1967 ‘Quién sabe?’ Directed by Damiano Damiani
El Chuncho's bandits rob arms from a train, intending to sell the weapons to Elias' revolutionaries. They are helped by one of the passengers, Bill Tate, and allow him to join them, unware he is an assassin working for the Mexican government.
Gian Maria Volonté Klaus Kinski Martine Beswick Lou Castel Aldo Sambrell José Manuel Martín Jaime Fernández Andrea Checchi Spartaco Conversi Joaquín Parra Santiago Santos Valentino Macchi Salvatore Borgese Damiano Damiani Carla Gravina Guy Heron Rufino Inglés Vicente Roca Antoñito Ruiz Aysanoa Runachagua
El chuncho, Gringo, Uma bala para o general, O Mercenário, Töte Amigo, Quién Sabe?, El chuncho, quién sabe?, Yo soy la revolución, Золотая пуля, Пуля для генерала
A politically loaded Zapata Western, directed by the guy who would later direct Amityville II. In fact, this was the first Zapata Western. Ground zero for the subgenre, an offshoot of the Spaghetti Western, focused primarily on the Mexican Revolution. You've got plenty of action, from train robberies to shootouts, but it's the characters and performances that really shine, particularly in the case of Gian Maria Volontè's Chuncho. I mean, Klaus Kinski is in here as well, but he doesn't get a lot of screen time. This is really Chuncho's journey, even if the film would lead you to believe that Bill Tate is the protagonist. Can a good man be corrupted by the temptation of gold,…
The round had barely had barely left the chamber for the Spaghetti Western — before the genre’s gun started aiming for the body politic.
The first of the Zapata Westerns, Damiano Damiani’s “A Bullet for the General” is an assertive burst of good-spirited revolutionary fervor. As the iconography of the John Ford-esque American Western was translated into Italian interests, Damiano made it clear that he had no plans to use the genre for empty cinematic flourish.
“General” - with dialogue by Franco Solinas, best known for penning “The Battle of Algiers,” is no show pony. It’s socialist to the soles of its dirt-covered boots. But - if you swing for the other side, or just the middle, “General” is still…
From a performance stand point, it is Gian Maria Volonté that makes the first two Dollars films for me. By all accounts his spaghetti westerns were done for the money, and despite appearing in four amazing ones over a three year stretch; the moment he could make the same money for social dramas - he never looked back. I have read that Leone considered Volonté for the part of Tuco in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly but decided on Eli Wallach needing an actor with comic timing. The result is one of cinema's finest performances - Wallach is breathtaking. As for the comedy explanation, however, if you ever wondered about Volonté as The Ugly - A Bullet for…
Major spoilers ahead.
1966 was the year during which spaghetti westerns turned explicitly political. At first, it happened on a small, personal scale, as in Massacre Time and The Big Gundown. In those films, individual men who had once been accepting of the traditional power structure woke up to the realities of that system's oppression, usually of a single individual, or a specific small town. With the December 2 release of Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General, though, the scale dramatically expanded. Not satisfied with examining how individual white men awaken to the oppressive nature of the systems that empower them, Damiani turned his attention to whole nations, taking on the entire Mexican revolution in his thoughtful, defiant film.…
“Don’t buy bread with your money! No, hombre! Buy dynamite! Dynamite!”
A Bullet for the General remains as one of the pinnacles of the Spaghetti Western, and it was also one of the earliest steps into the Zapata sub-genre. It’s influences can certainly be heard through a herd of titles that were released from the late sixties into the early seventies once the trend had taken off, and the likes of Corbucci and Sollima had jumped at the chance.
The plot follows the thievery and dealings of the hardened bandit El Chuncho (Gian Maria Volonté) during desperate times for the Mexican revolution. Accompanied by his gang and his passionate brother El Santo (Klaus Kinski), Chuncho hunts down weapons and ammunition…
There's something interesting to me in all these Italian westerns about the Mexican Revolution. They're all quite pessimistic, they depict the corruption of a proletarian revolution by greed and self-interest, they show idealism losing to cynicism and hedonism, and I think despite their explicit location in Mexico this reflects the contemporary cultural anxieties of Italy. I've written about this piecemeal in some of my preceding reviews and a bit more extensively in my study of the giallo, but the late sixties in Italy marked the beginning of what's known as the Years of Lead in Italy, a period of socio-political strife and uncertainty. After World War II, Italy transitioned from a fascist state to a republic,…
“You said God was good. Big heart.”
“God. Not me.”
Do not come between a man and his golden machine gun. Oh, how I missed that stock sound effect of a shotgun blast that you hear in every Spaghetti Western. Like Proust’s madeleine, it brings me back to when I lived at home, watching the Leone trilogy in the basement with my dad. That said, A Bullet for the General would probably not be my dad’s favorite Western. There are bursts of violence, but much of the film lingers on the behind-the-scenes struggle of Mexican Revolution bandits, deciding what is more important, the guns they sell for money, or the poor villagers that rely on them for survival.
I don’t…
for a badass zapata/spaghetti western 10 minutes of Klaus Kinski isn't enough guys.
Woovember 2019: Bonus film #7
"What's this thing?"
"It's a gear shift."
"What's it for?"
"For shifting gears."
A great western, a great action film, a great buddy movie and a great political thriller. And as a bonus you get Kinski as a crazy warrior monk.
Gained whole new level of liking for A Bullet for the General on this revisit. The first time I saw it I couldn't get myself into the movie maybe because I was only looking at the surface. But after mindlessly watching a handful of genre movies in last couple of months, I come to appreciate this not only for how good quality it is made of but also for what it is brilliant underneath the story.
Supposedly, director Damiano Damiani doesn't like illegal CIA underground activities in contemporary South America at the time when this film was making so he intended this as allegorical piece on that with the main character being skilled American assassin Bill Tate…
‘Zapata’ / Spaghetti Western from Damiano Damiani. Arms dealer ‘El Chuncho’ and his bandits steal weapons from a train, with the intention of selling them to a group of revolutionaries. Slick, energetic, playful, twisting, stylish and compelling. A story of revolution, corruption, liberation, poverty, oppression and loyalty, with pervasive communist themes. Boasting solid performances across the board, with Gian Maria Volonté particularly impressive. The bond / friendship between Volonté’s ‘El Chuncho’ and Castel’s ‘Niño’ is strong, and their characters contrast and compliment each other really well. While Kinski is comparatively restrained as El Chucho’s zealot half-brother, he nevertheless finds opportunities to flash his unhinged intensity. Visually stylish, well edited, and featuring a good score. The action is well staged and violent. A gem.
Blue Underground release viewed. Also available to stream for free on YouTube.
“¿Quién Sabe?”
An ultra violent spaghetti joint. Blood, cash, and a revolution. Gian Maria Volonté is a favorite of mine and is pitch perfect here. Nihilistic gun fights, robberies, and explosions. A cunning political western. I do think this looses some steam leading up to the end and is a bit overlong. But that still doesn’t shadow the fact that this is pretty fuckin’ brilliant. Incredibly filmed. A fantastic Bacalov score. Spectacular stuff.
