Blu-ray Review: A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL

In the bonus material for Blue Underground's Blu-ray release of A Bullet for the General, there is a five minute statement from the director, Damiano Damiani, in which he repeatedly declares that his film is a satire of westerns and shouldn't be considered among their number. This is an unfortunate belief, as it seems clear to me that A Bullet for the General is not only very much a western, but that it is also among the very best of the '60s crop of Euro westerns, Spahetti Westerns, and one that transcends some of its more popular, more gimmicky contemporaries. Whereas most Spaghetti Westerns relied on flash and gimmickry, A Bullet for the General builds a very engaging story around what could very easily have been a cash grab, and connects with the viewer in an emotional way that is really very surprising.

When a Mexican rebel, named El Chuncho (Gian Maria Volonte), and his band of outlaws rob a train, they don't expect to pick up a sympathetic American in the process. However, Bill Tate (Lou Castel), comes along for the ride and proves himself to be a worthy comrade. El Chucho's gang tears through Mexico, mowing down government soldiers, ostensibly in the name of liberty, but really just in an effort to fill their own coffers. They hoard guns to take to their leader, General Elias, for sale without much concern for la revolucion. When one of the rebels reveals himself be a spy, the other must make a choice; his heart or his wallet, which leads to a fantastically gut wrenching finale that must be experienced.

I'm going to cop to something right away. I had to watch the first thirty minutes of this film about three times before I could move past it. There wasn't a whole lot there, it seemed like your average, run of the mill cheap-o Spaghetti Western. I was tempted to bail. However, once I got beyond the forty minute mark, I was riveted by a story that brought a lot more to the table than I was expecting. A Bullet for the General is, I dare say, as good as Leone's westerns and certainly better than some of the better known films like Django (which I love). There is a humanism in this film, in the midst of all of the carnage and fighting, Damiani sees people battling not only their enemies, but also their own demons.

The run time of A Bullet for the General was a little bit intimidating at first. When I see a Spaghetti Western that clocks in at nearly two hours, I typically cringe a bit. These films were essentially exploitation films, and any fan of such films can tell you that once exploitation films hit about 95 minutes, they are usually just wasting time. General, however, uses all of its 115 minutes (118 in the international version) wisely, building characters and giving each of them more than a few moments to shine. It is very rare in these films that characters are given actual arcs, but A Bullet for the General does it very successfully, and when the final credits rolled I felt emotionally exhausted, vindicated, and exhilarated.

I can't say enough good things about A Bullet for the General. I admit to being underwhelmed by its selection as a Blu-ray upgrade, Blue Underground has such a massive catalog of awesome stuff, I would probably have picked something else, however I can now see why this film was released, and I fully support the decision. Definitely recommended!

The Disc:

Blue Underground is among the most divisive labels around when it comes to Blu-ray releases. Half of the critical community tears them to shreds for their video quality, while the other half licks their feet with compliments. As usual, the truth is somewhere in between. The video quality on A Bullet for the General is above average for a Blue Underground release. There appears to be mild grain scrubbing, and the very light layer of video noise we've seen on many of their releases. However, it is nowhere near as distracting as it was on something like House by the Cemetery. One place where I'd be hard pressed to place a criticism is the improvement in the colors on this Blu-ray. Not enough credit is given to the ability of Blu-ray to reproduce colors more faithfully and vividly than DVD, and that is one area where A Bullet for the General shines. Blue Underground presents us with an English dub for the US version and English & Italian dubs for the international version, each with subtitles in several languages, and subs for the portions in Spanish. There's nothing special about the audio, it's pretty clear, although I did notice that the background score on the Italian dub was noticeably brighter than it is on the English dub.

A Bullet for the General may not have a large number of extras, but what they do have is impressive. There is the five minute featurette with the director, which I mentioned above, titled A Bullet for the Director. I covered the gist of that one in the introduction. However, the gem of this collection is the two hour documentary Gian Maria Volonte: Un Attore Contro, which looks at the remarkable life and impressive work of the actor who played El Chuncho in A Bullet for the General. The documentary puts a very impressive face on the performer who was not only among Italy's best, but also one of the most politically active figures in Italy during the turbulent '60s. Well worth checking out and a great addition to the collection by Blue Underground!

When I first heard A Bullet for the General announced for release, I was less than thrilled. However, I'm really glad it's available now, it's a great film and more people need to see it. A definite buy!