El chuncho, quien sabe? (1966)

Director:

Damiano Damiani

Writers:

Salvatore Laurani (story)
Franco Solinas (adaptation)

Release Date:

September 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Like the Bandit... Like the Gringo... A bullet doesn't care who it kills!

Plot:

El Chuncho's bandits rob arms from a train, intending to sell the weapons to Elias' revolutionaries...

Plot Keywords:

Mexican | Revolutionary | Spaghetti Western | Assassination | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Gian Maria Volonté	...	Chuncho Munos / 'El Chuncho'
Klaus Kinski	...	El Santo
Martine Beswick	...	Adelita
Lou Castel	...	Bill 'Niño' Tate
Jaime Fernández	...	Gen. Elías
Andrea Checchi	...	Don Feliciano
Spartaco Conversi	...	Cirillo
Joaquín Parra	...	Picaro
Aldo Sambrell	...	Lt. Alvaro Ferreira
José Manuel Martín	...	Raimundo
Santiago Santos	...	Guapo
Valentino Macchi	...	Pedrito - Durango train engineer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sal Borgese	...	Bandit
Carla Gravina	...	Rosario
Guy Heron	...	Pedrito
Richard McNamara	...	English narration
Vicente Roca	...	Hotelier (uncredited)
Antonio Ruiz	...	Chico - Young Mexican at train station (uncredited)

Directed by
Damiano Damiani

Writing credits
Salvatore Laurani		(story and screenplay)
Franco Solinas		(adaptation and dialogue)

Produced by
Bianco Manini	....	producer

Original Music by
Luis Enríquez Bacalov		(as Luis Bacalov)
Ennio Morricone

Cinematography by
Antonio Secchi		(director of photography) (as Tony Secchi)

Film Editing by
Renato Cinquini

Production Design by
Sergio Canevari

Costume Design by
Marilù Carteny

Production Management
Ferrucciole Martino	....	production manager
Ofelia Minaldi	....	assistant production manager

Music Department
Ennio Morricone	....	music supervisor
Bruno Nicolai	....	conductor

Other crew
William Berger	....	English dubbing voice: Lou Castel

Production Companies

• M. C. M.

Distributors

• AVCO Embassy Pictures (1968) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Nora (1968) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• International Film Distributors (1970) (Canada) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Argent Films (2004) (UK) (all media)
• ClassicLine (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Dixie Bell (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Koch Media (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Koch Media (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Reserva Especial (????) (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

A Bullet for the General (USA)
Quién sabe? (Italy) (short title)

Runtime:

135 min | UK:77 min | Spain:107 min | Argentina:120 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:18 | Spain:18 | UK:15 (DVD rating) | UK:18 (re-rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating) | Singapore:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | West Germany:18 (nf) | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | USA:M | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

M. C. M.

Quotes:

[last lines]
El Chuncho: [to a beggar he gave money to earlier] Don't buy bread with that money, hombre! Buy dynamite! Dynamite!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Something to Do with Death (2003) (V)

Mexican bandit antics with a difference!!!!!!!

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.