A Bullet for Sandoval (1969)

George Hilton plays John Warner, a Confederate officer who receives an urgent message from Mexico on the eve of a major battle.

Back at the Sandoval ranch, his girlfriend has given birth to his illegitimate son, and he must hurry back to marry her.

Warner deserts, but it isn’t until he arrives in Los Cedros that he realizes the reason for the urgency.

The town has been hit by a cholera epidemic. Rosa is on her death bed. And her father, Don Pedro Sandoval, blames Warner for everything that’s gone wrong. So he sends Warner off with his newborn son, with order to never return.

Forced to care for a sick infant, Warner fights a losing battle. He’s turned down for help time after time by folks concerned about catching cholera from his son.

When the child dies, Warner swears they will all pay for their failure to help, and Sandoval is among the individuals on his hit list.

And so the father and deserter becomes an outlaw, surrounding himself with blood-thirsty killers in a journey sure to lead back to Los Cedros and the Sandoval ranch.

Review:

The opening will grab your attention. A Union soldier is scouring a battlefield, looking for treasure. Meaning gold rings he can cut off fingers of the dead. Or gold teeth he can pry from their mouths.

The ending? Without giving it away, it’s one of the more memorable you’ll find in a Spaghetti Western.

In between, we get lots of overacting from Borgnine as Don Pedro Sandoval, but a Spaghetti that’s better than average and one of Hilton’s best as we watch him descend from trusted soldier to cold-blooded killer.

Borgnine’s casting is quite curious. In a cast filled with foreigners playing Civil War roles, he’s an American actor playing a Mexican landowner who can’t stand that his beloved daughter let “a gringo” put his hands on her.

Alberto de Mendoza, Gustavo Rojo, Jose Manuel Martin, Antonio Pic and Andrea Aureli play members of the John Warner gang; Manuel Mirando and Manuel de Blase are sons of Don Pedro.

Directed by:
Julio Bachs

Cast:
Ernest Borgnine … Don Pedro Sandoval
George Hilton … John Warner
Alberto de Mendoza … Lucky Boy
Gustavo Rojo … Guadalupano
Jose Manuel Martin … The Only One Eye
Antonio Pica … Sam Powell
Andrea Aureli … James Morton
Leo Anchoriz … Father “Lay Brother” Converso
Manuel Mirando … Francisco Sandoval
Manuel de Blase … Jose Gonzalez Sandoval
Andres Mejuto … Confederate general
Marino Vidal Moline … Capt. Parker
Mary Paz Pondal … Lisa, governor’s wife
George Riguard … Gen. Jackson
Jose Guadiola … Chihuahua governor
Annabella Incontrera … Carol Day

Runtime: 90 min.

aka:
Quei Disperati Che Puzzano di Sudore e di Morte
Vengeance is Mine
Those Desperate Men Who Smell of Dirt and Death
Blood for Blood
A Bloody Job
Desperate Men

Music: Gianni Ferrio

Memorable lines:

Cpl. John Warner, riding to Rosa: “That battle’s begun. I should have been back there.”
Francisco: “If it was so important, they wouldn’t have started without you.”

Mother at waystation, catching her daughter flirting with Lucky Boy: “Lupe! I warned you. Don’t let me catch you again trying to get heat in your bed.”

John Warner: “Just like a dog. That’s how my son died. I swear. They’ll pay for this!”

Sandoval: “Don’t let my love that was like a pedestal stone fall like a castle of mud. Please let me think that you loved me more than you did him. That bastard. That bastard that took you away from me. That bastard.”

Guadalupano, pitching his case to join the gang: “Look, Warner, I know what you are, and I’d like to join you. I’m not an idiot or a swindler, but I’ve been everything else.”

Sandoval son’s: “Warner never would have escaped that way, unless he was the son of a demon.”
Sandoval: “Or at least a friend. Cause that kind of luck can only come from the devil.”

John Warner, to the governor’s wife: “Lisa, you’re more dangerous than a puma.”
Lisa: “But why not? You like us fierce.”

Trivia:

Annabella Incontrera is the top-billed female in the cast, but doesn’t appear in the widely-circulated, 90-minute version of the film. She plays the role of Carol Day, not Rosa, as it so often appears in cast lists. Details on her cut scenes are available on the Spaghetti Western database forum.

This marked the only Spaghetti role for Ernest Borgnine, who won an Emmy for “Marty” (1955), but is probably better known for this TV role on McHale’s Navy. He was top-billed in a 1971 Western/Drama called “Rain for a Dusty Summer” / “Guns of the Revolution” that was filmed in Spain.

Searching the film for Annabella made me wonder who two other women in the film are — the young girl named Lupe who flirts with Lucky Boy, and the whore in the pueblo who double crosses Guadalupano. Does anyone know?