Töte Amigo

RELEASED IN 1967 (but not till 1968 in the USA) and directed by Damiano Damiani, "A Bullet for the General" (aka "El Chuncho") takes place during the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s and involves a gang of gunrunners led by El Chuncho (Gian Maria Volontè) and enlisted by a revolutionary general (Jaime Fernández). They allow a taciturn American gringo into their band (Lou Castel), oblivious to his objectives. Klaus Kinski plays the semi-crazy priest of the bandits (I mean revolutionaries) while Martine Beswick is on hand as the babe of the bunch.

This is a decent Spaghetti Western focusing on Mexican bandits. The tone is serious and the cast, costumes, dirt and sweat lend to the gritty realism. The opening sequence where a munitions train is forced to stop due to a crucified army captain blocking the tracks is notable. The script respects the intelligence of the viewer and doesn't spell everything else, even while everything is obvious if you read between the lines. Volontè, who plays the filthy, but amicable Mexican protagonist, is best known for his roles with Clint Eastwood in "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) and "For a Few Dollars More" (1965). The score by Luis Bacalov is quite good and was supervised by the inimitable Ennio Morricone.

THE FILM RUNS 115 minutes and was shot in Almería & Guadix, Spain, with indoor sequences done in Rome. WRITERS: Salvatore Laurani and Franco Solinas.

GRADE: C+/B-

The movie centers a Yankee (Lou Castel) who joins forces with an outlaw band (whose leader is Chuncho well played by Gian Mª Volonte and his hoodlum performed by Klaus Kinski) during the Mexican revolutionary war by time of the President of Mexico Velustiano Carranza , following the overthrow of the Victoriano Huerta's dictatorial regime in the summer of 1914 . The gang allows him to join them to sell weapons to Mexican revolutionaries ignoring he is double-crossing the band , as he is a traitor working for dark forces .

It's a magnificent western film with dazzling shootouts between the protagonists and the contenders . The spotlights of the movie result to be the confrontation on the train and the final duel . There is a special remembrance to Sergio Leone's western , because appearing : Volonte , Kinski and Aldo Sambrell who often played the master's Spaghetti films . This picture belongs to a numerous group in which is set during Mexican revolution , called ¨Zapata Western¨ , such as the Italian films : ¨Compañeros¨ , ¨The mercenary¨ , ¨Tetepa¨ and the American movies : ¨The wild bunch¨ and ¨The professionals¨ . The picture blends crossfire , violence , blood , western action and it's fast movement and that's why it is entertaining enough ; besides , there is a thoughtful dialog with a clever writing in leftist trending by Franco Solinas , screenwriter of a notorious film : ¨The battle of Algiers¨ . Colorful cinematography by Antonio Secchi , shot on location in Almeria (Spain) , as usual , and Cortijo De Frailes, Cabo De Gata , San Jose , and Guadix , Granada, Andalucía . Enjoyable musical score in Spaghetti style by Luis Enrique Bacalov , author of ¨The Postino and Pablo Neruda¨ which won an Oscar for the soundtrack and he composed lots of Spaghetti Western scores .

The motion picture was well directed by Damiano Damiani . Damiani's nice direction is well crafted , here he's mostly cynical and inclined towards violence and too much action especially on its ending part . Damiano is an expert on all kinds of genres as Drama such as ¨Arthur's island¨ , ¨The Most Beautiful Wife" , ¨The witch¨ , ¨Empty canvas¨ based on the Alberto Moravia novel ; Terror as ¨Amytiville 2 : the possession¨ and Historical as ¨The Inquiry¨ . Damiani was specialized on crime-thriller-Subgenre or Italian cop thriller as ¨Confessions of a Police captain¨ , ¨How to kill a judge¨ and ¨The case is closed , forget it¨, and Spaghetti Western as ¨Trinity is back again¨ with Terence Hill and this prestigious ¨A bullet for the General¨ . Rating : Good . Well worth seeing .

'A Bullet For The General' is my favourite non-Sergio Leone spaghetti western. It actually has some connection with Leone as it was directed by Damiano Damiani, who Leone later co-directed 'A Genius, Two Friends and an Idiot' with, and stars Gian Maria Volonte who fans will recognize from 'A Fistful Of Dollars' and 'For A Few Dollars More'. On top of that the legendary Klaus Kinski, who was also in 'For A Few Dollars more' (as well as many other spaghetti westerns) plays Volonte's brother. One thing I should point out is that despite Kinski getting second billing, and having his photo alone splashed all over the cover of the video I watched, he's not in the movie all that much, so be warned. Volonte's REAL co-star is Lou Castel, best known to me from his work in 'Orgasmo' and 'Killer Nun'. Castel plays "Gringo" a mysterious American who ingratiates himself into a gang of bandits led by El Chuncho (Volonte) after a train robbery. El Chuncho takes an immediate liking to Gringo and they joins forces, selling weapons to Mexican revolutionaries. Volonte and Castel make a terrific duo, as good as Eastwood and Wallach in 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'. Klaus Kinski as I say has little screen time, but is always a pleasure to watch, and plays an unusual role for him, the saintly El Santo. Added to that is the presence of the stunning Martine Beswicke ('One Million Years BC', 'Dr Jekyll And Sister Hyde'), one of the most beautiful actresses of all time. Boy, do I never get tired of looking at her! 'A Bullet For The General' works as exciting entertainment, but the relationship between the two main characters is interesting, and the atmospheric background of the Mexican Revolution (this is two years before 'The Wild Bunch' remember) makes this recommended viewing. Finally, the ending is a killer, and El Chuncho's parting lines are unforgettable. If you've seen Leone's best westerns and 'The Wild Bunch' put 'A Bullet For The General' right at the top of your "to see" list. You won't regret it.

Damiano Damiani's 1966 film 'A Bullet for the General' is one of the first examples of the Zapata Western, a sub-genre of the Spaghetti Western that mostly dealt with political themes during the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century. Gian Maria Volontè plays El Chucho, the leader of a Mexican bandit gang who earn their pay selling arms to revolutionaries - he meets with a suave gringo named Bill Tate (played by Lou Castel) who claims to be on the run from the law and soon finds himself inducted into the group and deep in the heart of the Mexican revolution.

Despite the simple sounding premise 'A Bullet for the General' displays a great depth of character as the protagonists relationships shift with the plot before inevitably exchanging roles. The first hour or so seems like a standard western affair with lots of the usual train hi-jacks and bandit raids, but as the characters develop and their relationships become more strained we see some marvellous performances from the suspicious El Chucho, his brother El Santo (a fanatical Christian revolutionary played by Klaus Kinski) and the cool and un-flustered Bill 'Niño' Tate.

The doubt displayed by El Chucho towards Tate really sets up the finale, and as the film nears the heart of the revolution Tate's motives become clear - but that doesn't stop Damiani pulling a nice twist at the end, endearing Volontè's character and providing a juxtaposition to the characters he made famous in some of Sergio Leone's classic Spaghetti Westerns. In a film dealing largely with role-reversal this is particularly apt.

I didn't quite know what to expect from 'A Bullet for the General', I hadn't previously heard of the director and apparently this was his first foray into the Western genre - but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Providing a good mix of action and politics with commendable performances from Volontè, Kinski and Castel 'A Bullet for the General' is an intriguing and unique example of the Spaghetti Western and well worth your time whether you're a fan of the genre or not.

In revolutionary Mexico American John Tate hooks up with a band of outlaws lead by Chuncho. They are "collecting" guns for the revolution. Tate, called Nino by his new friends, tags along as they get guns, free the poor and attempt to get paid for their efforts.

Thats wildly simplified and doesn't do the complexity of this film justice. What is going on in the film is often not apparent until you get to the very end of the movie. No one is who they seem to be and everyone has some sort of other motive for what they are doing. Its a complex film that you have to stay with since you can never be certain what is going on.

For a long stretch of the film I wasn't certain what I thought of it. As I said, this is a story that is ever changing and evolving as it goes, and which you can't say whether you like or not until you get to the very end. It seems like an enjoyable mean but slightly confused western for most of its running time. Our nominal hero, Nino, rapidly evolves into something else. He is always up to something and rarely is it any good. He's hard to root for, or even to like. You instead you have to root for Chuncho, which is a bit odd at first since he's a "bandit" and the "bad guy". By the end you're rooting for Chuncho, while you're still not sure about Nino. In the end though it all comes together, and it reveals itself to be a quite special movie.

This is a movie to see if you like westerns, or even good movies for that matter. Its a film that engages you and moves you and your emotions. Its nice that an entertaining film such as this can also have other things on its mind yet not get lost on those other things or lose the enjoyment factor (there's a good deal of political satire woven into the story).

Definitely recommended.