Sergio Corbucci's Western is packed with noisy action and lots of violence. Italian-Spanish co-production financed by Jose G. Maesso and Albert Band with full of action , exaggerated characters, shootouts and drama. This is a surprisingly low-key Spaghetti Western set in the post-Civil War era in which a washed-out confederate Colonel (Joseph Cotten) and his band of three sons (Julian Mateos ,Guido Pernice, Angel Aranda) lead a hearse and taking on a variety of problems and risks with the aim to go on the rebel cause. As three diverse characters and their father who call themselves ¨The Hellbenders¨ joining forces to carry a stolen currency and weapons. The crazed ex-Confederate Cotten plans to utilize it to reorganize Confederacy and rekindle the war but finding numerous complications .
This entertaining picture contains a twisted plot, Western action , crossfire and bits of campy and refreshing events with twists and turns. An improbable blending of standard Western with pursuits, high body-count and it's fast moving as well as quite entertaining. An interesting casting full of usual Spaghetti faces make this oater well worth the watching. Delightful Western in which the violent family uses their wit, breaking all the rules and kicking virtually every cliché in the pants, as the group relentlessly deceives, plunders, robs and kills. Decent but sometimes lumbering Western goes on and on about the same premise , as minutes are superfluous, it has quarter hour of excess , as it pack some moments turn out to be dull and tiring . Furthermore, here appears ordinary secondaries of Spaghetti/Paella Western, such as: Julián mateos, Ángel Aranda, Aldo Sambrell , Ennio Girolami, Jose Canalejas , Alvaro De Luna, Simón Arriaga, Rafael Vaquero and Benito Stefanelli who is also master of arms and stunt. The musician Ennio Morricone or Leo Nichols composes a nice soundtrack with catching leitmotif and well conducted ; it's full of guttural sounds with use of harmonica , trumpets and guitar. Striking cinematography by Enzo Barboni or E. B. Clucher (author of Trinity series with Terence Hill, Bud Spencer) who does an adequate cinematography with barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun and photographed in Eastmancolor with negative regularly processed, that's why results necessary an urgent remastering . Interiors filmed at Italia , Cinecitta studios , and outdoor sequences shot on outskirts of Madrid La Pedriza , Colmenar Viejo , and of course , at Almeria, Spain, as usual. In addition , there are many fine technicians and good helpers, intervening as assistant direction Ruggiero Deodato, future director of ¨Cannibal Holocaust¨ and evocative Art Direction by Perez Cubero and Galicia.
The direction by Sergio Corbucci (along with the uncredited Albert Band) is well crafted, here is more cynical and less inclined towards humor and contains too much action, but especially this attractive western contains ample violence. Therefore the film contains shootouts, bloody spectacles and fist fights. Sergio Corbucci filmed his first Western in Spain, explaining the following: ¨I saw that in Spain there were these magnificent horses, these extraordinary canyons, this desert landscape that looked a lot like Mexico or Texas, or rather how we imagined them. So, when Sergio Leone and I were filming 'The Last Days of Pompeii' (1959), we often said to each other: "Wait a minute, we could make an incredible Western here, right?" Corbucci was an expert in Spaghetti Westerns, but also in comedies, his Western scores were usually composed by Ennio Morricone, and the comedies were frequently composed by Guido De Angelis and Maurizio De Angelis. The other Sergio made several Spaghetti classics as ¨ Django¨, ¨The great silence¨, ¨The specialist¨ , and Zapata Westerns as ¨The Mercenary¨, ¨The Compañeros¨ and ¨What am I doing in middle of the revolution¨ . In addition Sergio directed other other less successful S. W. such as: ¨Far West story¨ ,¨Johnny Oro¨, ¨The white the yellow an the black¨ and ¨Minnesota Clay¨. It's an offbeat , surprising and uneven Western but will appeal to Corbucci aficionados . Rating : 7 , riotous Western in which there's too much action and violence and excitement enough.
