A Bullet for the General

A Bullet for the General is a 1966 Spaghetti Western with Klaus Kinski and Gian Maria Volonté (from the Man With No Name movies). I have a soft spot for spaghetti westerns, and even though this one takes place in more modern times (after 1914 or so, I think) it's a fine example of the sub-genre. I did find it slow, but the ending's a kick.

trailer:



Slant Magazine gives it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars and says it "balances its dizzying moral abyss with stunning landscape photography and a keen compositional sense." Spaghetti-Western.net says, "This groundbreaking political western was probably the first of the so called Zapata westerns". 10kBullets says, "It’s core message ‘government corruption’ is one that transcends the genre and would be just a potent no matter where or when you had this story take place" and praises the performances. DVD Talk concludes:

Obviously Leone's work set the gold standard for this subgenre, and I'd say A Bullet for the General comes dangerously close to approaching those same heights. Very, very Highly Recommended.

DVD Verdict calls it "one of the better spaghetti westerns".