A Bullet For the General (1966)
Studio: Blue Underground
Theatrical Release: December 7, 1966 (Italy, released in the U.S. in 1968)
Blu Ray Release: May 22, 2012
Directed by: Damiano Damiani
Not Rated
Review by James Klein
Known for always being the main villain in Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns, actor Gian Maria Volonte stars for a change in director Damiano Damiani's action filled and yet very political spaghetti western. While the film stars Volonte, not once did this have the style or feel of a Sergio Leone Dollars film. That is not to say this is bad. In fact, A Bullet For the General is just as good as a Leone film and has probably more action and violence than a Leone film.
Ahead of its time, Bullet's main character is El Chuncho, a blowhard, crazy, violent bandit who was once a big revolutionist but has now succumbed to being a bandit who steals and kills, journeying from town to town, selling arms to the highest price paid. When he and his crew rob a train, he meets Bill "Nino" Tate (Lou Castel), an American whose on his way to a Mexican jail until El Chuncho frees him, allowing him to accompany El Chuncho on his crazy missions. In Chuncho's gang is also El Santo (Klaus Kinski) a psychotic priest whose also El Chuncho's brother and Andelita (Martine Beswick), the beautiful bandit who is just as deadly as she is gorgeous.
While the film follows these ruthless characters, one soon realizes that Bullet doesn't have a protagonist. The film follows the bad guys and we see this western told from the villains pointy of view. The viewer gets a glimpse at how unfocused and distracted these bandits have become and what was their good intentions has now turned into bloodshed. These men and women were originally trying to go against the government to help small villages defend themselves against bandits like themselves has now turned into pillagers. As the film starts to focus on the friendship and trust between Chuncho and Nino, one soon finds out that Nino is an assassin who works for the Mexican government and is going to kill Chuncho when he gets the opportunity.
A Bullet For the General is filled with non stop action from beginning to end. There is one gun fight after another and it's almost hard to take in at first because of the high amount of shoot outs. The opening train robbery scene is great with Chuncho coming around a hill with some drums, pounding away as he's going to make his grand entrance. There are bits of humorous moments such as Chuncho drinking champaign, declaring that it can give a person diarrhea or when he walks into a persons house and stops, grabbing his crotch as if he has an itch. Little moments like this remind me of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange as its "protagonist" Alex is just an evil bastard but yet is so over the top it almost turns the character into someone likable. Volonte is just brilliant as Chuncho and even though I liked him in the Dollars films, he really gets to show off his acting chops in Bullet. As the film goes along, Chuncho tries to change and becomes a better person and in a way, he succeeds by the film's finale which is both heart-breaking and humorous. I would say Bullet is worth a look just for Volonte itself but there are so many more good things to say about this movie.
Damiani's direction is more on the plains of John Ford than Sergio Leone. His long shots and sweeping camera movements are nothing like Leone's. Bullet has a throwback feel to such films as The Searchers or The Professionals however not so much in the tone or story but the look. Bullet looks like a classic western, told with a political view. Damiani even says on the blu ray's interview that he didn't think Bullet was a western at all which seems odd given the throwback toHollywood westerns.
Blue Underground has given the fans of the film both the American version and the Italian version called Quién Sabe? (aka: Who Knows?). The American version has omitted almost all of the political messages and subtext in the film, almost making the movie incomprehensible. Stick to the longer Italian version. It's nice to have both but there isn't a reason to really see the U.S. cut. The picture quality and sound are fine and as always, Blue Underground does a good job. I will say some of the colors do seem washed out and faded but that could be because of the print source. Blue Underground has done better work in past blu ray's but its hard to criticize anything this company does and the fact they gave us a 2 disc set (the second disc is the full length documentary Un Attore Contro, about the life of Gian Maria Volonte) is commendable.
If you like westerns, if you like great performances, if you like action, if you like cinema...A Bullet For the General is a must-see.
Theatrical Release: December 7, 1966 (Italy, released in the U.S. in 1968)
Blu Ray Release: May 22, 2012
Directed by: Damiano Damiani
Not Rated
Review by James Klein
Known for always being the main villain in Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns, actor Gian Maria Volonte stars for a change in director Damiano Damiani's action filled and yet very political spaghetti western. While the film stars Volonte, not once did this have the style or feel of a Sergio Leone Dollars film. That is not to say this is bad. In fact, A Bullet For the General is just as good as a Leone film and has probably more action and violence than a Leone film.
Ahead of its time, Bullet's main character is El Chuncho, a blowhard, crazy, violent bandit who was once a big revolutionist but has now succumbed to being a bandit who steals and kills, journeying from town to town, selling arms to the highest price paid. When he and his crew rob a train, he meets Bill "Nino" Tate (Lou Castel), an American whose on his way to a Mexican jail until El Chuncho frees him, allowing him to accompany El Chuncho on his crazy missions. In Chuncho's gang is also El Santo (Klaus Kinski) a psychotic priest whose also El Chuncho's brother and Andelita (Martine Beswick), the beautiful bandit who is just as deadly as she is gorgeous.
While the film follows these ruthless characters, one soon realizes that Bullet doesn't have a protagonist. The film follows the bad guys and we see this western told from the villains pointy of view. The viewer gets a glimpse at how unfocused and distracted these bandits have become and what was their good intentions has now turned into bloodshed. These men and women were originally trying to go against the government to help small villages defend themselves against bandits like themselves has now turned into pillagers. As the film starts to focus on the friendship and trust between Chuncho and Nino, one soon finds out that Nino is an assassin who works for the Mexican government and is going to kill Chuncho when he gets the opportunity.
A Bullet For the General is filled with non stop action from beginning to end. There is one gun fight after another and it's almost hard to take in at first because of the high amount of shoot outs. The opening train robbery scene is great with Chuncho coming around a hill with some drums, pounding away as he's going to make his grand entrance. There are bits of humorous moments such as Chuncho drinking champaign, declaring that it can give a person diarrhea or when he walks into a persons house and stops, grabbing his crotch as if he has an itch. Little moments like this remind me of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange as its "protagonist" Alex is just an evil bastard but yet is so over the top it almost turns the character into someone likable. Volonte is just brilliant as Chuncho and even though I liked him in the Dollars films, he really gets to show off his acting chops in Bullet. As the film goes along, Chuncho tries to change and becomes a better person and in a way, he succeeds by the film's finale which is both heart-breaking and humorous. I would say Bullet is worth a look just for Volonte itself but there are so many more good things to say about this movie.
Damiani's direction is more on the plains of John Ford than Sergio Leone. His long shots and sweeping camera movements are nothing like Leone's. Bullet has a throwback feel to such films as The Searchers or The Professionals however not so much in the tone or story but the look. Bullet looks like a classic western, told with a political view. Damiani even says on the blu ray's interview that he didn't think Bullet was a western at all which seems odd given the throwback toHollywood westerns.
Blue Underground has given the fans of the film both the American version and the Italian version called Quién Sabe? (aka: Who Knows?). The American version has omitted almost all of the political messages and subtext in the film, almost making the movie incomprehensible. Stick to the longer Italian version. It's nice to have both but there isn't a reason to really see the U.S. cut. The picture quality and sound are fine and as always, Blue Underground does a good job. I will say some of the colors do seem washed out and faded but that could be because of the print source. Blue Underground has done better work in past blu ray's but its hard to criticize anything this company does and the fact they gave us a 2 disc set (the second disc is the full length documentary Un Attore Contro, about the life of Gian Maria Volonte) is commendable.
If you like westerns, if you like great performances, if you like action, if you like cinema...A Bullet For the General is a must-see.
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