'The Wild Bunch' some years earlier marks the portal to William Holden's later days and career, when he still would prove himself strong enough as a veteran. You don't find him old and tired here but rather full of guts and also humanity in all his macho supremacy. Unlike in 'The Wild Bunch' they don't all get killed but only one of them, while the main villain is left to live unless the authorities hang him, which they would probably do. The great change in the film occurs more than halfway when suddenly Susan Hayward is there like a soft blanket covering up all the villainy and rudeness, and she more than saves the film: she turns it in a totally different and unexpected way, giving it a relieving continuity when it should have been finished. They are almost all veterans here, William Holden at 54, Ernest Borgnine at 55, Woody Strode at 58, Suysan Hayward also 55 in her last film, and so on - there are some even older delinquents showing off also. It's a great script, and there is nothing really to raise any eyebrows, except perhaps for the music, which isn't quite in style in its jazzy rock style. I always enjoyed William Holden in any of his many films and agree completely with Billy Wilder's lasting assessment of him.
Review of The Revengers
