A Bullet for the General (1967)

A band of Mexican gun-runners employed by a revolutionary general accept an American into their gang, unaware of his intentions.

Director:

Damiano Damiani

Writers:

Salvatore Laurani (story and screenplay), Franco Solinas (adaptation)

Stars:

Gian Maria Volontè, Klaus Kinski, Martine Beswick

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gian Maria Volontè	...	El Chuncho Muños / El Chuncho Niños (as Gian Maria Volonté)
Klaus Kinski	...	El Santo
Martine Beswick	...	Adelita
Lou Castel	...	Bill 'Niño' Tate / Bill 'Niño' Taylor
Jaime Fernández	...	General Elías (as Jaime Fernandez)
Andrea Checchi	...	Don Felipe
Spartaco Conversi	...	Eufemio
Joaquín Parra	...	Picaro (as Joaquin Parra)
Aldo Sambrell	...	Lieutenant Alvaro Ferreira
José Manuel Martín	...	Raimundo (as José Manuel Martin)
Santiago Santos	...	Guapo
Valentino Macchi	...	Train Engineer

Storyline

In the rough years of the revolution in Mexico, the hardened bandit chief, El Chucho, is in need of arms, ammunition, and a much-sought-after machine gun to support the leader of the revolution, the rebel General, Elías. With this in mind, Chucho attacks a government supply train and gets an unforeseen assistance from Bill Tate--the American gringo in the impeccable suit--with whom will soon become friends. Now, Bill is truly indispensable to the gang, however, could he be hiding his true objective behind a boyish and calm face?

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Plot Keywords:

bandolero | spaghetti western | mexican revolution | mexican general | sonora mexico | 

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Taglines:

Like the Bandit... Like the Gringo... A bullet doesn't care who it kills!

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Genres:

Action | Western

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Certificate:

M

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian Spanish English

Release Date:

September 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Bullet for the General

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

M. C. M.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min (International Cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

It is rumored to the point of almost being a legend that director Damiano Damiani became so frustrated with actors Gian Maria Volontè and Klaus Kinski, two actors who were notorious for being difficult to work with, that one day they pushed him to point he beat them and whipped them on the set until they finally behaved and did as they were told.

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Quotes

Bill 'Niño' Tate: [during Chuncho's attack on a train] They're revolutionaries?
Lt. Alvaro Ferreira: They're filthy bandit sons of whores!
Bill 'Niño' Tate: Yeah? Well, what do they want?
Lt. Alvaro Ferreira: Our hides, that's what they want!

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Connections

Referenced in Something to Do with Death (2003)

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Soundtracks

Ya Me Voy
(uncredited)
Written by Luis Bacalov
Performed by Ramon Mereles
Courtesy of EMI General Music srl

User Reviews

Excellent Western with two typical Spaghetti actors : Gian Maria Volonte Volonte and Klaus Kinski.

The movie centers on 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 dictatorial Victoriano Huerta regime in the summer of 1914 . The gang allows him to join them to sell weapons to Mexican revolutionaries ignoring he is double-crossing , 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 in the train and the final duel . There is a special remembrance to Sergio Leone's western , because appearing : Volonte , Kinski and Aldo Sambrell who are usually in the master's Spaghetti films . This picture belongs to 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 violence , blood , action western and it's fast movement and that's why it is entertaining ; 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 . Enjoyable musical score 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 rightly 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 .