The Sunday Afternoon Western: The Revengers (Region 2)
The Wild Bunch meets The Dirty Dozen was probably how the studio execs were sold on this revenge western. A simple story - rancher John Benedict’s family are murdered and he recruits a group of convicts from a Mexican prison to make them pay - is enlivened by William Holden’s performance as the obsessed rancher.
After a quick introduction showing us his idyllic home life it’s not long before Benedict’s entire family are butchered my raiding Comancheros. He only takes enough time to bury them before riding off in pursuit of the bad guys, first with a posse and then, when they turn back after the trail leads into Texas, going on solo. Realising he’s going to need a little help he breaks a group of disparate felons out of prison and enlists their at first reluctant, assistance.
Holden is reunited with his Wild Bunch co-star Ernest Borgnine but unlike that classic, Borgnine is used here mostly for comic relief. Woody Strode as the one honest man in the bunch is as underused as Borgnine, in fact only Holden’s part has any real depth to it and that has more to do with his ability as an actor rather than the quality of the script.
