A Bullet for the General

Rating:
Summary: When the bullet turns red...
Review: ... the General will be dead.

I'm starting to get it, I think. The gig with spaghetti westerns, that is. Capitalism stinks, the Establishment is corrupt and everybody over thirty in clean clothes is likely to be shot. The good guys are greasy, sweaty, and rude. They talk when their mouths are stuffed with chicken stolen off the plate of the corrupt property holder. The good guys are a mescal induced nightmare of the progeny of hippies and Hell's Angels - a peculiarly sixties vision of a union of the odious with the sociopath.
The Hippie Creed is announced on the international trailer to A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL: "They gambled their lives for absolute freedom to do as they please." Right on, man.
None of this makes A BULLET an unpleasant viewing experience, but I didn't really much care who was going to be shot next, which was a good thing considering the body count in this one. Gian Maria Volonte plays El Chuncho, the leader of a band of marauders who loves The People. Klaus Kinski plays El Santo, El Chuncho's brother and a man who loves God. Lou Castel plays the gringo Bill Tate, dubbed "Nino" by El Chuncho, a man who loves Money. Castel is on a secret mission (he's carrying a golden bullet in his valise. Hint, hint) and to blend in with the banditos he's dresses up like a bank teller throughout the movie. How did he keep he shirt so clean and his collar so starched?
At one point El Chuncho tries to explain it to the uncomprehending Nino. While bear hugging a peasant he says "He's poor and filthy but he's a human being. Man the same as you. Do you understand?" Right on, man. Where was that little speech when you were murdering the land owner and ravishing his wife?
A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL is alright, but it might be a tough ride if you're like me and want someone to root for.

Rating:
Summary: When the bullet turns red...
Review: ... the General will be dead.

I'm starting to get it, I think. The gig with spaghetti westerns, that is. Capitalism stinks, the Establishment is corrupt and everybody over thirty in clean clothes is likely to be shot. The good guys are greasy, sweaty, and rude. They talk when their mouths are stuffed with chicken stolen off the plate of the corrupt property holder. The good guys are a mescal induced nightmare of the progeny of hippies and Hell's Angels - a peculiarly sixties vision of a union of the odious with the sociopath.
The Hippie Creed is announced on the international trailer to A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL: "They gambled their lives for absolute freedom to do as they please." Right on, man.
None of this makes A BULLET an unpleasant viewing experience, but I didn't really much care who was going to be shot next, which was a good thing considering the body count in this one. Gian Maria Volonte plays El Chuncho, the leader of a band of marauders who loves The People. Klaus Kinski plays El Santo, El Chuncho's brother and a man who loves God. Lou Castel plays the gringo Bill Tate, dubbed "Nino" by El Chuncho, a man who loves Money. Castel is on a secret mission (he's carrying a golden bullet in his valise. Hint, hint) and to blend in with the banditos he's dresses up like a bank teller throughout the movie. How did he keep he shirt so clean and his collar so starched?
At one point El Chuncho tries to explain it to the uncomprehending Nino. While bear hugging a peasant he says "He's poor and filthy but he's a human being. Man the same as you. Do you understand?" Right on, man. Where was that little speech when you were murdering the land owner and ravishing his wife?
A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL is alright, but it might be a tough ride if you're like me and want someone to root for.

Rating:
Summary: lots to enjoy
Review: anyone who has seen For a few dollars more knows that the partnership of kinski-volonte is potentially explosive, unfortunately while volonte is hypnotic kinski suffers from a small part and poor dubbing. However Kinski goes further than his For few dollar performance, this time totally taking on the mantle of religious icon, shouting 'in the name of the father' whilst throwing grenades and dressing in messianic fashion (perhaps the producers had seen his infamous 'jesus tour' where he proclaimed himself christ only to have abuse hurled at him from the audience and more worryingly because he perhaps believed it: see 'my best fiend'). It is a shame so few volonte films are available in the US and britain (investigation of a citizen above suspicion for one)

the overtly political screenplay is by franco solinas, rare for so good a writer to be employed on a spaghetti western, rather than extreme violence this film is a thoughtful meditation on themes both political and personal, concerning friendship is very touching though the film makes sure where it stands on the issue of politics and friendship conflicting with the end. the film as a whole carries surprisingly heavy emotional weight.

The best of damiano damiani's mise en scene is breathtaking and in this dvd version the photography is finally appreciable . With morricone involved in the music (though not writing it,luis enrique bacalov using some of his score from django, himself a fine composer for film)there is a lot of audio fun to be had with this film too.

There is a wonderful ending and a casualness that reminds me of films like the roaring twenties, when volonte shoots a comrade for threatening the life of his new friend a subordinate asks him 'but why? guapo was your friend too?' volonte replies 'eh, guapo is no more'.

Being honest it is not really a spaghetti western as such, the violence is often shown without stylistic camera work, merely the killing (alot of the time summary executions of unarmed prisoners) being in the centre of the frame without cutting during the deed. there is no tense pause or close ups, just casual violence. It is more a historical drama of mexican revolution, it would be thought so if the language was subtitled rather than dubbed. Maltin misses the point, is plenty of bloodletting but at no point is it sensationalist or 'gory'. It is a mature film unlike most 'spaghetti' westerns.

interesting moments and comedy abound, but the bottom line is, if you have seen for a few dollars more and the prospect of seeing kinski and volonte riding through the desert accompanied by a thunderous score doesn't give you a smile, you should probably avoid this one. Me, i love it. It is a fine film in its own right and a firm rebuttal to the nay sayers of european westerns, powerful and driven by a performance of immense character (as usual) by kinski and pricipally volonte (pleas anchor bay, more of his films, he is wonderful).

Rating:
Summary: DAMIANI - KINSKI - VOLONTE : THE GOOD, THE BAD AND.. THE BAD
Review: Directed by italian director Damiano Damiani in 1967, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL is a pure marvel released now in the DVD standard by Anchor Bay. Just two trailers as extra features but imperial sound and images justify a must-buy status for this movie.

Now for the actors. Gian-Maria Volonté is exceptional in the role of El Chuncho, a rather likeable outlaw who considers that the mexican revolution is a good opportunity to make money by selling rifles to the revolutionaries. His brother Klaus Kinski, as blonde as El Chuncho is black, is more disturbing as a priest convinced that social justice must be brought into this world by all possible means, preferably with the help of explosives and machine-guns. El Niño, the character played by the colombian born actor Lou Castel, is even more intriguing with his attitude à la Clint Eastwood. He's the meanest of all but nonetheless develops a strange friendship for his alter ego Volonté.

Four years before Sergio Leone's A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL is already visiting the mexican revolution but with an engaged point of view that doesn't leave unharm politicians, working-class people, wealthy ranchers, pistoleros, revolutionaries or americans. Great fun with food for the mind, what more can you expect from cinema ?

A DVD zone your library.

Rating:
Summary: one of the best spaghetti westerns, a cheesy masterpiece
Review: First off if you do have a brain you will know that any film that isn't directed by Sergio Leone will be nothing like a film directed by Sergio Leone even if its in the same genre. Kind of how Lucio Fulci's movies are nothing like George Romero's yet they share or even steal the same ideas, aight?
This movie is probably my favorite non-Leone spaghetti western there is, and interestingly enough this is one of the few of the genre I've seen that makes no attempt to be like a Leone film unlike the hundreds of others made at the same time. This will be a problem for most people who will expect it and its rough edges which are mostly bad dubbing will turn most people off but I can seriously say I like this movie tons.
To keep it short there's tons of shooting, tons of explosions, 3523352523 double crossings which will make you wonder if you should be mad or cheer when you see who dies in the end, hilariously horrendous dubbing, cheesy "typical" Mexican music, and well, lots of shooting and killing. As simple as this film is I still say its far better than The Great Silence, while it has a great score, cool setting and cool ending, thats about all it has. This movie is way better.

Rating:
Summary: An Allegory of American Imperialism
Review: Franco Solinas' heavily ironic political allegory is perhaps the best screenplay ever written for a spaghetti western. An Oscar-winning writer, Solinas turned briefly to the genre in the late 1960's, drafting the story for four oustanding entries: "La Resa dei conti," "Tepepa... Viva la revolución," "Il Mercenario," and "¿Quien sabe?"--known in the US as "A Bullet for the General." He reportedly also highly influenced two more of Sollimas' films-- "Corri, uomo, corri" and "Faccia a faccia." But Solinas' work is never more topically biting than in "¿Quien sabe?" Lou Castel (in a wonderfully opaque performance) plays a mysterious Gringo who sets up a happenstantial meeting with Gian Maria Volonte's "El Chuncho"--an idealistic but sometimes naive bandit turned revolutionary. Gradually, Chuncho comes to realize that the Gringo is an even "purer" form of the character Eastwood made popular a few years earlier: an American with "not much heart but a lot of money." Indeed, money is ALL the Gringo EVER cares about in this film. The conclusion is both cynical and revolutionary--and perhaps one of the most damning portraits of American imperialism (Solinas claimed that the Gringo is a symbol of CIA involvement in Latin America) ever put to film. Damiano Damiani's direction is at times both inspired and inspiring: the opening of the film is near-brilliant (demonstrating the lengths both the Mexican military and Chuncho will go to achieve their goals) and Volonte delivers his greatest performance next to "Faccia a faccia." Luis Enríquez Bacalov's scoring and Antonio Secchi's exquisite panoramic photography (his one great work) lend the film a style to match its substance. A movie as engaging politically as it is entertaining, it puts to shame the "professional westerns" made by American directors during the same period and is matched aesthetically only by Peckinpah's "Wild Bunch." Perhaps not a masterpiece, but easily worth the highest of general ratings and a must-see for those who enjoy leftist entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: An Allegory of American Imperialism
Review: Franco Solinas' heavily ironic political allegory is perhaps the best screenplay ever written for a spaghetti western. An Oscar-winning writer, Solinas turned briefly to the genre in the late 1960's, drafting the story for four oustanding entries: "La Resa dei conti," "Tepepa... Viva la revolución," "Il Mercenario," and "¿Quien sabe?"--known in the US as "A Bullet for the General." He reportedly also highly influenced two more of Sollimas' films-- "Corri, uomo, corri" and "Faccia a faccia." But Solinas' work is never more topically biting than in "¿Quien sabe?" Lou Castel (in a wonderfully opaque performance) plays a mysterious Gringo who sets up a happenstantial meeting with Gian Maria Volonte's "El Chuncho"--an idealistic but sometimes naive bandit turned revolutionary. Gradually, Chuncho comes to realize that the Gringo is an even "purer" form of the character Eastwood made popular a few years earlier: an American with "not much heart but a lot of money." Indeed, money is ALL the Gringo EVER cares about in this film. The conclusion is both cynical and revolutionary--and perhaps one of the most damning portraits of American imperialism (Solinas claimed that the Gringo is a symbol of CIA involvement in Latin America) ever put to film. Damiano Damiani's direction is at times both inspired and inspiring: the opening of the film is near-brilliant (demonstrating the lengths both the Mexican military and Chuncho will go to achieve their goals) and Volonte delivers his greatest performance next to "Faccia a faccia." Luis Enríquez Bacalov's scoring and Antonio Secchi's exquisite panoramic photography (his one great work) lend the film a style to match its substance. A movie as engaging politically as it is entertaining, it puts to shame the "professional westerns" made by American directors during the same period and is matched aesthetically only by Peckinpah's "Wild Bunch." Perhaps not a masterpiece, but easily worth the highest of general ratings and a must-see for those who enjoy leftist entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: fairly good euro-Western.
Review: I await the DVD version with anticipation,I've seen a widescreen Vhs copy recently and thought the Movie on second viewing was quite good for it's genre.Though director Damiani is not renowned for Westerns.The movie's strong political undertones and theme of budding friendship leading to betrayal is an intersesting one.The fine performances by the two male leads add something special,especially Volonte who is always Good.The Late Volonte had often said he personally preferred his work on the more political Euro - Westerns of the Sixties than his Leone-Western villians.Movies dealing with the Mexican Revolution have often been used as a backdrop to the Euro Western genre,obviously because of the broad political canvass.I am happy to see that Anchor Bay DVD are issuing the DVD version.They done a brilliant job with Companeros (Corbucci).

Rating:
Summary: it's NOT Sergio Leone
Review: I ordered this with the hope of re-living the atmospheric and operatic triumpsh of Leone (Eastwood Trilogy and Once Upon a Time in the West).

Honestly, I'm not a true critic, but I was nevertheless let down with the movie. Knowing Klaus Kinsky and Gian Maria Volonté were starring in the movie made want to buy it. But alas, the Volonte' character of Indio we came to admire for his acting skills and on stage persona, was NOT the same here. Primarily due to the dubbing. In For a Few Dollars more and Fist Full of Dollars, we heard the dubbed voice reflected a resonance and depth that is not represented in this film - a different dubbing voice was given... it almost made me laugh.
Buy this if you want, but I was sadly let down.

Bottom line, not in the best Leone spirit and poor dubbing.

save your money and put it towards "The Great Silence"... it's not Leone but has Morricone for the soundtrack, which is wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: The best Mexico-Western ever made
Review: It's simply marvellous. A brillant cast, first of all Gian Maria Volonté in his best performance ever, a well-elaborated and surprising story, magnificently composed pictures, a great deal of humor, realistic violence and political criticism. This movie has it all. To my opinion, "Quien sabe?", or "A bullet for the General" in the US market, is the best Mexico Western ever made. It easily surpasses Leone's "Duck you, sucker!" and Corbucci's "Companeros". Definitely a must-have for every fan of the genre.