Los desesperados

Gazpacho with Spaghetti Western co-produced between Spain and Italy , though this time with production mostly Spanish and plenty of violence , crossfire and elements of Greek tragedy . A Confederation corporal named John Warner (George Hilton) deserts his unit at the night before a major battle during American Civil War (1861-1865) , after receiving an important message from Sandoval's son . John along with other rebels (Albert De Mendoza, Antonio Pica) escape ; later on , unites to bunch a motley band of characters (Jose Luis Martin , Leo Anchoriz , Gustavo Rojo) . Meanwhile John heads across the border to Mexico to marry his pregnant girlfriend before she gives birth . Her father named Pedro Sandoval (the recently deceased Ernest Borgnine) had forbidden their marriage, but the corporal is determined to marry her . Circumstances change when John Warner learns a surprise and he becomes into an outlaw who vows vendetta on everyone involved in his misfortune .

Director Julio Buchs achieved in "A bullet for Sandoval" possibly his best work of a modest career , with some memorable scenes and good camera movement as the initial prologue and first part in which we see the death-stricken the main star, furthermore the ending duel in ¨Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid¨ style and that makes only can say that this movie seemed to be a true surprise . The story is wrapped in an aura of sadness , a tragic event on the metamorphosis of Warner , a good man turned into a crazed psychopath . Worthwhile watching for a demonstration of the deep hating among two protagonists . It will lead a tragic ending , which is underlined by the idea of fatality, the inability to change his own fate . It's an exciting western with breathtaking showdown between the main star Hilton and the enemy Ernest Borgnine and his hoodlums . Uruguay-born George Hilton is fine as the hero / villain of this thrilling story . Hilton is fine, he ravages the screen, he jumps, shoots , bounds and leaps, hit and run , and finally kills . His performance is astonishing , above average to level of these films . George Hilton as the suffering and avenger gunslinger , in possibly her most important role that was able to defend in a Spaghetti . During this process , the protagonist John results to be a character initially positive , but he will degenerate to become a bloody and despicable gunman without feelings and inability to love . While Ernest Borgnine in a top-notch performance , is a rich , arrogant, overbearing and vindictive Mexican rancher unable to admit the affair between his daughter and a miserable foreman who has dishonored him and he will be victim of its own code of honor . Alberto De Mendoza is the tough but likable outlaw partner and although he doesn't reaches the level of Hilton , is also quite restrained , with some looks that say it all . Many other familiar faces from Chorizo/Spaghetti , there appears ordinary secondaries in Spanish/Italian Western such as Jose Luis Martin as a nasty rapist , Leo Anchoriz as a Friar Tuck-alike , Manuel De Blas , Luis Barboo , Lorenzo Robledo , George Rigaud , Alfonso Rojas , Dan Van Husen , Tito Garcia and several others. A special mention I want to highlight is the soundtrack of the film, Gianni Ferrio creates melodies that manage to finish to give the story a point even more dramatic and disturbing, making the images gain strength with the chords , a high-level work similarly the great composers of the genre . Acceptable photography by Francisco Sempere , though being necessary a right remastering , filmed on location in Las Rozas , Madrid , Lucainena de Las Torres, Andalucia, and of course , Almeria . The movie was produced by Atlantida Films/Jose Frade productions that financed several Western during the 60s and early 70s such as ¨Cuatreros¨ , ¨Mestizo¨ , ¨Challenge of McKenna¨ , ¨The mercenary¨ , ¨Los Compañeros¨, ¨twenty dollars for seven¨ and ¨Saddle tramps¨ , among others.

The motion picture was pretty well directed by Julio Buchs who also wrote the script along with Federico De Urrutia ; sometimes it is falsely claimed the movie was co-directed by Lucio Fulci, but this is not true, actor George Hilton has stated so in many interviews . Julio Buchs was an expert on thriller as he proved in ¨Salario De Crimen¨, ¨Alta tension¨ and ¨Trumpets of Apocalypse¨ and Spaghetti such as ¨Los Desesperados¨, ¨I'll kill him and return alone¨ also titled ¨El Hombre Mató Billy Kid¨ and ¨Mestizo¨ or ¨Django does not forgive¨ . Along with ¨A bullet for Sandoval¨ the Buchs's best film was ¨Encrucijada Una Monja¨ with Rosanna Schiaffino playing a similar character to ¨Audrey Hepburn's The nun's story¨ ; both of them were well directed by Julio until his early death at 46 years old .

Confederate soldier John Warner (George Hilton) receives news that his girlfriend is giving birth. Her wealthy Mexican father Don Pedro Sandoval (Ernest Borgnine) had forbidden their relationship. He decides to desert and go home. After some harrowing escapes, he finds that his love had died. Sandoval rejects the baby which also died. Warner vows revenge and turns into a bandit.

This is a spaghetti western of revenge and greed. There is no easy hero in this one. It is only shades of grey. I wish the lead is someone more familiar. Warner mostly worked in Italian or other foreign films. He has a coldness which works better for villains. That is still very interesting in this world.

This movie is in my top 20 list of the best spaghetti westerns. Ernest Borgnine was great for his only contribution towards the genre as Don Sandoval who blames the death of his daughter(Rosa) at the hands of John Warner (George Hilton) who wanted to marry Rosa but was not allowed due to the jealousy of Don Sandoval. Rosa dies giving birth to there child a boy who dies due to Sandoval's rage and jealousy and as well as the towns people's lack of help due the child being from a town having cholera. This last act makes warner turn outlaw punishing everyone who did not help. It is a great little story of revenge and hate that makes one of Hilton's best spaghetti roles ever. The ending is one of my favorites. A real comparison to the ending of "The Wild Bunch". The music was good and the acting and character profiles of the Warner gang was fabulous.

Not the worst nor the best. And compared to the garbage people claimed were westerns in 2020/2021 this was far better.

The idea for the plot was great, the acting was a little wooden by some of the other characters. Ernest Borgnine was probably the only one that did a great job of making their character believable.

The editing for the film leaves one scratching their head though. At one point in the movie it seemed like a portion was cut out or missed. It went from talking and riding straight into a gunfight.

Bullet for Sandoval, A (1969)

*** (out of 4)

Interesting Spaghetti Western takes place during the Civil War when a soldier (George Hilton) gets word that his pregnant girlfriend is dying. By the time he reaches the house she has died and her jealous father (Ernest Borgnine) makes him leave with their newborn son. Without the resources to take care of the child, it dies and soon the soldier sets out for revenge. This film has a great revenge story going for it but by the time it ended I was pretty mad at the movie because it could have been so much better. The film has several subplots and none of them are as interesting as the revenge story so these subplots get in the way and in the end they really pull the film back some. The film's main story is still good enough to make this worth watching as it features some great action sequences as well as two good performances by the leads. Hilton is very good in his mainly silent role and Borgnine delivers a maniac style performance. The ending is very strange and bizarre but it works well with the film even though the revenge takes a few different turns.