A Bullet for the General (1967)
The Mexican revolution makes for unique story narrative in the spaghetti western framework, as it adds new angles to the mostly lawless and greedy west. But of course the main point is that most things stay the same with regards to corruption and greed. While the gist of the story is familiar territory with Gian Maria Volonté brilliantly playing the bandit leader getting rich on the revolution by selling weapons, and maybe he will grow to be more morally involved in the real revolution. Or perhaps not. He is not an arms dealer who suddenly grows a consciousness for the revolutionaries or the huge loss of life. On the contrary he is disturbingly enthusiastic about acquiring a machine gun, and how he ends up being betrayed, his reaction isn’t based on much sympathy for the revolutionaries. He is still mostly motivated by greed. Volonté’s great performance makes this film worthwhile and the general high production value. A worthy companion to other revolutionary spaghetti westerns like Run, Man, Run, <a href=”https://letterboxd.com/jwldk/film/companeros/>Compañeros</a> and <a href=”https://letterboxd.com/jwldk/film/duck-you-sucker/>Duck, You Sucker</a>.
Rating: 4