San Sebastian

Over the years I seemed to have missed this great picture with Anthony Quinn, Charles Bronson, Sam Jaffe and Anjanette Comer. At first I was not sure if I was going to like this picture because Sam Jaffe,(Father Joseph),"The Dunwich Horror",'70, gave the impression it was going to be a long boring film about the struggles of a poor priest in the desert. I was soon fooled as Anthony Quinn,(Leon Alastray),"The Shoes of the Fisherman",'68 is befriended by Father Joseph and at one point takes over the church and rings the bell of the church to summon the local people who are hiding in the hills. Leon Alastray meets up with Anajanette Comer,(Kinita),"The Baby",'73, who has very deep romantic feels for Leon and wants to make love, however, Leon is overwhelmed with a strong religious feeling and is unable to cooperate. There is lots of action battles and even a cannon gets into the action along with plenty of arrows flying through the air. It is a very entertaining film and Anthony Quinn had me laughing in quite a few parts of the film.

Guns for San Sebastian is directed by Henri Verneuil and adapted to screenplay by James R. Webb from the novel "A Wall for San Sebastian" written by William Barby Faherty. It stars Anthony Quinn, Charles Bronson, Anjanette Comer, Sam Jaffe and Silvia Pinal. Music is by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Armand Thirard.

An outlaw on the run is mistaken for a priest by peasant villagers who are at the mercy of bandits and Yaqui Indians.

Something of a multi euro Western, Guns for San Sebastian latches onto the Spaghetti Western coat tails whilst attempting to put something new in the wardrobe. Undeniably the critics who said it's pedestrian in pace are absolutely right, the first two thirds of the piece asks for a great deal of your patience, whilst simultaneously demanding you buy into the various themes trundling away.

With a surreal sub-plot at play, a jokey romance and some atrocious dubbing, it's not hard to dismiss it as purely fun cannon fodder. Yet there's some strengths in the piece, literary wise and from a thrilling stand point as the last third brings the thunderous siege - cum battle stations. Quinn throws in a good turn, the Durango locale is superbly photographed, and Morricone offers up one of his tonally astute scores.

It's all very Magnificent 7 et al, but nothing wrong with that, that is on proviso you can get through the labours of the first hour or so. 7/10

This exciting picture deals with an outlaw disguising himself as priest who helps defend tribal land ,(people living on the edges of themselves and their resourcefulness and limited supplies) from a gang of mean bandits and rebel Indians that want tribe's crop . ¨Two hundred years ago Mexico was ruled by a King in far-off Spain who was attempting to impose an alien religion and system of law upon a proud but diverse people . They ranged from simple villagers , torn between old and new , to the most warlike of the Indian tribes : the Yaquis who were determined to resist all change . This is the story of Astray who chose to fight both the king and the Yaquis ¨ . Leon Alastray (Anthony Quinn) is a bandit who has been given sanctuary in a church by Father John (Sam Jaffe), whom he then accompanies to the village of San Sebastian (Mexico) . The village is deserted, with its cowardly residents hiding in the ridges from Yaquis, who ordinarily attack the little town and rob all their food . When Father John is killed, the villagers mistakenly believe the bandit is a parish priest . Alastray at first tell them he is not a priest, but they don't believe it, and an apparent miracle on a San Sebastian sculpture seems to demonstrate they are correct . After that , the priest train them to kill and defending themselves when the village is besieged by the violent Yaquis . Meanwhile , the Indian war party (commanded by Jaime Fernandez as Golden Lance) and a rebel group (led by Charles Bronson) then head out to conquer the Mexican village held in an impregnable fortress that the villagers have built and the priest assists them in regaining their confidence.

This Western movie produced by Jacques Bar is a Franco-Mexican-Italian co-production,; it packs thrills, emotion, romance, action packed , extraordinary performances and spectacular finale battle . This Western-drama is an interesting story that carries a genuine charge of intelligence with exciting battle of wits between an upright outlaw and a nasty mestizo . Sensational acting by two big star names, Anthony Quinn and Charles Bronson . Strong secondary cast plenty of Mexican actors as Silvia Pinal, Pedro Armendariz Jr , Enrique Lucero, Jaime Fernandez, Chano Urueta and special mention to Sam Jaffe as kind old priest and Leon Askin as Vicar General . Interesting and thrilling screenplay by the prestigious James R Webb . Very good cinematography filmed in Metrocolor by Armand Thirard and on location in Durango, El Saltito, Durango, San Miguel de Allende, and Guanajuato, Mexico . Sensible musical score by the maestro Ennio Morricone in one of his best scores , including particular style and sound . The picture is splendidly directed by Henry Verneuil, a Turkish director working in France from the 40s. Although not a director of great reputation among the critics, his movies have almost all been aimed squarely at the commercial market. Verneuil is an expert on heist-genre such as he proved in ¨The Sicilians clan(68)¨ also with Gabin and Delon, ¨The burglars(1971)¨with Omar Shariff and Jean Paul Belmondo , furthermore on Warlike genre : ¨Weekend at Dunkirk¨and ¨The 25th hour¨and only one Western : Guns of San Sebastian(68)¨. He seemed to have dropped out of the film-making after 1976, but in 1981 unexpectedly reappeared with yet another of his caper film : ¨Thousand millions of dollars¨. Rating : Good movie and above average, a must see for Western lovers and Quinn and Bronson fans.

The film has a good theme and set in quite genuine historical settings. It brings out the conflict between the indians and the settlers, the poor settlers and the ruling elite. It packs in quite some punch on the action category.

A spaghetti western surprise with Anthony Quinn as a "priest" and Charles Bronson as a Mestizo malcontent.

The movie has a theme, a developed plot, some actors with charisma and an Ennio Morricone score. That's more than most movies give you, regardless of genre.

I was pleased to find that Spaghettiville isn't a one-horse (Eastwood/Leone) town.

8 out of 10.