The Hellbenders
1967 ‘I crudeli’ Directed by Sergio Corbucci
Synopsis
A coffin without a corpse, crammed with millions in cash!
The Civil War has ended, but not for Jonas, a ruthless Confederate officer who wants to continue the fight by reorganizing Confederate troops in the Southwest with the support of a large sum of stolen money. He devises an elaborate ruse to allow his small party to travel with minimal scrutiny through hostile territory, for the money is hidden in a coffin said to contain the body of his dead son. Jonas' other sons travel with him along with a hired "widow", as they proceed to what they hope to be a new start to the War between the States. However, while en route, they face severe, ongoing strife among themselves and successive threats from Union soldiers, a posse of cowboys, and an Indian war party.
Cast
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Corbucci's second coffin full of gold. a caper film with revenge as the prize & the desire for power more corrupting than greed.
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Another solid Sergio Corbucci film, further proof that he was one of the best directors working in the spaghetti western genre. Jospeh Cotten is just fine as the patriarch of a family that guns down a convoy of soldiers to get the money, and they try to make it back home by hiring a woman to pretend her dead husband is in the coffin. Combining a simple story with interesting characters, violence, and a clever gimmick (in this case, a coffin full of stolen Civil War money), this is one of his more notable efforts, even if it doesn’t reach the pulpy heights of Django or The Big Silence.
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Corbucci's second coffin full of gold. a caper film with revenge as the prize & the desire for power more corrupting than greed.
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Watched this spaghetti Western last night in preparation for DJANGO UNCHAINED. It's a not a great one, but it's solid and increasingly grim. Joseph Cotton plays a crazed Bible-thumping CSA colonel who, with his psychopathic sons, murders a bunch of Union troops and steals a fortune in an attempt to finance his insane bid to plunge the US into another civil war. Great finale.
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Pretty good spaghetti western that feels like a road movie, psychological thriller and a dysfunctional family drama mixed in one package. While tonally and stylistically (it really looks like an early to mid 60's american western) it rarely resembles anything that we expect from Corbucci, there are more than a few moments where his signature is felt and those scenes are brilliant, especially the end. I also really liked the fact that it has a very strong female character - a rarity in the genre. Unfortunately, there's some repetition given the film's episodic nature and quite a few scenes play out in almost identical way without really giving anything new or substantial (especially regarding characters) to the viewer. Another big flaw is the dialogue. Some of it is eye-rollingly bad and unnecessary.
Even with these flaws, it's an interesting movie with a good story full of tension and bleak irony.
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Top notch Sergio Corbucci film that is a rare case of a 'Western Road Movie' as the murderous 'Hellbenders' (led by Joseph Cotten) attempt to get their coffin full of stolen money back home.
This gets off to a suitably brutal start with Corbucci delivering some top class Spaghetti Western style body count violence.
The film then settle down to well acted, well scripted, ruthless in-fighting between the group.But as well as the well handled internal conflicts the film never forgets it basically a heist aftermath movie and so we are given lots of tense, clever, blackly ironic hurdles for the 'Hellbenders' to get over as they slowly make their way through hostile terrain.
It's fun, entertaining, edge of… -
Another solid Sergio Corbucci film, further proof that he was one of the best directors working in the spaghetti western genre. Jospeh Cotten is just fine as the patriarch of a family that guns down a convoy of soldiers to get the money, and they try to make it back home by hiring a woman to pretend her dead husband is in the coffin. Combining a simple story with interesting characters, violence, and a clever gimmick (in this case, a coffin full of stolen Civil War money), this is one of his more notable efforts, even if it doesn’t reach the pulpy heights of Django or The Big Silence.