The Revengers

Except for some 1972-circa swear words and a co-production deal with Mexico, this fairly routine Western from director Daniel Mann (Willard) brought nothing new to the cowboy genre. The Dirty Dozen-type plot has rancher John Benedict (William Holden)—a Congressional Medal of Honor hero—about to see his son off to West Point when a Commanche raid led by renegade whites results in a massacre on his homestead. Devoting himself to vengeance, Benedict hires six "slave" convicts from a Mexican compound as his personal posse. Initially, the multicultural rabble (Woody Strode plays a black runaway from the Confederacy, the noblest member of the group) belittle Benedict and his mission, but gradually—as the quest drags on for years—the former outlaws find themselves enjoying newfound camaraderie as travelling gunfighter-avengers, even though Benedict comes to rue the violence they commit. The straightforward material has neither the over-the-top operatic flair of an Eastwood spaghetti Western nor the wry sophistication of anti-Westerns such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Noteworthy mainly as the last film for starlet Susan Hayward, The Revengers, which costars Ernest Borgnine, is a strong optional purchase. (C. Cassady)[Blu-ray Review—Aug. 11, 2015—Kino Lorber, 106 min., PG, $29.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1972's The Revengers features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD mono soundtrack, but no extras. Bottom line: this minor Western looks sharp on Blu-ray.]