Quién sabe?

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.

A band of Mexican gun-runners employed by a revolutionary general lure an American mercenary into joining their gang, unaware that he is targeting their general.

Damiano's film has been called a "serious statement about the Mexican Revolution" and has been recognized as an accomplished blend of "tension, action, politics and history". Now, I'm not sure what the "serious statement" is. That Americans would intercede? That bandits could be radicalized? The soundtrack is from some of Italy's best, but the music is unfortunately not that notable. What draws many people to the film is Klaus Kinski, who is great, but the bizarre dubbing makes him seem fake and unable to really provide his presence to the screen.

I first read about this film in a great book about Spaghetti Westerns wherein every Italian western was presented in complete detail. It was a scholarly approach to the genre and has made me a fan for years. Known in the U.S. as A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL, it has a darker mood than Sergio Leone's DOLLAR trilogy and his masterpiece, DUCK, YOU SUCKER! (a.k.a. FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE), more angst ridden than Sergio Corbucci's A PROFESSIONAL GUN (a.k.a. THE MERCENARY) and more bleak than Corbucci's masterpiece, DJANGO (which spawned countless sequels that had nothing to do with the original and the only one worth mentioning is: DJANGO KILL!) which is difficult since the western was awash in a sea of mud that was the stage where the characters ruthlessly slaughtered each other.

I love the Italian approach to westerns because they create an atmosphere where John Wayne is not welcome. If the Duke were to enter their world, he would be shot in the back by some crazed revolutionary/bandit who wouldn't wait for a showdown in the street. Plus the Duke probably wouldn't be fast enough on the draw. A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL has plenty of mood, crazed revolutionaries/bandits, double-crossings, contempt for "gringos" (which makes me wonder about how the Italians think of us--are these films suppose to be "political statements" too?), gun fights and endless desolate landscapes that would make Sam Peckinpah drool with delight. There is no happiness to be found in this film and every fan of Spaghetti westerns would revel in it's excess.

A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL is great on this level and should have multiple viewings (check out Klaus Kinski as the bible thumping revolutionary who spouts credo with gunfire and Lou Castel as the cold-hearted gringo who doesn't drink, smoke, look at women but LOVES money). The only Spaghetti Western regulars missing from this one are: Franco Nero and Lee Van Cleef. Director Damiano Daminani has made a Spaghetti western cult classic in his own right. I want to see his other westerns. See it and you won't be sorry.

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!

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 .