User Reviews

Pretty amusing spag western actually... Gian Maria Volontè is at his absolute best, and Klaus Kinski also does some great character work as a revolutionary religious man who does the Lord's killing for Him. Lou Castel's performance as "Nino" was relatively underwhelming – it's one of those cases where the director apparently thought less is more. I just find the character somewhat one-dimensional and Castel didn't do anything to make it hold up. Martine Beswick gave some good performances in other films I've seen (particularly "Dr. Jeckyll and Sister Hyde") but was nothing special here, just eye- candy with a lot of rogue.

The story is an interesting one, although even without the revealing American title its path might have been fairly predictable. I did think it was interesting that the film gradually shifted our sympathies from the Yankee Nino – who obviously has ulterior motives that we more and more suspect are not motivated by morality – to the initially stereotyped "bandito" El Chucho, played by Volonte. Basically this shift in our sympathies, if it works, represents the film's main political statement. The film plays with our expectations that the white man with a hidden agenda will turn out to be the good guy. I think after he accomplishes his task we're supposed to begin hating him, but I for one found the portrayal of the General to be overly static, as if the director wanted to present him as a kind of god-like figure. So in the end I wouldn't have had a problem with El Chucho going to America with El Nino, which means in some respects the film just did not work for me. I thought Kinski's priest character was twisted and I couldn't get upset about what happened to him either. So while my sympathies definitely shifted towards El Chucho, I didn't buy into the revolution he was supposed to be rejoining and I wish he had simply decided to go off on his own path, with or without El Chucho, instead of returning to that tarnished idealism.

The directing is solid but unexceptional, reaching its peak during the action sequences early in the film. I've heard the film compared to Leone's films or the best of Corbucci's Westerns. Although it bears some comparison to Leone's "Duck, You Sucker" and Corbucci's "The Mercenary", I personally didn't feel the action was quite as intense, nor the characters as interesting as in those films. For one thing, this film really only has one convincing or intriguing character, El Chucho. Kinski's priest "El Santo" is fun to watch but utterly without dimension, and Castel's Nino was neither fun to watch nor interesting. In contrast "The Mercenary" and "Duck, You Sucker" each have at least 2 compelling characters, and the relationship between the American and the Mexican isn't nearly as interesting as what Leone did with the Irishman and the Mexican in his film about the Mexican Revolution.

Still, if you forget about perhaps superior Westerns or superior Spag-westerns that you've seen, and just take the movie on its own merits, it's at least a reasonably entertaining picture and has some interesting surprises if you don't sit and think about it too much while you're watching it.

(aka: A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL)

After hearing the Ennio Morricone soundtrack, I knew I wanted to see the film that went with it and I'm glad I did. And if your into spaghetti western soundtracks, then this one is essential to add to your collection. Beautiful Spanish themes and orchestration by Luis Bacalov.

This also goes along the same lines of Leone's DUCK YOU SUCKER (1971) and Sergio Corbucci's COMPANEROS (1970) in that it involves a foreign mercenary who gets involved in the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century. I like it almost as much as those two films although baby-faced Lou Castel as El Nino the gringo, doesn't make much of an impression as an assassin-for-hire, used by the Mexican government to take out Elias (Jamie Fernandez) and collect 10,000 pesos in gold. He uses a gold bullet and a sniper rifle in order to commit his deed.

In order for El Nino to carry out his mission, he has to hook up with El Cuncho (Gian Maria Volonte) who sells guns to Elias. At least Volonte is fairly animated compared to the wooden Castel. Cuncho's brother, the priest El Santo (Klaus Kinski) and Adelita (Martine Beswick of Hammer horror and 007 fame) are along for the ride.

The action is fairly decent and the film has a great feel for Mexico even though it was filmed in the usual Almeria Spain locations. It moves along at a leisurely pace and even though it has a 2hr. playing time, I didn't feel bored by any of it at all. The only flaw is the ending where El Cuncho kills El Nino as Nino pulls out on a train. He really doesn't give any reason at all for doing this other than he is 'slightly' mad.

The anamorphic widescreen Anchor Bay DVD uses as good a print as expected with light grain showing through from a well-sourced print. No extras beyond an American and European trailer.

A welcome addition to any spaghetti western collection. Recommended.

7 out of 10

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During the Mexican Revolution, Chuncho is a bandit running guns for peasant leader Elias. Whilst robbing an army supply train, Chuncho meets Nino, an unusual American, who wants to join his group and seems to have a great interest in meeting Elias ...

This distinctive Italian western has several great things going for it - a fine cast, a stylish score by Luis Bacalov, lots of exciting action scenes - but its real asset is a terrific story by Salvatore Laurani and Franco Solinas. The scripts for many spaghetti westerns are just simple revenge dramas, but this has real character depth and a powerful political context, forcing the uneducated Chuncho to decide what he really believes in. Is he an outlaw, or a champion of the poor, or simply a mercenary like Nino. He may not be very smart - he's unable to read or even count, and he doesn't realise Nino's real mission when other men would - but in the end he does the right thing for his country and for the revolution. The other characters are equally multi-faceted; El Santo views the fight as a crusade for God's justice, Nino may be a cold killer but he's (mostly) honest, up-front and doesn't double-cross Chuncho when it would be so easy to do so, and Adelita is one of the few powerful and independent women in these movies, who holds her own, fights for herself, and isn't interested in macho bravado. Volonté, Kinski and gorgeous dark-haired British-Jamaican Beswick (check her out also in One Million Years B.C. and Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde) are all terrific but perhaps the real find is Colombian actor Castel as the enigmatic Nino/Tate. With his grey suit, fastidious nature and let's-get-on-with-it attitude he is unlike anybody else and a perfect opposites-attract match for the rip-roaring Chuncho, and it's through him and his callous disregard for the Mexican people and their struggle for identity that the movie really scores. Damiano's direction is solid, and he deserves plaudits for making a lefty art-house picture disguised as a contemporary entertainment. Like so many Italian films of the period, this movie has several titles; the original is Quién Sabe ? (translating in Spanish as "Who knows ?"), but it is perhaps better known by the US title A Bullet For The General, and is also sometimes subtitled El Chucho (meaning mutt/dog in Spanish, which is a perfect description of Volonté's character, despite the missing letter). A stylish, thought-provoking and well-acted western for the discerning cult movie enthusiast.

An American (Lou Castel) teams up with a Mexican revolutionary (Gian Maria Volonte) to sell arms across Mexico. Watchable spaghetti western with a political and social subtext, which is somewhat unusual for the genre. Unfortunately, the plot isn't always particularly coherent which may be due to the fact that the film is said to exist in several versions (135/117/97/77 minutes!) (I saw the 117 minute version). Castel may be an assassin for the American government whose ultimate job is to kill Volonte. However, this aspect of the film isn't well explored or clear. The film contains plenty of action but virtually no one on one gunfights. The end is surprising and unusual and at the very least it's cool to see Volonte in another fine western (after Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965)). Klaus Kinski also has a role as Volonte's brother.

In Damiano Damiani's first stab at the spaghetti western

Gian Maria Volonte (veteran of Sergio Leone films) plays Chuncho, leader of a Mexican Bandit gang who sell arms to the revolutionaries. Lou Castel is a calm, smooth American, who tags along with the bandits, eventually exerting an influence on them. There is also a strong performance by another spaghetti western regular, Klaus Kinski, as a slightly crazed Christian revolutionary. As time goes by the relationships between them change and become more complex, revealing the characters' true colours. Along the way there is plenty of Mexican Bandit action - train holdups, raids on forts, peasant liberation - to keep up the pace of the film.

To be fair, the first hour or so was pretty average - there were a few good moments (such as an attack on a landowner's mansion), but nothing really exceptional. However, as the plot begins to come to a head things really start to pick up, with issues of betrayal, trust and ideology coming to the fore. The final scene really makes an impact, as Chuncho is forced to choose between a wealthy and comfortable future in the states and his loyalty to the revolutionary cause. Needless to say he makes the right choice, and he makes it in style, resulting an ending which manages to be at the same time funny, exciting and emotional.

One of the cleverest things about this film is that in many ways it is a role reversal of the typical spaghetti western. We see the cool, collected Yankee stranger as the villain and the scruffy Mexican bandit as the hero, as far as those concepts exist in the genre. The casting of Volonte here is particularly apt, since in Leone's films he WAS that Mexican bandit villain.

Overall, £Quien Sabe? is well above average, combining action, politics and a good storyline into one excellent movie.

With a title that translates as Who Knows?, this was renamed A Bullet for the General when it was released in the U. S. It's the first Italian western to seriously deal with the Mexican revolution, which is credited to screenwriter Franco Solinas, a confirmed Marxist, who shared screenplay duties with Salvatore Laurani. It was directed by Damiano Damiani, who was no stranger to movies with political commentary, except for the movie he's best known for in the U. S., Amityville II: The Possession.

Gian Maria Volonté plays El Chuncho Muños, who is considered the hero - I guess - of this film, who attacks a train and adds American Bill "Niño" Tate (played by Lou Castel with William Berger providing his voice). The foreigner manipulates Chuncho throughout and is present for the deaths of nearly all of his men as well as the death of his brother El Santo (Klaus Kinski, not the masked luchador, but man, Klaus Kinski and Santo in a movie is something I want to see).

It has Martine Beswick in the cast, an actress whose career ranges from Thunderball and Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde to The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood, Trancers II and so much more.

There's also an urban legend that Damiani got so fed up with the hijinks of Gian Maria Volontè and Kinski that he beat them and whipped them on the set until they finally behaved.

The first Zapata western - one that deals with the Mexican revolution - this movie ends with money being thrown and the poor being told to buy dynamite instead of bread. The idealism of revolution is forever co-opted by greed and this movie shoves your face in it and laughs, because even a movie made nearly sixty years ago understands the same issues we're dealing with today, ones that will never go away. Friendship means nothing, ideals mean nothing, only gold. Anyone, everyone will be sold out and left for dead.