Review of Bullet For The General, A

Introduction

Areeba, areeba! Hey Greengo, why you have a heeden gold bullet?

OK, so my Mexican isn`t that great. A Bullet For The General, or Quien Sabe? as it was originally known, is set in Mexico sometime between 1910 and 1920. The backdrop of this film is the Mexican Revolution, where violence is rife between the peasants and the richer classes.

In the middle of this are a group of bandits led by El Chuncho played by Gian Maria Volante (A Fistful Of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More). Also in this group of bandidos are El Chuncho`s brother and crazed priest, played suitably over the top by Klaus Kinski, and Adelita, played by the strikingly beautiful Martine Beswick (who was a bit of Bond girl prior to this, appearing in both From Russia With Love and Thunderball as well as being the girl dancing in the opening credits of Dr No).

El Chuncho and his merry band steal weapons and sell them on to rebel `General` Elias, their contribution to the war effort. They take rifles from all the soldiers they kill, but really want to hit the big time by landing a machine gun. During a raid on a train, they meet the mysterious Bill Tate, played by Lou Castel (Galileo, Cassandra Crossing), who just took the train as far as it would carry him. Odd enough that there is a lone American travelling with no set plans, odder still when he assists the bandits in taking the train by killing the driver. El Chuncho takes an instant liking to this stranger and allows him to join the gang. Unknown to El Chuncho, however, Tate is working against him for reasons unknown, causes the group to disband at one point and also causes the Mexican leader to kill one of his own men in defence of the American. Tate, though, is influencing events to the point where El Chuncho has no option but to take his band to meet Elias.

Video

Restored from the original Italian negatives, the film is in pretty good shape given it`s age. There is evidence of grain and some print damage, but nothing that spoils the viewing experience. I`ve seen much worse on films half the age of this one. The picture is sharp and the colours pretty vibrant.

Audio

The film is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track, but it works quite well (I wasn`t expecting a 5.1 surround mix for this release). Nice score by Luis Bacalov (Kill Bill Vol.`s 1 & 2), with a particularly mean Mexican themed song called Ya Me Voy. Aside from this very up tempo number, the score is quite subdued and never intrusive, evoking the sense of journey the main character takes during this film. On the downside you have possibly some of the worst dubbing and lip-synching you might ever see. There are also no subtitles whatsoever.

Features

The menus are animated with a montage of clips from the film, although they really take their time in moving from one menu to the next. The menu screens are soundtracked with the song Ya Me Voy.

An interview with director Damiano Damiani - 17 minute monlogue with the director who insists his film is not a Western. It is, he argues, a tribute to Mexican National Heroes such as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, the only relation to a Western being the presence of horses. I find it hard to disagree with him…

Introduction by Alex Cox - 7 minute monologue from the director of Repo Man, who believes that this film is one of the top three Spaghetti Westerns.

Both the above features warn you to watch the film first, which appears to be a trend in this series of releases.

Theatrical Trailer - what is there to say about this?

Argent Western Trail - trailers for others in this series; Django, Django Kill, Keoma and Texas, Adios. All these films look like they could be a good watch other than Django Kill, which looks abysmal from the trailer presented here.

Conclusion

A Bullet For The General was a surprisingly good film and well worth the watch, despite some of the hammiest over-acting I can remember seeing for a while (watch the guy get stabbed by a sword during the initial robbery to see what I mean…). The leads are all very good, Volante is absolutely mesmerising as the central character who undertakes the hero`s journey. Kinski is just barking, Beswick simmers and Castell is suitably moody and mysterious.

This film could quite reasonably described as a love story of sorts. El Chuncho is virtually smitten by Tate from the moment he sets eyes on him, taking him into his gang and confidence without reservation. He is blinded to the fact that Tate is manipulating him and events so that he can carry out his mission, unhinted at until after it is complete. In the meantime, El Chuncho also undergoes a steady transformation from outright bandit to a proto-revolutionary who questions his motives and greed. The turning point for him is when he realises that Tate is just another of the rich class (albeit from money earned from assassination) who looks down on ordinary Mexicans and treats them with disdain. At this point, he realises that he has betrayed his people and motives by this unknown American who is only in it for the money.

Behind all this is a backdrop of extreme violence. Starting the film off with Mexican soldiers killing revolutionaries by firing squad, the film doesn`t shy from depicting how bloody and violent this time was, and how death was prevalent. You have the army officer chained to the railway track, the bandits shooting captured soldiers in the back of the head, not to mention the big battles and the massacre with the machine gun that El Chuncho finally gets his hands on.

This is the longest version of this film available currently. Initially cut to around 77 minutes in order to get two films on in one showing, A Bullet For The General now comes in at a respectable 113 minutes and is well worth seeing.