El Chuncho

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 .

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.

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.

'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 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!