On the Blue Underground blu ray of Quien Sabe, the Italian audio sometimes drops out and becomes English (if I remember correctly, one of the occasions was when Chuncho taught the civillians to handle rifles). I´m assuming it is like that on all copies, so was the film not dubbed fully in Italian? Yo no se. Also, on the Spanish release, does it come with English subtitles and the full Italian audio, and is it a release worth picking up? I´m a huge fan of the film and would love to see it in the best possible way.
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I don’t think a complete Italian dub currently exists on disc - which is the inverse of the normal state of affairs. The Italian Cecchi Gori DVD, may list 118mins on the back, but it has three cuts: first one involving Aldo Sambrell under the train, which clumsily cuts to Volonté; then a short cut when Andrea Checchi (Don Felipe) and Volonté are driving the automobile; and finally the scene where Volonté and José Manuel Martín arrive in San Miguel and appoint the young man who can read and write as leader, is also cut.
The Italian dub is also decidedly inferior to the main English dub, both in dialogue and voice acting. This is also one of my favourites (ever since first seeing it in 1990) and one of the select few just behind the ‘Dollars’ films.
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What a beautiful location photo … in the background we can see the GBU town, that was built and used only once.
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Thank you very much for your answer. I have actually not seen the English dub for the film (GASPS!!!) but I will make sure to do so now. I´ve also been made aware that there are 2 different ones, with BU placing the inferior one on the longer version and the better dub on the shorter version. For my next viewing, which version do you recomend? BTW, despite being cut, Argent´s release of the movie looks interesting due to some cool extras, might double dip for those.
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Gotta be honest, this one didn’t strike me as much but one thing I really appreciated about it was how they gave the conflict a but of nuance by portraying the Mexican soldiers as actual humans instead of one dimensional villains. That opening scene with the one on the train is especially touching.
I gotta agree, that opening is fantastic. What I also love about the film is El Chuncho, who has a genuine character development, and that final scene on the train: “?Quién sabe?”
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I should give this one another shot. Bet I’d like it a lot more my second time through after having seen a lot more Spaghetti Westerns.
I just tried to watch this film in English but instantly switched to Italian. Does anyone actually prefer the English dub for this film, and which one? The Italian dub is much better for me
I think the English dub isn’t “that” bad 
2 English dubs exist for this one, and at least one German DVD has both, if I remember that correctly.
yes the old Koch Media (yellow) disc… can you say something about the differences of the dubs? Was the one a US dub and the other a UK dub or something? For this info we should have some explanation in the Dubbing section of this movie’s page in the database
I would say the English dub in the ‘International Version’ is about the same as the ‘Dollars’ films - indeed it features the same voice actor in a lead role (Bernard Grant). There’s no good reason to watch the other dub in the shorter US cut.
To my ears, Grant’s voice is more charismatic than the unknown actor with the guttural voice who liberally switches from Italian to Spanish. Both the unknown actor in the English dub and Massimo Turci in the Italian dub (Niño role), affect the same duplicitous indifference - but the English version is less insouciant and more sardonic. Although the Italian dub does have Sergio Graziani in the El Santo role, who’s voice fits the character better.
Finally, the Argent release is not cut (or more corrrectly it’s the most complete version available) - that’s just the PAL runtime.
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No, nothing. The German dub is good, and I always watched it with that dub.
Would you reccomend the Argent release of the film? How does the picture/sound and all that compete with Blue Underground´s release?
It’s only a DVD!
Bear in mind that release is nearly twenty years old and things have moved on. A better choice would be the 2021 blu-ray from Carlotta Films - El Chuncho (¿Quién sabe?). It’s the ‘International Version’ with French, English and Italian dubs; with different French subtitles (translated) for both Italian and English audio tracks.
The Argent DVD looks pretty ropey if you’ve gotten used to HD transfers. The dub is the same version as the one that’s found on a certain youtube channel (15 million views!) and I’d say that that version’s quality is honestly better than Argents. It’s a shame that Argent/CultFilms seem to be sitting on the license with no new release in sight.
I’ve never heard the shorter dub so no idea how they compare, are there any clips of it?
Also to add to general discussion; this film made me realise how powerful an actor Volonté could be. He always seemed a bit more low key in the 2 dollars films, but with this and Face to Face he really stands out
I should find more Volonté films to watch!
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I recently saw him in “Le Cercle Rouge”, where he was great!
Yes, but didn´t they make a Blu as well? What about the one in the three-pack?
they didn’t