed by Ennio Morricone, and the comedies were frequently composed by Guido De Angelis and Maurizio De Angelis. The other Sergio made several Spaghetti classics as ¨ Django¨, ¨The great silence¨, ¨The specialist¨ , and Zapata Westerns as ¨The Mercenary¨, ¨The Compañeros¨ and ¨What am I doing in middle of the revolution¨ . In addition Sergio directed other other less successful S. W. such as: ¨Far West story¨ ,¨Johnny Oro¨, ¨The white the yellow an the black¨ and ¨Minnesota Clay¨. It's an offbeat , surprising and uneven Western but will appeal to Corbucci aficionados . Rating : 7 , riotous Western in which there's too much action and violence and excitement enough.

Joseph Cotton stars as Jonah, an ex-confederate trying to keep the dreams of the south alive following General Lee's surrender. He and his sons, known as the Hellbenders, massacre a troop to steal the money that they are transporting, with the aim of using this prize to restart the confederate cause. The stolen loot is stored in a coffin, disguised as the dead Captain Ambrose, and transported across the desert to Jonah's home town. They are accompanied by a drunken whore, under the guise of Ambrose's mourning widow, supposedly transporting the dead man to his place of rest. The search for the troop's murderers is in full flow, but Jonah is a man obsessed with the cause, and nothing or no-one is going to stop him achieving his objective.....

Hellbenders is an absolute classic of the Spaghetti Western genre, standing proudly side by side fellow Corbucci classics Django and the Great Silence. It continues in Corbucci's usual vein, firing bullets of unjust and unexpected twists at the screen, as the plot spirals towards its grim finale. All the while, the engaging trumpet of Morricone's score becomes more and more pleasing to the ear.

The slow but gripping pace of the movie reminds me of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in the way that its story is joined together by a number of sub plots. But here there is little humour. Aside from Ben (Mateos) and Claire (Bengell), the Hellbenders are an ugly and evil lot. Cotton is compelling as Jonah, his deadpan expression superbly capturing the characters single-minded vision. Pernice (perhaps most famous for having his ear cut off in Django) is truly deranged as the equally perverted and dim-witted Jeff. There are also great cameo appearances from euro-western favourites Al Mulock, Aldo Sambrell and Benito Stefanelli.

The film does tend to plod rather than gallop in a number of places (and this is in no way a bad thing!), and its story is quite different from the majority of the films in the Spaghetti Western genre. But it is a compelling view, with the scene at the Fort and the excellent finale worth the price of admission in itself.