Les cruels

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 "I Crudeli" aka. "The Hellbenders", is not one of his best Films, but nevertheless a great Spaghetti Western.

A few months after the end of the Civil War, a former Confederate colonel, still a fanatic devotee to the old South, and his three sons rob a money transport of the US Army, and kill every witness in a bloody massacre. With the money they hope to realize the colonel's plan to reorganize the Confederate Army and to restore the old South.

Although "The Hellbenders" doesn't come up to Corbucci's masterpieces "Django" and "The Great Silence", it is still a great, and in some parts unusual Spaghetti Western. Joseph Cotten is great as Jonas the colonel, a religious Southerner, a fanatic who, in a cold blooded manner, puts 'the cause' over everything else. Norma Bengell's performance is very good, and Julian Mateos, who plays another main character, the Colonel's son Ben, also does a good job. Some of the movie's best performances, however, are those of the supporting cast. Aldo Sambrell is great as a Mexican outlaw and Al Mulloch has one of the film's best roles as a tricky beggar. Benito Stefanelli has very short role as a card player, and Gino Pernice plays the Colonel's son Jeff. The music by Ennio Morricone is very good, of course, although it's not one of his best scores.

Though it has some lengths "The Hellbenders" is a pretty brutal and very good Spaghetti Western, and should not be missed by my fellow Corbucci fans.

Under the pretense of escorting a body back east for burial, ex-Confederate Joseph Cotten and his sons transport a coffin full of stolen cash meant to be used to re-start the Confederacy and begin the second Civil War. However, robbing and killing a military transport was the easy part for Cotten and sons.

There's lots of great moments of suspense and double-crossing treachery in this slightly offbeat, above average spaghetti western, featuring director Sergio Corbucci's usual flair for excessive violence (for the 60's) and a good, more subtle than usual music score by the great Ennio Morricone.

Cotten, (who's great) in an appropriately cruel and domineering performance, heads a cast of familiar European faces, including a great cameo appearance by Spanish actor Aldo Sambrell as a sweaty Mexican bandit.

A Sergio Corbucci's brand new box come out this mouth on Brazilian market, three pictures spotlessly restored, I've pick up "I Crudeli" which I've never saw, mainly by famous Brazilian pretty actress Norma Bengell who co-starring this Spaghetti, by the way I didn't expect too much shall I tell, having the veteran actor Joseph Cotten coming to Europe due he is no longer was asking for by the American filmmakers, thus I went to watch with a foot behind.

Elapsed a half hour I'd change my early thoughts, Corbucci implies an American style, including the audio allowing the English language, sustained by a far-reaching screenplay the story flows so easy, about a Confederate General Jonas (Joseph Cotten) let down for lost the war against the Yankees, settles a daring plan assisted by his three sons to ambush a calvary's convoy that has a large money shipment which would be used in the reboot of the Confederate issue under his leadership, thereafter a successful bloody massacre, the next step is passing through of the Yankee territory to reach at Mexico, the scheme is quite resourceful, aided by his drunkard mistress Kitty (Maria Martin) pretends be a widow carrying back the corpse of his late husband a Confederate hero Captain Ambrose, instead it in the coffin has the stolen money, dully escorted by them.

Tragically the hard-drinking Kitty waver in the first Yankee's barrier, the cold-blooded Col. Jonas gets rid of the unstable woman, hence to keep the previous plan ahead Jonas demands that his most reliable son Ben (Julian Mateos) got a woman on the nearest city to replace as the late widow, Ben sees on the Claire (Norma Bengell) a clever poker player that should fit perfect in the widow role, promising to her two thousand dollars for the job, soon Claire envisages that is in jeopardy due the lewd Jeff (Gino Pernice) tries rape her, also the greedy Nat (Angel Aranda) upon the compliant eyes of Col. Jonas which just slapping them occasionally for others reasons only.

The craftsman director Sergio Corbucci build up a solid storyline stitched by multi-colored characters of several shades, mixing hate, tyranny, greediness and filthy behavior and even human kindness, a movie that stands of test of time, sounds fresh and deserves be discovered by newest generation of the worldwide cinephiles, Corbucci never let me down!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2021 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5

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.