No no, Merceanrio is far better and more intelligent then Quien sabe?
I also prefer Companeros, even if it is a flawed film, but in its best scenes Companeros outdoes everything in Quien sabe?
Agreed. Quien Sabe also has some ludicrous moments, e.g. during the assault of the train. One bandit shoots a guy who is trying to escape. Having done this, he notices some blood on his shirt and utters: “No! He killed me!” and then falls. What the…
I like Volonte and Castel, but from a directional point of view it has never convinced me.
Well which movie is ‘better’ and which directional style one prefers can be left to personal tastes, but Quien Sabe? cannot be called far less intelligent than Mercenary or Companeros. For start, Quien Sabe is trendsetting original, Mercenary follows in its footsteps two years later and Companeros is little more than remake of Mercenary. Not only that, but in Corbucci’s movies everything is more or less black and white and predictable. Rich bad, poor good. Americans bad, third world good, Europeans cynical but deep down also good. In Companeros we have Gandhi-like professor, revolutionaries doesn’t get nicer and more innocent than that. Nothing is like that in Quien Sabe, just think of sequence when bandits and peasants capture rich land owner - his not exactly bad is he, and revolutionaries want to rape his wife, they’re not exactly good, right? There’s no such extreme ambiguities in those later movies, only hints at it, things are watered down. (BTW, that sequence reminds me of a sequence in The Dark Knight Rises when we see people take over and private ownership becoming communal - only in Quien Sabe message is inverted and not that clear 
).
In Quien Sabe there is also one important character that walks away from revolution and from bandit life and killings - again, black?, white? Who’s side are we supposed to take? Nino kills for money without conscience, but he is likeable isn’t he? He stops woman being raped and saves his friend being killed. When movies are political I don’t want them to push their agenda in my mouth, I want them to make me make my own decisions. In Companeros message is that you have to choose side and there’s no place for pacifism in revolution, but to make sure we get it, the message is explicitly explained to us :
That said, I like Mercenary, it is very good movie, I only wish it didn’t borrowed from The Good, the Bad and The Ugly so much. Companeros I like little bit less mostly because like I said it is Mercenary part 2, I’m not Millian fan and Palance can get annoying in that one (Curly is much better).
Il mercenario is very different from Quien sabe? .
Similar topic, but different approach. If Quien sabe? is a message film, then Il mercenario is one which ironises message films. It’s only a game …
Well it always comes down to personal tastes and first impression movie leaves on someone. Some see more in one movie some in other. I saw Quien Sabe after I’ve already saw couple of Zapata westerns and I was getting slightly fed up with the whole theme, so I was actually not in the mood for that kind of film, but I’ve ended up blown away by it.
I’m not sure what you mean about Mercenary ironising message films though…
It’s an ironic film in the sense that the revolutionaries keep having their ideals undermined right from the very start: to even succeed, they must employ a capitalist mercenary they are supposed to be rebelling against.
Well that’s irony, but I’m not sure it ironises messages films as such. Nero tells to Musante something like: “there is always revolution happening somewhere, one is not different than the other, let’s make most of it for our selves”. But Musante (who was tabula rasa at the start of the movie), decides to stick with his revolution anyway - that is the real message of the movie. (In Companeros Nero who plays almost the same character is in the end convinced himself to join the revolution).
Anyway, that is how I see things, good movies are always open to multiple interpretations.
[quote=“titoli, post:145, topic:301”]Well it always comes down to personal tastes and first impression movie leaves on someone. Some see more in one movie some in other. I saw Quien Sabe after I’ve already saw couple of Zapata westerns and I was getting slightly fed up with the whole theme, so I was actually not in the mood for that kind of film, but I’ve ended up blown away by it.
I’m not sure what you mean about Mercenary ironising message films though…[/quote]
You wrote exactly what I want to say.It’s a matter of personal taste and first impression gaves me ‘‘Quien Sabe’’ from the other two and nothing more.Personally after a long time repeated watch the first two Leone films I have a closer relationship with Volonte and as I wrote in my first post Kinski’s role is something different from his other spags.That’s it amigos.
Quién sabe? has been recently restored by Cineteca Nazionale and is showing at Venezia Classici as part of the 70th Venice International Film Festival:[url]http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/claudia-cardinale-guest-of-honor-for-venice-film-festivals-classic-film-lineup-includes-rossellini-renoir-friedkins-sorcerer-and-more?page=2#blogPostHeaderPanel[/url]
Even Le mani sulla citta and La proprietà non è più un furto. Cool. I hope the latter will be released on DVD soon.
121 and not 135: mystery solved! 
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Ok, but the actual runtime is 118 or 119.
Yes, the original closing credits and the interview with the General - sequence that as far as I know today is present only in the Cineteca Nazionale copy - are missing.
Three versions were released: the uncut original with a VM18 rating in December 1966, the second only two weeks later with 9 cuts (including the above-mentioned sequence) and 4 additions resulting in three more meters duly noted by the Committee - see image below - and a VM14 rating
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and a third one in June 1972, shortened to 3070mt with 6 cuts and 3 additions and entitled El Chuncho, with a T rating (all ages admitted).
[quote=“Ramon Rojo, post:140, topic:301”]Best Zapata western for me a subgenre with some memorable films.Gian Maria Volonte centralizes the whole interest there with a huge performance.Also I find really good Klaus Kinski in a different role than that we know in many other spags.The end is really apocalyptic the loco mexican blows up everything.Damiano Damiani gave us a masterpiece!
I agree it is far better than ‘‘Mercenary’’ and ‘‘Companeros’’.[/quote]
I love your signature quote!
There’s something a bit Toshiro Mifune about Gian Maria Volonte’s performance, especially the characters Rashomon and Seven Samurai. Maybe it’s the tall, athletic build mixed with a lot of emotional passion.
So is that 135 number just a myth and nothing more?
With regard to theatrical releases absolutely yes, 121 min is the correct runtime for both first and second version and 135 the simple conversion of declared film length (3700 m).
Naturally the existence of a longer, never released cut cannot entirely be ruled out.
I think the situation is a lot like Faccia a Faccia then which Sollima has said was originally longer but the producers would not release it at that length. It would have been nice to see “director’s cuts” of both of these. Has Damiani ever spoken about it anywhere?
A Bullet for the General beats The Mercenary for me but it doesn’t beat Companeros. Anyway, I don’t have anything negative to say about this film. It’s in my top 20 and it never fails to entertain.
Hmm. Now I’m thinking I should retract my statement. Do I like this one or Companeros more? Not entirely sure. I think it’s the music in Companeros and Milian’s performance that makes me put it higher on the list. Then again, Castel and Volonte gave terrific performances in this one. Maybe they’re equal for me. Both beat The Mercenary though.