A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL | Dir. Damiano Damiani  | 1966 | Italy | 118 min | PG 

At the height of the Mexican revolution, a mysterious young American (Lou Castel of FIST IN HIS POCKET) joins a gang of marauders led by El Chucho (Gian Maria Volonte of A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS) on a series of savage raids to steal guns for a powerful rebel general. But when the Gringo brings his own cold-blooded ideals to the bandits, El Chucho discovers that the real weapons of war belong to no army. In a land ravaged by poverty and violence, can true freedom be bought with a single bullet? Klaus Kinski (FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE) and Martine Beswick (DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE, THUNDERBALL) co-star in this legendary western directed by Damiano Damiani from a powerful screenplay co-written by Oscar-nominee Franco Solinas (THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, THE BIG GUNDOWN). Also know as QUIEN SABE?, this thrilling epic features some of the most surprising performances, radical politics and shocking violence of any Spaghetti Western ever made.

Between January and March the Calgary Cinematheque presents a six film spotlight on Spaghetti Westerns that expands on the different themes and symbols of the sub-genre. The selections range from the lone wolf (DJANGO) looking for revenge (DEATH RIDES A HORSE) and money (THE BOUNTY KILLER) to political films (COMPANEROS, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL). The selected films also cover the gambit of characters from bounty hunters (THE BOUNTY KILLER, THE BIG GUNDOWN), a gun-carrying priest (Klaus Kinski in A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL), corrupt generals, double crossing gunmen to crazed machine gun toting characters.