4 Star

1 Million Reasons to be Ruthless.

In a time when Spaghetti Westerns were fashionable, something different came to the silver screen, The Hellbenders, a hard hitting hour and a half of pure hatred and vengeance fuelled western, set at a time when the Civil war was at an end, but not for one family that wants to see the South regain its power and take what the North has won. Directed by writer Sergio Corbucci (Django (1966), The Great Silence) who concentrates on the dark brooding Jonas (Joseph Cotten, The Third Man, Citizen Kane)  the father and leader of his quirky family.

It’s 1865 and Colonel Jonas was the leader of the Hellbenders regiment of the Confederate army. He is all fire and brimstone when it comes to his outfit, which are his grown offspring, there’s Ben (Julián Mateos, Young Sánchez), Jeff (Gino Pernice, Django), and Nat (Ángel Aranda, The Last Days of Pompeii),

Meanwhile, a detachment of soldiers are taking a million dollars of old money to be destroyed. But Jonas thinks that money would fund a rebellion against the North. The family set up an ambush and ruthlessly kill everyone, leaving nothing alive, even killing a couple of their accomplices.

To get the money back home, they have come up with a cover story. Kitty (María Martín, Murders in the Rue Morgue) a hired prostitute who is in love with Jonas, will pretend to be the grieving widow of one Confederate officer, Captain Ambrose Allen, and the family are her escort, taking her husband’s coffin to be laid to rest back at home. But Kitty is a lush and her greed is stronger than her love of Jonas, and she tries to get away with the wagon and money, but she doesn’t succeed.

They will face many a peril as they try to get home and start a revolution. But they need a new widow, that’s where Claire (Norma Bengell, Planet of the Vampires) comes in. There are Yankees, Indians, bandidos and each other to contend with.

All in all, The Hellbenders is a classic spaghetti western, and now it is on Blu-ray, it is a must own for any fan of the genre.

The Hellbenders is available on Blu-ray

 

 

EXTRAS:

NEW Hell on Wheels: Howard Hughes on the Making of Sergio Corbucci’s The Hellbenders
Audio Commentary by filmmaker Alex Cox
Interview with Filmmaker and Assistant Director Ruggero Deodato
Introduction by Jean-Baptiste Thoret
Original trailer
Italian Trailer
Stills Gallery
The Blu-ray includes four art cards.