By Lee Pfeiffer
Explosive Media is an exciting new German company that specializes in releasing excellent Blu-ray and DVD editions of retro movies. The good news is that all of their releases are "region free", which means they will play on any Blu-ray/DVD system. The bad news is that if you don't live in Germany, you might have a difficult time obtaining these unless you order through Amazon Germany or find the the titles through third party sellers. Nevertheless, our considerable European readership will be especially gratified that some excellent titles are now available through this company. One of those titles is The Revengers, a little-remembered but very worthwhile 1972 Western that reunited Wild Bunch co-stars William Holden and Ernest Borgnine, along with another Western icon, the great Woody Strode. The time-worn premise is a familiar one to fans of the genre. Holden plays John Benedict, a successful rancher with a loving family consisting of two sons, two daughters and a devoted wife. One day, while out hunting a mountain lion, Benedict is alerted to the fact that his ranch is being attacked by a band of ruthless rustlers. By the time he makes his way home, he finds a horrific sight to greet him: his entire family and dedicated farm hand have been mercilessly slaughtered. Benedict is overcome with grief but his overriding emotion is for revenge. He learns the band of cutthroats consists of renegade Indians and white men who are led by Tarp (Warren Vanders), who is leading the pack and their stolen herd to a hideout encampment in Mexico where they will use the horses to trade for guns and liquor. Benedict travels to Mexico and hand picks a gang of convicts who are suffering under horrid conditions in a desert prison. He "rents" them ostensibly to do labor in a mine but actually enlists them to accompany him on his seemingly suicidal mission to infiltrate Tarp's camp so he can have his revenge. Predictably, the motley crew double crosses and even robs him- but in the end, his faith in them is justified when they return and inform him they will go with him. They embark on a year-long quest to find Tarp's camp and when they do, a major battle ensues during which Tarp escapes. Benedict and his ragtag "army" continue the hunt but not without some infighting within their group that leads to Benedict being seriously wounded by one of his own men.
The Revengers looked like pretty standard horse opera stuff at the time of its release. At times it's like The Comancheros meet The Magnificent Seven by way of The Dirty Dozen and The Searchers. However, the film plays better today with Holden and Borgnine giving fine performances (the latter is particularly amusing as the sleaziest of Holden's allies) with Woody Strode and an impressive cast of supporting actors adding to the mix. Susan Hayward (in her last film role) pops up briefly as a lonely Irish nurse who cares for the wounded Holden. Director Daniel Mann makes the most of the Mexican locations and there is some truly inspired cinematography by Gabriel Torres. There are also any number of well-staged action sequences including a hell of a battle when Holden's group aids an outnumbered outpost of U.S. Cavalry against an overwhelming number of Comancheros. These scenes feature some of the best horse falls stunts of the era. The only criticism from a technical standpoint is that composer Pino Calvi's score seems dated and more appropriate for an old episode of Starsky and Hutch.
The Blu-ray edition boasts a crystal clear transfer with the film available in both English and German languages. Explosive provides some nice extras including a four-page German language illustrated booklet, a great gallery of original posters and German lobby cards and several trailers for other releases including a terrific promo for Burt Lancaster in Valdez is Coming.
Explosive Media titles may be hard to get in the English language market, but they are worth going to some trouble to obtain.
Click here to visit their web site with links to Amazon Germany.
(In America, Paramount is reissuing the film on DVD, but not Blu-ray. Click here to order)