BY FRED BLOSSER
In
Sergio Corbucci’s 1967 Italian Western, “The Hellbenders†(1967), now available
on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, embittered Colonel Jonas (Joseph Cotten) devises a
plan to avenge the outcome of the Civil War. Where today’s cultural conservatives mostly express their nostalgia for
the Old South by gathering to protest the removal of Confederate monuments,
Jonas takes more extreme measures. He
and his three sons -- the remnant of his old command, known as the Hellbenders
-- ambush a military convoy transporting $1.5 million in greenbacks. Slaughtering the convoy’s cavalry escort,
they transfer the stolen money to a makeshift coffin supposedly containing the
remains of Jonas‘ “son-in-law†Ambrose Allen, another Confederate officer
killed in action at the Battle of Nashville. In truth, an officer named Ambrose Allen died at Nashville, but he
wasn’t Jonas’ son-in-law, and his corpse isn’t in the coffin. Jonas picked his name off a list of the war
dead. Using a forged travel permit and
abetted by a hired floozy who poses as the bereaved widow, they set off for
Jonas‘ Texas ranch. There, the
grief-stricken family will lay the gallant “Ambrose Allen†to rest, as Jonas
sorrowfully and convincingly tells the Army patrols and sheriffs’ posses whom
they encounter on the way. In reality,
once they arrive, the colonel will disburse the stolen money to finance and arm
an invasion of the North.
Since
Corbucci, Cotten, and the script clearly establish Jonas as a callous fanatic
wedded to a dubious cause, the movie builds suspense not by cheering him on,
but instead by presenting one obstacle after another that he and his sons must
surmount on their journey. We may not
hope that he’ll succeed in fomenting another Civil War, but regardless, we
wonder how he’ll outwit all the soldiers, lawmen, bounty hunters, outlaws, and
Indians who continually cross the Hellbenders’ path. And what will happen after circumstances
force him to replace one “widow†with another, a saloon girl, Claire, who
unexpectedly reveals a conscience as she realizes what she signed on for? Her innate honesty troubles one of the sons,
Ben (Julian Mateos), who has already begun to have his own qualms about Jonas’
brutality.
Given
Joseph Cotten’s illustrious film career, even the most dedicated genre
enthusiast would be challenged to argue that “The Hellbenders†(released in
Italy as “I crudeli†or “The Cruel Onesâ€) poses any threat for displacing the
likes of “Citizen Kane†or “The Third Man†from a list of Cotten’s most
memorable movies. Nevertheless, on its
own terms, Corbucci’s Western gives the distinguished actor a respectable showcase
with a decent, downbeat plot and strong support by the other actors, notably
Norma Bengell as Claire. Bengell uses
her arresting, expressive features to
good advantage in an exceptionally pivotal role for an actress in a Spaghetti
Western. Corbucci’s Westerns often featured a woman of easy virtue who turns
out to be the moral fulcrum of the story, and in “The Hellbenders,†Claire
serves that function. Corbucci delivers
the chair-busting saloon brawls and bloody shootouts expected by Italian Western
fans, laced together with an unusually intricate storyline for the genre. Two subplots involving an attack by a Mexican
bandit (Spaghetti stalwart Aldo Sambrell) and a chance encounter with a
pathetic but sinister beggar (the magnificently grungy Al Mulock) seem
initially to disrupt the forward momentum of the story for no other purpose
than to add more gunfights. While they
fulfill that expectation, they also set up a surprise reversal for the
characters at the end, and a finale that -- in Corbucci fashion -- leaves few
survivors standing.
The
Kino Lorber Blu-ray presents “The Hellbenders†in a beautiful 4K restoration
with a droll, informative audio commentary by Alex Cox. Cox notes that “Leo Nichols,†who composed
the score for the movie, was actually Ennio Morricone under a name that he also
used for two other Italian Westerns around the same period. The score is atypical for Morricone, sounding
more like Jerry Fielding or Jerry Goldsmith than what we’re used to hearing
from the soundtracks for Sergio Leone’s epics. Perhaps that was why Morricone decided to use the pseudonym. “The Hellbenders†is complemented by a
separate Kino Lorber release of Corbucci’s “The Specialists†in a comparably
fine 4K restoration, also with an Alex Cox commentary. There’s little else to add to what I’ve already
said about “The Specialists†(also known as “The Specialistâ€) in an earlier
blog entry HERE, except to note that the two films represent Corbucci’s
versatility within the conventions of the Spaghetti Western. “The Hellbenders†is an American-style Western
epic, albeit more viscerally violent than a typical Hollywood production from
the same period. At the other end of
the form, “The Specialists†capsizes Western conventions in the
impressionistic, caustic Corbucci style of “Django†and “The Great Silence.â€
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