A Bullet for the General

My Spaghetti Western festival continues with 1969's A Bullet for the General, directed by Damiano Damiani. It is in a subgenre known as Zapata Westerns, those that deal with the Mexican revolution of the 1910s.

The film stars Gian Maria Volonte as El Chuncho, the leader of a group of Mexican bandits. They steal guns and sell them to the rebels, without having any particular feeling for the cause. In the opening scene, they rob a train and are aided by a mysterious American (Lou Castel) who is wearing a business suit and a fedora. He joins up with the rebels, telling them he just wants to make money.

Castel helps them steal more guns, and as the film goes on we wonder what he's up to. Eventually it's easy to figure out, as he wants to meet the leader of the rebels, and he's carrying a golden bullet in a little case.

I found this film a little confounding, and I suspect that it was re-edited for American audiences. Apparently the word "rebel" was snipped out, reducing the political content of the film. The second half is better than the first, when the strange friendship of Volonte and Castel is pushed to its limits.

The film also stars Martine Beswick as the female member of the gang. She is a British actress best known for appearing in two James Bond films.