The Worst Film Ever

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Under the pretense of escorting a body back east for burial, ex-Confederate Joseph Cotten and his sons transport a coffin full of stolen cash meant to be used to re-start the Confederacy and begin the second Civil War. However, robbing and killing a military transport was the easy part for Cotten and sons.There's lots of great moments of suspense and double-crossing treachery in this slightly offbeat, above average spaghetti western, featuring director Sergio Corbucci's usual flair for excessive violence (for the 60's) and a good, more subtle than usual music score by the great Ennio Morricone. Cotten, (who's great) in an appropriately cruel and domineering performance, heads a cast of familiar European faces, including a great cameo appearance by Spanish actor Aldo Sambrell as a sweaty Mexican bandit.

Knowing that a hellbender is actually a large type of salamander, I was weirdly surprised to see that the flag draped coffin bore a likeness of a salamander on it. The Hellbenders were a Confederate outfit in the film, with leader Jonas (Joseph Cotten) and his three sons attempting to revive the Southern cause with a million dollars in stolen money. The story starts out rather unbelievably as Jonas, with only two sons, wipe out a thirty man Union convoy from behind rocks and trees. Now that there's a ten thousand dollar bounty on their heads, their march back home to Nashville is fraught with peril on all sides.Jonas himself is rather a vile sort, establishing his authority early in the story, and when he yells jump, his sons know enough to ask how high. The development of the story allows enough time for son Ben (Julian Mateos) to come to question his father's autocratic supremacy, in no small part aided by a newly hired stand-in daughter after maniac Jeff (Gino Pernice) dispatches the gold digging Kitty. However high stakes gambler Claire (Norma Bengell) is more than a match for Jonas when she pulls a fast one and has the group headed for Fort Brant where she insists her manufactured husband be buried. The whole time you wonder what evil plan Jonas will cook up for his 'daughter'.There were a couple of clever symbolic moments in the story which left me wondering whether they were intentional. When the Indians appeared to seek justice for the death of the chief's daughter, it provoked a family Civil War, brother against brother with the outcome satisfactory to the chief.Anticipating a "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" type of ending, I expected to see the coffin release it's contents to the desert winds. The twist of course was just as satisfying, and led directly to an understated definition to the film's title. With time running out and the mission at a collapse, it was fitting to see the wounded Jonas slither across the parched banks of the Rio Hondo looking just like, well, a hellbender.

Joseph Cotten is an ex-Confederate soldier who would like to see the South rise again. To finance such a venture, he and his three sons rob a Union convoy carrying $1 million. The money is placed in a coffin and disguised as the dead husband of Cotten's "daughter" - really just a woman he has hired to play the part of a widow in case they get stopped. The group will have to evade not only the Union Army, but also Mexican bandits, revenge minded Indians, a posse, and each other if they are to get home with the money.After having seen Hellbenders, I'm convinced now more than ever that if it weren't for Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci would be the recognized master of the Spaghetti Western. Hellbenders fits nicely beside Corbucci's other genre masterpieces. It may not be as over-the-top as Django or as beautiful as The Great Silence, but in it's own unique way, it's almost as good. Hellbenders takes it's own sweet time telling its story, and that's a good thing. You really get to know the characters and develop feelings for them. The acting, whether it's the crazed brother Jeff (Gino Pernice), the sympathetic Claire (Norma Bengell), or the always entertaining Cotten, is as good as you'll see in this kind of movie. The ending is marvelous. It's got to be one of the most satisfying twist endings I've seen in a SW.For those familiar with SWs, all I really need to say about the score is that it was composed by Ennio Morricone. That should be enough. The main theme is a trumpet-dominated mournful piece that grows in meaning throughout the film.

This film (which I saw as "The Hellbenders") is not much like the average western. As you watch, it is not easy to decide if we are supposed to be rooting for or against the main characters. Even when it becomes apparent which side of the good/evil line most of them stand on, Jonas (the real focus of the story) remains in a grey area. In the end, wether he is a hero or villain depends on the ideals of the audience. That is what I found most refreshing about this film. It lets you make up your own mind, rather than forcing one opinion of what is virtuous on you.