Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

A Bullet for the General Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 22, 2024

Damiano Damiani's "A Bullet for the General" (1966) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cult Films. The supplemental features on the release include archival program with Damiano Damiani and archival introduction to the film by Alex Cox. In English or Italian, with optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Some days before the Mexican Revolution. El Chuncho (Gian Maria Volonte, A Fistful of Dollars, Faccia a faccia) and his bandits stop a heavily guarded train transporting arms. They kill most of the soldiers and take with them Bill Tate (Lou Castel, Fists in the Pocket), a mysterious gringo heading back home.

In the days that follow, the gringo impresses El Chuncho and his brother El Santo (Klaus Kinski, Venus in Furs) and joins their gang. They give him a new name, Nino, and then together proceed to attack military outposts and steal more arms, which they plan to sell to the revolutionary leader General Elias (Jaime Fernandez).

Nino also impresses Adelita (Martine Beswick, Thunderball), a stunningly beautiful woman riding along with the bandits. El Chuncho notices and encourages Nino to make a move, but he confesses to him that only money excite him. His reaction genuinely surprises El Chuncho, who has the habit of bedding any woman who smiles at him.

Eventually, El Chuncho steals an impressive machine gun, but loses all of his men. When he delivers it to General Elias and asks to be paid, he is arrested and sentenced to death. Moments before he is to be executed, Nino appears and saves his life. The two become brothers and decide to spend the rest of their days up North, but their friendship is soon tested.

This beautifully photographed Italian film directed by Damiano Damiani (The Devil is a Woman, The Most Beautiful Wife) is a terrific piece of satire populated with some truly unusual characters. It borrows the elegance of John Ford’s films, but it has a distinctively Italian temperament. It is loud and violent, exaggerating just about everything that one would associate with traditional westerns.

The main protagonists are strange men whose actions are often impossible to predict – but only if one views the film as a traditional western, not a political satire. Initially, it looks like El Chuncho is a charismatic brute who lives to rob and kill, but as the film progresses it becomes very clear that he is a leftist radical with a very specific view of the world. Nino is a calm and methodical man who cannot have real friends. He has important interests that dictate how he communicates and treats those around him. El Santo is a Christian fanatic who, similar to El Chuncho, sees the world in a very particular way.

Despite the political overtones, the film maintains a terrific atmosphere. Damiani’s meticulous eye for detail and cinematographer Antonio Secchi’s gorgeous lensing ensure that the battle scenes and the unique celebrations look notably realistic. Sergio Canevari’s sets and costume designs are also outstanding.

The film is also complimented by a great soundtrack courtesy of Luis Bacalov (The Designated Victim, Il Postino), which was supervised by the legendary Ennio Morricone. The recording of the original soundtrack was also conducted by another famous Italian composer who scored many cult films, Bruno Nikolai (99 Women, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key).

Cult Films' release of A Bullet for the General has two different versions of the film. However, they both run at 01:57.53. They just have different audio tracks: English and Italian. Blue Underground's release has two versions of the film with different running times and different audio tracks.

A Bullet for the General Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, A Bullet for the General arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cult Films.

In America, A Bullet for the General made its high-definition debut with this Blu-ray release from Blue Underground in 2012. It was sourced from an older master with some obvious issues. The biggest one was the presence of scanner noise, but there were other issues that affected the overall quality of the presentation as well.

This release offers a different presentation of the film. It also has some issues, but there are different areas that are affected. For example, the windowboxing is eliminated. Also, while not perfect, the surface of the visuals looks different. A lot of close-ups, for instance, reveal marginally better delineation, and in some areas depth is a tad better. However, grain exposure is still not optimal, and it is pretty easy to tell that some sort of work was done to suppress the effects that are typically associated with scanner noise. It is why delineation is not as good as it needs to be. Some of the primaries and some of the supporting nuances here are balanced differently as well, though the overall temperature of the visuals remains very similar. Image stability is good. While viewing the film, I did not see any distracting large cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report. All in all, A Bullet for the General still needs to be properly restored so that it has a strong and convincing organic appearance. However, this presentation of it is pretty decent. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

A Bullet for the General Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0 and Italian LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the English track. Optional English subtitles are provided for the Italian track. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

I prefer to use the English audio track, since the majority of the actors utter their lines in English. As you would expect, it features overdubbing, which is quite entertaining. The overall quality of the English track is very good. However, you should expect to notice some dynamic unevenness. Also, I think that if fully remastered, the English audio track could produce even better dynamic contrasts.

A Bullet for the General Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview - in this archival video program, director Damiano Damiani recalls how A Bullet for the General was conceived and discusses its production history and select themes from its narrative. This is not the same program that is included on Blue Underground's release of A Bullet for the General. In Italian, with English subtitles. (18 min, 480/60i).

• Introduction - an archival introduction to A Bullet for the General by Alex Cox. In English, not subtitled. (8 min).

• Art Cards - three collectible cards, one for each film in the Cult Spaghetti Westerns set.

A Bullet for the General Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It would have been great if A Bullet for the General was fully restored, like Django and Keoma. However, despite some issues, the current presentation of it is pretty decent. In fact, I think that I prefer how A Bullet for the General looks on this release, not how it looks on Blue Underground's release. The difference is not big, but I liked how certain areas of the film looked on my system better. A Bullet for the General is included in Cult Spaghetti Westerns, a three-disc set. RECOMMENDED.