That was an excellent one.

good back-story, and good acting

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

As others here and elsewhere have noted, "The Revengers" is an obvious attempt to emulate "The Wild Bunch" and "The Dirty Dozen", from its casting William Holden and Ernest Borgnine, to the idea of hiring criminals to go on a dangerous mission. Though as derivative this movie is, it could all the same been a lot of fun in the right hands, but the movie ends up being kind of flat. One of the biggest problems with the movie is the direction by Daniel Mann. The movie is lacking grit and the necessary hard edge a revenge western really needs. Even the times when the bullets start to fly, the action mostly has a been there, done that feeling. (Though the climatic sequence does have some excitement.) But there are problems with the script as well. It doesn't script that many action moments, for one thing (it takes almost half the movie before the first true action scene comes.) The story also plods along with a lot of filler, such as the whole unnecessary sequence with Susan Hayward. While the movie never gets to the point of being boring, it is definitely lacking sufficient punch to entertain more than just die hard western fans. It's no surprise that it was a box office disappointment, though the then declining popularity of the western genre as a whole probably played a part as well.

Rancher John Benedict's wife and four children are killed one day by Comanche Indians.He needs to revenge for their deaths.He gathers up a posse formed of six prisoners.Their job is to find a man named Tarp, who led the slaughter.The Revengers (1972) is directed by Daniel Mann.There's a great ensemble in this movie.The legendary William Holden plays John Benedict.A legend is also Ernest Borgnine, a living legend, I might add.He plays Hoop.Today this man celebrates his 95th birthday.That's quite an achievement.And he's done about 200 movies in his career.And he's still not thinking of retirement.Way to go, Ernie! The terrific Woody Strode portrays Job.Roger Hanin plays the part of Quiberon.Susan Hayward returned from her voluntary retirement to play Elizabeth Reilly.Arthur Hunnicutt is Free State.Warren Vanders plays Tarp.Larry Pennell is Arny.James Daughton is Morgan.Holden's late son, Scott Holden, plays Lieutenant.I'd say as a western this is underrated.It may not reach the level of The Wild Bunch, but there still are some likable qualities in this movie.It's a manly movie, but those moments between Bill Holden and Susan Hayward are filled with sweetness and tenderness.And those manly scenes also work, the bloody battle scenes.Watch this movie and have your own opinion of it.But I liked it pretty much.

The Revengers, a western that is a combination of The Searchers and The Dirty Dozen is known primarily for being Susan Hayward's farewell big screen performance. And it gives her a reunion with William Holden who co-starred in 1940 with her in Those Were The Days back when they were both young Paramount contract players.Holden plays a rancher with a nice family whose home is attacked by the Comanches who were riding with some white men as well. It's those white Comancheros that Holden is after. But he can hardly take them alone. What he does is go to a Mexican prison that rents out convict labor and hires six of them. His dirty half a dozen are Ernest Borgnine, Woody Strode, Jorge Luke, Roger Hanin, Reinhard Kolldehoff, and Jorge Martinez DeHoyos.Of course the highlight of the film are Holden's scenes with Hayward who plays a nurse practitioner in a frontier town who treats Holden after he's been shot. The two of them have such an easy chemistry they are a pleasure to watch. Hayward would make one more made for television film after The Revengers.The final battle scene with the Holden group and some cavalry against the Comanches is nicely staged. Action fans should be pleased with The Revengers and the attraction of Susan Hayward is always welcome.

Just saw this movie on Saturday afternoon network TV. That's where this movie deserves to be. Rated it a 4 because the scenery is magnificent. Speaking of which...didn't the movie seem like a cheap knockoff of the Magnificent Seven? The movie borrowing a lot of ideas from other westerns (family gets wiped out and Good Guy's out for revenge), has-been Susan Hayward trying to look sexy and play it up in the going away scene, generally bad actors acting with generally bad dialog, actors that look like someone (thought Tarp was Nick Nolte and the lieutenant was David Soul) but really aren't anybody, a truly dead ending (just riding away after NOT shooting the bad guy and saying "Maybe I've got squigglies in my heart") leads me to say... why'd I give it a 4 again?