The ending of Compañeros is not that complicated I think. Nero keeps riding the same way, since he’s fighting for the revolution and, well, it’s quite hard making a word of it.
Maybe I missed the answer to this, but I didn’t see anything about it in the topic… Can anyone help me out here? Does the Koch DVD have a shorter runtime for the alternate English? Also wondering if its all completely different voice actors for the alternate track?
I wasn’t going to get this release since I already had the Anchor Bay/Blue Underground dsic, but now I’m really curious since more than one person has said its a lot better with the alternate dubbing. Also, its part of the rainbow collection… 
[quote=“autephex, post:102, topic:301”]Maybe I missed the answer to this, but I didn’t see anything about it in the topic… Can anyone help me out here? Does the Koch DVD have a shorter runtime for the alternate English? Also wondering if its all completely different voice actors for the alternate track?
I wasn’t going to get this release since I already had the Anchor Bay/Blue Underground dsic, but now I’m really curious since more than one person has said its a lot better with the alternate dubbing. Also, its part of the rainbow collection… :D[/quote]
Howdy, amigo!
Koch ended up reverting to the International English dub in the small parts that were trimmed for the US version.
It is only slightly (and I mean very slightly) jarring in a couple of places.
I wholeheartedly recommend the Koch Media version of this film as it is really the best one out there.
That alternate English dub is just so much better.
The Anchor Bay English version is just one of the most flat and boring examples of dubbing I have ever encountered.
Thanks Chris, I will probably go ahead and grab it
[quote=“Chris_Casey, post:39, topic:301”]The tale of the two dubbings goes something like this…
The European production house did the dubbing for the International English version which is the version that Anchor Bay released, originally, on DVD.
Around 1968, when the film was picked up for American distribution, the distributors (like myself) found the International English dubbing to be very poor, very blandly delievered, and completely unexciting. So, they called for a new English language dubbing job and they hired the same company that had done the English language versions of the Dollars films. In this second English language version (which is what I am guessing you are calling the “new” dub, Sebastian)…the great thing is that Volonte is dubbed by the same voice actor, Bernard Grant, that did his voice in the Dollars films (no, Volonte’s own voice was never used in the English language versions of Leone’s films…regardless of what stories you might have read, or heard).
The pros and cons are as follows:
The International English language version is the longer cut of the film and the US English language version is slightly shorter.
Also, in the US English version, they drop Chuncho’s use of the phrase “Quien sabe”. That sort of bugs me, slightly. But, the better line delivery on everything else more than makes up for this, in my estimation.
For me, personally, I prefer the shorter version with the better dubbing job!
This is perhaps the only time I can honestly say that I prefer a cut version of a film!
I’ve not seen the new KOCH release of this film, yet; so, I am not sure how they went about incorporating the two different soundtracks…are there two different versions of the film on it? Or, did they just revert to the International dub in the small parts that were trimmed for the US version?[/quote]
The so called “new” English dub on the Koch disc is actually the one that has him say “quien sabe” at the end so I’m confused now as to which was the original one.
I think KOCH mixed them up in the menu. “New dub” is called “old dub” and “old dub” called "new dub"
Am I right?
Which version is the best of this film? Im under the impression that the german release called Töte Amigo is the best? Is that right?
Do anyone know where I can buy it? Amazon.de is out.
I don’t know. This film just leaves me cold. At its core it’s just like hundreds (thousands) of old Soviet agitprop films done in the SW style and jazzed up with SW flourishes. Sure, it has cool scenes such as the crucifixion on the railroad tracks, but…
Those who like A Bullet for the General might just investigate those old Soviet films with romantic working-class and peasant revolutionaries, heroic generals (Elias reminds me so much of the Russian Civil War Communist leaders in the old films-- he even looks like them!), evil priests, capitalist wreckers and saboteurs and assassins (like Tate), rich landowners and kulaks who must be exterminated (like Don Felipe), the “samokritika” which leads Chuncho to sentence himself to death. But I have seen too many of those to be impressed with this one just because it’s Italian and has that “style.”
I think Volonte’ overacts very badly-- way over the top-- and I find it hard to identify with his amiable (I love the drink, the smoking and the women) but moronic and murderous character.
Just my take, guys.
[quote=“Major Clyde, post:108, topic:301”]I don’t know. This film just leaves me cold. At its core it’s just like hundreds (thousands) of old Soviet agitprop films done in the SW style and jazzed up with SW flourishes. Sure, it has cool scenes such as the crucifixion on the railroad tracks, but…
Those who like A Bullet for the General might just investigate those old Soviet films with romantic working-class and peasant revolutionaries, heroic generals (Elias reminds me so much of the Russian Civil War Communist leaders in the old films-- he even looks like them!), evil priests, capitalist wreckers and saboteurs and assassins (like Tate), rich landowners and kulaks who must be exterminated (like Don Felipe), the “samokritika” which leads Chuncho to sentence himself to death. But I have seen too many of those to be impressed with this one just because it’s Italian and has that “style.”
I think Volonte’ overacts very badly-- way over the top-- and I find it hard to identify with his amiable (I love the drink, the smoking and the women) but moronic and murderous character.
Just my take, guys.[/quote]
I guess you and/or your family have lived under a communist regime (I got that idea in another thread too), and are therefore familiar with a kind of genre we know nothing of. Similar thing inluence one’s judgement, that’s only normal
I’m unfamiliar with those Soviet movies, but I see your point
Very intersting. Could you give me a list of representative titles, I’d like to watch one or two of these movies
(I’m not really a fan of Volonté, so I agree with you on that point)
Volonté play it’s best in those Neo realist Italian movies, for some reason he was more confortable in those parts, I remember this films, all of them are strongly politized, but there are not a shade of symbolisms on them.
Cristo si è fermato a Eboli;
Una storia semplice;
Porte aperte;
Ogro also very political it’s another kind of film, but also he gives a great performace, the commom denominator it’s that in all this films he just had to act in a simple and direct way
I don’t think Volonte overacts.
It is instead a comparatively subtle portrait of one those exalted Mexicans. And exalted Mexicans are, next to proud Indians, one of the most typical western cliches.
But I think if one likes or likes not Quien sabe will have to do a lot with Volontes acting.
Probably my least favourite western Volonte role, he just never seems to shut up.
Yeah, I agree, this is not Volonte at his best. But, it is an entertaining film and I have no problem with the original dubbing. Someone mentioned the cliche of the “exalted Mexican”, well, I prefer Tomas Milian in those kinds of roles (and of course Eli Wallach’s classic portrayal of Tuco). As far as the politics go, I don’t really take it seriously enough to form opinions about it. It is just part of the time period and setting to me. Compañeros is probably my favourite “political” or “zapata” western. Are these films propaganda? To some, maybe. Not to me.
For me this is his FACE TO FACE role. Don’t have a problem with this one here.
I didn’t think that Volonté overacted either. I also loved the character of El Chuncho, even though he’s a really morally reprehensible individual. As far as overacting is concerned, I don’t think that’s necessary a bad thing. I mean, there is bad overacting and there is good overacting (like Tomas Milian, who is one of my favourite actors). Plus, I can’t think of a genre where overacting works better than in spaghetti western.
The only problem I had with A Bullet for the General was the action, except for the train sequence it was rather lackluster. And more Aldo Sambrell wouldn’t have hurt! Finally, I don’t mind movies with political agendas, even if I disagree with them. Actually, I think that makes them more interesting, as long as they are not extremely hateful or just plain propaganda.
1 Like
FACE TO FACE is my fav Volonté spagg western, i love the way his accent sounds in the english dub version.
I like Volonté best in A Fistful of Dollars and Face to Face, and he’s also very good in some non-westerns, like El Topo has mentioned. He didn’t like westerns and I think he didn’t really fit into them. Fistful is of course a particular case; it was his first western and he gave his best. Even in For a Few Dollars More I notice some disdain for what he’s doing (I never liked the El Indio character by the way). Face to Face is also a rather particular case: it probably reflects his ideas about himself in relation to the genre - it’s about an intellectual in the Far West (teaching everybody a lesson).
I don’t dislike A Bullet for the General, there are some great thngs in it, but I don’t like Volonté in it.
I don’t mind spaghetti westerns being political, as long as they’re not dogmatic, and in my opinion the Zapatas and the other political SWs aren’t (with the possible excepion of this one; Major Clyde said some very interesting things about it; but I’ll have to study and check these things first before I can say something about it. I do remember that I planned to write a review on it - there’s none in the DB - but somehow never managed to complete it. I guess it had something to do with the things Major Clyde was hinting at)
A Bullet for the Genaral among Navajo joe and Companeros (apart from the Leone ones) were the first Sw I saw in the digital era meaning in DVD not in VHS rented taped or bought.
I always like the film, Damiani it’s one of those classical conventional directors that seems to do everything OK, we know he’s not a revolutionary but we can trust on him most of the time, of course westerns were not his main thing, but El Chunchu works perfectlyl as a western apart from everything we can find out beyond the movie itself, we can see it as critic the American involvement in Viet-Nam, many things but works well on it’s own, and remember that most people at the time saw this movies as westerns only westerns, the subliminal messages hidden or not, were not of so importance for the common people.
Other thing I liked in the movie was Lou Castel an actor that now one seems to like, yes he had a strange career, with some odd choices mainly to his political views, but see the guy in "fist in his Pocket/Il pugno in tasca and in Samperi’s Grazie Zia, he and some cool acting in those ones.
In conclusion a great film, a great Sw, from a good non usual to SW director, with a great cast full of Sw “grinta” (Kinski, Sambrell, and the gorgeous Beswick)
[quote=“El Topo, post:118, topic:301”]A Bullet for the Genaral among Navajo joe and Companeros (apart from the Leone ones) were the first Sw I saw in the digital era meaning in DVD not in VHS rented taped or bought.
I always like the film, Damiani it’s one of those classical conventional directors that seems to do everything OK, we know he’s not a revolutionary but we can trust on him most of the time, of course westerns were not his main thing, but El Chunchu works perfectlyl as a western apart from everything we can find out beyond the movie itself, we can see it as critic the American involvement in Viet-Nam, many things but works well on it’s own, and remember that most people at the time saw this movies as westerns only westerns, the subliminal messages hidden or not, were not of so importance for the common people.
Other thing I liked in the movie was Lou Castel an actor that now one seems to like, yes he had a strange career, with some odd choices mainly to his political views, but see the guy in "fist in his Pocket/Il pugno in tasca and in Samperi’s Grazie Zia, he and some cool acting in those ones.
In conclusion a great film, a great Sw, from a good non usual to SW director, with a great cast full of Sw “grinta” (Kinski, Sambrell, and the gorgeous Beswick)[/quote]
My sentiments exactly.
Always been a big fan of this film.
One of the best spaghetti westerns. Love the interaction and twists in the story especially in the end. Really defines the meaning of honor and comradeship.
Love the acting of Volante.
I have both the Blue Underground DVD and the Argent films PAL UK DVD. I highly recomend the PAL version, the video is significantly better and smoother. Watch it in its native PAL great stuff.(can be done via a Upconverting DVD player to a LCD TV via a HDMI connection.