A Bullet for the General (1967)

Load of rubbish!!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

In revolutionary Mexico, a bandit army under the grandiose El Chuncho ambush a government train. A mysterious American named Bill Tate kills the driver before bringing the train to a halt, thus gaining El Chuncho's trust. Bill joins the gang and it isn't long before he and El Chuncho are like brothers. He aids the bandits in attacking the federales and raiding their armouries, with El Chuncho intending to sell the rifles to bandit chief General Elias. However Bill has an ulterior motive, and why does he carry on his person a golden bullet...Steeped in Marxist philosophy, Damiano Damiani's revered Zapatafest is a critique of U.S involvement in the affairs of third world countries. With the Mexican revolution as his canvas, Damiani analyses and deconstructs the ideology behind social revolution and how it can be influenced and corrupted by both violence and greed. Gian Maria Volonte is on delightfully charismatic from to the point where he almost outdoes his performances in the Dollars films. Lou Castel and Martine Beswick were superb too and the great Klaus Kinski gave a brilliant turn as the bloodthirsty Priest. The bodycount is deliciously high and the action scenes certainly do not disappoint.It's easy to see why this film is held in high regard among Spaghetti western aficionados. A fantastic effort from Damiani. 9/10

Yet another Spaghetti Western full of double crosses, tenuous alliances, and stubbly greasy looking fellows laughing at nothing. This one has Klaus Kinski, and he's kind of doing a Kinski (i.e He's in the film sort of but seems to come and go as he pleases).During a train robbery where Gian Marie Volonte is obtaining guns from the Mexican Army, he meets a sneaky gringo who wants to join his gang. Being a sucker, Volonte lets him in, and from then on out starts a kind of road trip/bromance with the guy. For the record Klaus is Volonte's brother somehow even though...you know..Kinski looks like a blonde goblin.After various encounter with the army and the obtaining of a machine gun, things settle down for a game of 'this film is two hours long...get to the point'. Will Volonte favour the green and sell his ammo and guns to the General leading the revolution or will he keep them and defend a town from the army? Will the sneaky guy use the gold bullet he keeps for whatever reason? Will Klaus Kinski actually play himself in the final scene or will it be a body double as I think it is (you may want to check that out).Spaghetti Westerns are hard to get wrong and this one doesn't fail at all. It's kind of draggy in places and has a very different kind of ending to what you're used to, but then again it is one that you may come away from thinking about. Gian Marie Volonte surely didn't look so filthy in real life, eh?

I have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of the political spaghettis revolving around the Mexican revolution that came out during the late 60's. It was a trend that coincided with the general left-ist sentiment that prevailed in Italy at that time and gave directors like Sollima and Damiani in this case a perfect opportunity to speak their views. However I'm a sucker for a good spaghetti western.A Bullet for the General starts out fantastic with a train hold up by the Mexican bandit El Chucho (Gian Maria Volonte). The whole setting and the moral dilemma the captain of the train faces is just right on the money. For the next hour though the movie takes a sudden downturn in quality. There's plenty of shooting action, but it's uninteresting for the most part. We watch El Chucho's gang as they attack different posts to steal arms for a revolutionary general called Elias. There's a running sociopolitical commentary throughout the movie, but what really takes it down a notch is the heavy handed dialogue. The English dubbing is absolutely awful and the translations probably don't do justice to the original material. Some of them are so cringe-worthy that the ideas they're supposed to convey become caricatures.The good thing is that the second hour is better as it focuses more on character drama and conflict. The last 20 minutes in particular elevate the movie from just OK and are worth the price of admission. The cinematography by Damiani is excellent, the desolate terrain becoming another character in the movie. The performances are solid for the most part, with Volonte stealing every scene he's in as the greasy Mexican bandito with a heart of gold. His change of heart during the end is a joy to behold.Overall if it weren't for the atrocious dubbing and occasionally silly dialogue, this would be a classic. As far as political spaghettis go, Sollima's Faccia a Faccia is still the undisputed king. In the Mexican revolution-era adventure department, it doesn't top Corbucci's Companeros. However it's still very good as it is, combining bits and pieces from both worlds into an entertaining story. Recommended viewing for fans of the genre.

Damiano Damiani's masterpiece "El Chuncho Quién Sabe?" aka. "A Bullet For The General" of 1967 is a very political Spaghetti Western set in the Mexican Revolution. A quite brutal tale about ideals, greed, friendship and selfishness, is not only a very entertaining Spaghetti Western, but also a unique study of an idealistic man's struggle between his greed and desire for wealth on the one hand, and his beliefs and ideals on the other hand.El Chuncho (Gian Maria Volontè) is a bandit and revolutionary with a strong fondness for women, alcohol and cigars. Along with his slightly insane, but religious and very idealistic brother El Santo (Klaus Kinski), he leads a gang of bandits with beliefs, who help the poor and rob the government's army to sell the weapons to the revolutionary army. When the gang is joined by Bill Tate, an American who, due to his youth, is just referred to as "El Nino" by El Chuncho and his fellow Mexican bandidos, the gang leader starts to befriend with the gringo. El Nino, however is basically almost the opposite of El Chuncho, he doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke and he doesn't waste his time with women, and neither does he believe in any causes or ideals, the only thing he is interested in is quick and good money. His friendship to the baby-faced but selfish and cold-blooded Nino, becomes a breaking test for Chuncho, who is torn between his greed and his ideals.Although Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci are two of my favorite directors of all-time, and their movies "Giù La Testa" ("Duck You Sucker", Leone) and "Il Mercenario" ("The Mercenary", Corbucci), are two awesome movies, and furthermore there are quite a few more excellent Mexican Revolution Spaghetti Westerns , I would name "A Bullet for the General" as my favorite of the Mexican-Revolution-themed Spaghetti Westerns. The acting in this movie is superb. Gian Maria Volontè played in four Spaghetti Westerns and each one of them is a masterpiece. After his excellent performances in "A Fistful Of Dollars", "For A Few Dollars More" and Sergio Sollima's "Faccia A Faccia"/"Face To Face", Volontè is superb as El Chuncho, the most lovable Spaghetti Western character he played. Klaus Kinski is great as always, the character of the rather crazy but idealistic El Santo is quite unusual, since Kinski's roles in Italian Westerns were, with a few exceptions, normally those of extremely cold blooded and selfish killers, who didn't think of anybody but themselves. Lou Castel perfectly fits into the role of baby-faced El Nino, and he manages to point out his character's cleverness and selfishness in a very good way. The directing by Damiano Damiani is brilliant and so is the cinematography. I would have rated this 10/10 if it wasn't for he one minor flaw: The score by Ennio Morricone and Louis Bavalov is good, but it is no quite as great as it could have been as it can't compete with the brilliance of other Morricone scores. Nevertheless, an excellent film! A brutal, witty and very political Spaghetti Western, "A Bullet For The General" is an excellent film that genre-fans, and film buffs in general should not miss!