A Bullet for the General

A Bullet for the General (original title: Quién sabe?) is a 1966 Italian Zapata Western directed by Damiano Damiani, starring Gian Maria Volonté, Lou Castel, Klaus Kinski and Martine Beswick. Set during the Mexican Revolution, it follows El Chuncho, an outlaw hovering between common banditry and guerrilla struggle, whose men assault a government army train. A young American passenger, Bill Tate, lends the raiders a hand during the attack, then joins the gang and slowly wins Chuncho's trust. The two set out to sell their looted weapons to the revolutionary troops of General Elías. Yet Tate is not what he seems: he is a hired gun working for the counter-revolution. Their unlikely companionship gradually reshapes Chuncho, pushing him to recognize, through bitter experience, that the cause of revolution outweighs personal profit. Widely counted among the earliest and best-known Zapata Westerns, the film features a score by Luis Bacalov, with Ennio Morricone credited as supervisor.