The Hellbenders
Cast & Crew
Sergio Corbucci
Joseph Cotten
Norma Bengell
Julián Mateos
Gino Pernice
Angel Aranda
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Following the Civil War, Jonas, a former Confederate colonel, and his three sons, Ben, Jeff, and Nat, massacre a Union Army detachment in Arkansas and steal over a million dollars which the fanatical Jonas plans to use to finance renewed hostilities against the North. After concealing the cash in the coffin of a dead Confederate officer and hiring a hard-drinking woman, Kitty, to pose as the officer's bereaved widow, the four men set out for Sun Dog, the family ranch in New Mexico. En route, Kitty attempts to steal the treasure, but is caught and strangled by Jeff. Jonas quickly recruits another "widow," a dance hall hostess named Claire, and then sets out again. Attacked by Mexican bandits, the little group is rescued by Union soldiers who hang the bandits at nearby Fort Brent. Claire, in love with Ben, seizes the opportunity to thwart Jonas' plan by insisting her "husband"'s coffin be buried inside the fort. That night the enraged Jonas holds Claire as hostage and forces Ben to return to the fort and bring back the buried coffin. Although Ben succeeds, Jonas' problems continue to mount: a beggar attempts to steal the coffin and wounds Jonas before being killed himself, and Jeff's attempted rape of an Indian maiden brings forth a band of braves from her tribe demanding vengeance. When Ben offers them the coffin instead, Nat violently objects and pushes Jeff toward the Indians. In the struggle that follows, Jeff and Nat draw pistols and kill each other. Jonas, by now badly bleeding from his shoulder wound, drags the coffin away from the scene. He loses his grip and the coffin tumbles downhill to a river, breaks open, and reveals the corpse of one of the hanged Mexican bandits. In an agonizing fit of hysterical laughter, Jonas dies coughing blood. As the Indians ride off, Claire and Ben cling to each other while watching the bodies of Jonas and the bandit float downriver.
Director
Sergio Corbucci
Cast
Joseph Cotten
Norma Bengell
Julián Mateos
Gino Pernice
Angel Aranda
María Martín
Al Mulock
Aldo Sambrell
Enio Girolami
José Nieto
Claudio Gora
Julio Peña
Benito Stefanelli
Claudio Scarchilli
Alvaro De Luna
Rafael Vaquero
Ivan Scratuglia
Simón Arriaga
José Canalejas
Crew
Albert Band
Albert Band
Nino Baragli
Enzo Barboni
Mario Berriatua
Eliseo Boschi
Ruggero Deodato
Alberto Gallitti
Louis Garfinkle
Virgil C. Gerlach
Ugo Liberatore
Ugo Liberatore
José G. Maesso
Piero Mecacci
Leo Nichols
Fernando Ocaña
Safa Palatino
Jaime Pérez Cubero
Francisco Puyol
Nunzio Rotondo
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Where do you hail from?- Jonas
From under a rock. That's where they say we all begin...crawling out from underneath something.- The Beggar
That fella in the coffin, he's better off than me. He's got a roof over his head.- The Beggar
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed in Madrid, Castile, Almeria, Granada, and Anzio. Opened in Rome caApr 1967 as I crudeli; running time: 95 min; in Madrid in November 1967 as Los despiadados; running time: 90 min. Leo Nichols is a pseudonym for Ennio Morricone.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1966
dubbed
Released in United States 1966
