Hellbender's - A Damn Fine Western
This is the movie for the man. You'll ride long-winded along side this gun-slinging flick where "don't trust nobody" is the only way out.
A LOST CLASSIC
"The Hellbenders," directed by Segio Corbucci, is essential viewing for fans of the Western genre. The film's plot revolves around ex Confederate Colonel Jonas , played by Joseph Cotton, and his sons, Ben, greedy Nat, and rapist Jeff. Determined to reorganize the Southern Army and defeat the Union, Colonel Jonas and his sons massacre a platoon of Union soldiers transporting a consignment of banknotes and conceals the loot in a coffin supposedly belonging to a deceased Confederate officer, Captain Ambrose, who was killed in the Battle of Nashville. They hire a drunken prostitute named Kitty to pretend to be the officer's widow. The film has a plot similar to Vera Cruz, in which Burt Lancaster, a dandy gunfighter, and Gary Cooper, a former Confederate Colonel, team up to escort a carriage with a French countess to Vera Cruz, for the Emperor Maximilian. In fact, a hoard of gold is hidden aboard the carriage. The score by Ennio Morricone is haunting, while the cinematography by Enzo...
Si, pasta western noir, amigo!
This quirky western has a fantastic plot more evocative of TV's "The Wild Wild West" than a standard oater. Joseph Cotten is superb here with his delightfully twisted, Southern rebel ways, his fine Mercury Players' theatrical playing style... all in fine fettle well past his career's high noon. Cotten appears to have cared not the least about the critics which makes his performance all the more delicious.
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