Good concept, poorly executed.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

"A Bullet for the General", a.k.a. "Quien Sabe?", is one of the best films to be found of this kind: those Spaghetti Westerns that use the Mexican Revolution as a backdrop. Laced with a generous amount of political and social commentary, it's exquisitely shot (by Antonio Secchi) on picturesque locations, with a rousing soundtrack composed by Luis Bacalov and supervised by the Maestro, Ennio Morricone. The story (screenplay credited to Salvatore Laurani, adaptation to Franco Solinas) is deliberately paced, but includes some well executed action sequences, and it's engaging through and through.The star is genre veteran Gian Maria Volonte, who plays Chuncho, leader of a bandit gang who regularly supply rebel forces with much needed weapons and ammunition. An enigmatic American Gringo (Lou Castel) with a hidden agenda ingratiates himself to Chuncho and his gang, so much so that Chuncho will even kill another of the gang when he goes after the "Nino".Chuncho is eventually revealed to be the most sympathetic character in the yarn being spun, and Volonte delivers a hearty performance that is full of spirit and amiability. Be warned that despite co-star Klaus Kinskis' prominent billing that he doesn't get very much to do; Castel is Volontes' true co-star. The spot on casting extends to the gorgeous and exotic Martine Beswicke, as Adelita, a female member of the gang, Jaime Fernandez, as the character of the title, and the prolific Aldo Sambrell as a heroic soldier during the opening assault on the train.Lovers of Italian oaters are sure to take a shine to this one. As directed by Damiano Damiani, it begins in high style and delivers an appropriate wrap up.Eight out of 10.

One of the most underrated spaghetti westerns of all time, easily in my top ten. Volanti and Klinski dominate this tale of greed, poverty, racism, rich vs poor, great action sequences and a genuine heart to match, volanti was only behind Eastwood, Van Cleef and Nero as the greatest spaghetti western star of all time! any die hard fan of the genre must have this movie in their collection! pure brilliance!. A great starting point for new fans as it blends all the elements of the genre, violence, redemption and revenge as well as one of the greatest performances from an Italian western actor he was taken from us too soon , long live Gian Marie Volanti!.

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.

An Italian crude version of west and an Italian vision of the reality of late sixty years of XX century The late sixties were the same year of first feeble Italian crime/police films that explained the crude real life of the period named as "lead years", terrorism, murders and kidnapping. This film is the prelude to all these fact. Gian Maria Volontè superb acting piece also in a low cost production, dialogs very essential and with a little bit of anarchy sense. I saw this film at 7 - 8 years old with my grandpa in an old smoky cinema and was for me not bloodiest not like other actual films. A real must for all kids mature and experts. Note also the presence of a less known Klaus Kinsky as El Chuncho's brother.