Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    Banner
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
      • Playlists
    • Television
      • Shows by Decade
        • 1950s Television
        • 1960s Television
        • 1970s Television
        • 1980s Television
        • 1990s Television
      • Shows by Genre
        • Comedy
        • Drama
        • Kids TV
        • Variety
        • News & Sport
        • Advertisements
      • Shows by Country
        • UK TV
        • USA TV
        • Australia & NZ TV
        • Canada TV
        • Europe TV
        • Japan TV
      • Shows A to K
        • Shows A
        • Shows B
        • Shows C
        • Shows D
        • Shows E
        • Shows F
        • Shows G
        • Shows H
        • Shows I
        • Shows J
        • Shows K
      • Shows L to Z
        • Shows L
        • Shows M
        • Shows N
        • Shows O
        • Shows P
        • Shows Q
        • Shows R
        • Shows S
        • Shows T
        • Shows U
        • Shows V
        • Shows W
        • Shows X
        • Shows Y
        • Shows Z
      • Shows 0 to 9
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • 1950s Music
        • 1960s Music
        • 1970s Music
        • 1980s Music
        • 1990s Music
      • Music A to K
        • Music A
        • Music B
        • Music C
        • Music D
        • Music E
        • Music F
        • Music G
        • Music H
        • Music I
        • Music J
        • Music K
      • Music L to Z
        • Music L
        • Music M
        • Music N
        • Music O
        • Music P
        • Music Q
        • Music R
        • Music S
        • Music T
        • Music U
        • Music V
        • Music W
        • Music X
        • Music Y
        • Music Z
      • Music 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • 1950s Movies
          • Movies 1950
          • Movies 1951
          • Movies 1952
          • Movies 1953
          • Movies 1954
          • Movies 1955
          • Movies 1956
          • Movies 1957
          • Movies 1958
          • Movies 1959
        • 1960s Movies
          • Movies 1960
          • Movies 1961
          • Movies 1962
          • Movies 1963
          • Movies 1964
          • Movies 1965
          • Movies 1966
          • Movies 1967
          • Movies 1968
          • Movies 1969
        • 1970s Movies
          • Movies 1970
          • Movies 1971
          • Movies 1972
          • Movies 1973
          • Movies 1974
          • Movies 1975
          • Movies 1976
          • Movies 1977
          • Movies 1978
          • Movies 1979
        • 1980s Movies
          • Movies 1980
          • Movies 1981
          • Movies 1982
          • Movies 1983
          • Movies 1984
          • Movies 1985
          • Movies 1986
          • Movies 1987
          • Movies 1988
          • Movies 1989
        • 1990s Movies
          • Movies 1990
          • Movies 1991
          • Movies 1992
          • Movies 1993
          • Movies 1994
          • Movies 1995
          • Movies 1996
          • Movies 1997
          • Movies 1998
          • Movies 1999
      • Movies A to K
        • Movies A
        • Movies B
        • Movies C
        • Movies D
        • Movies E
        • Movies F
        • Movies G
        • Movies H
        • Movies I
        • Movies J
        • Movies K
      • Movies L to Z
        • Movies L
        • Movies M
        • Movies N
        • Movies O
        • Movies P
        • Movies Q
        • Movies R
        • Movies S
        • Movies T
        • Movies U
        • Movies V
        • Movies W
        • Movies X
        • Movies Y
        • Movies Z
      • Movies 0 to 9
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Radio
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»1970s Movies»Movies 1972
    Movies 1972 Movies R 3 Mins Read

    Revengers, The (1972)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    John Benedict (William Holden) is a Civil War veteran and rancher whose family is massacred by a band of Comanches led by two white Comanchero horse thieves. Captured by the sheriff’s posse, one of them informs that the other, Tarp (Warren Vanders) has taken the horses to Mexico to trade them.

    Benedict rides alone into Mexico in search of Tarp, who is known to hide out in Pueblo Plata, and, posing as a mine owner in need of labourers, he hires six condemned men from a prison called El Hoyo – Hoop (Ernest Borgnine), Job (Woody Strode), Chamaco (Jorge Luke), Quiberon (Roger Hanin), Zweig (Reinhard Kolldehoff) and Cholo  (Jorge Martinez DeHoyos) – with the intention of enlisting their help in finding and killing Tarp.

    Eventually, they ride together into the Pueblo Plata stronghold, but in the ensuing gun battle with the Indians, Tarp escapes. Benedict pursues him alone and parts with his men, but they decide to stay with him and for months they ride.

    Benedict’s first realisation of his moral degeneration comes when he and his men pay an unwelcomed visit to a Texas town. An old friend, now Marshal Whitcomb (John Kelly), brings home the truth that he’s become as callous as the man he is hunting, and Benedict – confused and bitter – rides to a stage station where, with a bottle of whisky, he broods over photographs of his dead family.

    It is here that The Revengers could and should have developed the theme of moral conflict. Benedict started out to avenge his family’s murder because of the love he held for them, but his prime motivation is now hatred rather than love.

    Thus he is on a level with Tarp, and his realisation of this could have permitted an in-depth character analysis. Instead, Benedict is shot by one of his men after insulting him, and his moral investigation is reduced to a corny romance with the frontier nurse to whom he owes his life, Elizabeth Reilly (Susan Hayward).

    But the chase can’t be left in mid-air, so Benedict resumes his hunt in Mexico, but is recognised by the former warden of El Hoyo and, ironically, is imprisoned there. Even more ironically, it is Benedict’s men, the ex-convicts, who rescue him and once more join with him for the seemingly endless search.

    The final, inevitable, confrontation with Tarp comes after they have saved a cavalry post from an Indian attack. Tarp has been captured by the US Army and Benedict finds him cowering in the darkness of a shed, babbling with madness.

    Benedict spares him, finally realising that a man’s ability to love is far more important than hatred.

    The Revengers was William Holden’s final Western and flopped at the box office.

    John Benedict
    William Holden
    Hoop
    Ernest Borgnine
    Job
    Woody Strode
    Quiberon
    Roger Hanin
    Zweig
    Reinhard Kolldehoff
    Chamaco
    Jorge Luke
    Cholo 
    Jorge Martínez de Hoyos
    Free State
    Arthur Hunnicutt
    Tarp
    Warren Vanders
    Arny
    Larry Pennell
    Marshal Whitcomb
    John Kelly
    Lieutenant
    Scott Holden
    Morgan
    James Daughton
    Mrs Benedict
    Lorraine Chanel
    Elizabeth Reilly
    Susan Hayward
    Warden
    Raúl Pérez Prieto

    Director
    Daniel Mann

    Related Posts

    • Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
      Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
      Robert Redford plays Johnson, the former soldier of the title who becomes a mountain-trapper in Utah in the 1850s after…
    • Getaway, The (1972)
      Getaway, The (1972)
      Carter "Doc" McCoy (Steve McQueen) is about as tough as they come. A criminal as unscrupulous as he is intelligent,…
    • Greaser’s Palace (1972)
      Greaser’s Palace (1972)
      Robert Downey Sr. set Greaser's Palace in 1837 in the Old West, where the wicked and permanently constipated Seaweedhead Greaser (Albert Henderson)…
    • Godfather, The (1972)
      Godfather, The (1972)
      On the basis of the first hundred pages of The Godfather, Mario Puzo was paid $80,000 to finish the novel. By the…
    • Raggedy Man (1981)
      Raggedy Man (1981)
      Who is the Raggedy Man? Who is this curious figure who always seems to be lurking in the shadows though…
    • Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1993)
      Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1993)
      The heroic outlaw returns from the Crusades to discover the country is in the grip of evil Prince John and…
    • Red Sky at Morning (1971)
      Red Sky at Morning (1971)
      Red Sky at Morning is a sprawling account of a young boy growing up during World War II and learning the…
    • Rambo III (1988)
      Rambo III (1988)
      Vietnam veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is tracked down to a Buddhist monastery by his friend Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna),…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleTales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
    Next Article Little-known Facts About the Rovers Return

    Comments are closed.

    NC Radio Player
    Search the site

    Nostalgia Central has been a labour of love since 1998. The site carries no advertising, and I rely on donations to help with running costs and to keep the site running for your entertainment and education.

    If you find the site informative or enjoyable, please consider a donation – no matter how small. 

    Thank you so much.
    Enjoy your trip in the time machine!

    You may also like

    • Innocent Bystanders (1972)
      Innocent Bystanders (1972)
      Featuring Stanely Baker’s last big-screen role, Innocent Bystanders looks and feels like a hard-boiled low-rent James Bond. Proof that Baker…
    • Cowboys, The (1972)
      Cowboys, The (1972)
      John Wayne plays Will Andersen, a 60-year-old cowboy who laments the passing of the "old" west when a man's handshake…
    • Getaway, The (1972)
      Getaway, The (1972)
      Carter "Doc" McCoy (Steve McQueen) is about as tough as they come. A criminal as unscrupulous as he is intelligent,…
    • Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
      Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
      Robert Redford plays Johnson, the former soldier of the title who becomes a mountain-trapper in Utah in the 1850s after…


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Copyright © 1998, 2023 Nostalgia Central. Run by volunteers. Funded by donations.
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.