''Guns for San Sebastian'' () is a 1968

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

based on the 1962 novel ''A Wall for San Sebastian'', written by Rev. Fr. William Barnaby "Barby" Faherty, S.J. The film is directed by Frenchman

Henri Verneuil Henri Verneuil (; born Ashot Malakian; 15 October 1920 – 11 January 2002) was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno International Fi ...

, it stars

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...

Anjanette Comer Anjanette Comer (born August 7, 1939) is an American actress. Early years Born in Dawson, Texas to Rufus Franklin Comer, Jr., and Nola Dell “Sue” (Perkins) Comer, she attended Dawson High School. She gained acting experience at the Pasadena ...

and

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war ...

. The score is by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

, who would then use his work in this film as an inspiration for the main theme in '' The Mercenary''. Filming took place in

Sierra de Órganos National Park Sierra de Órganos National Park (Spanish: ''Parque Nacional Sierra de Órganos'') is a national park in Mexico, located in the northwest corner of the municipality of Sombrerete in the state of Zacatecas, near the border with Durango. The par ...

in the town of

Sombrerete Sombrerete () is a town and municipality located in the northwest of the Mexican state of Zacatecas, bordering the state of Durango. It was founded in 1555 by Spanish conquistador Juan de Tolosa as a mining center, due to the wealth that the mine ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

It was made as a co-production between

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, Mexico, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is a rare instance of a

Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

actually being shot in Mexico, instead of substituting

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

or some similar European location.

Plot

In 1746 Mexico, a womanizing

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...

, the army

deserter Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

Leon Alastray (

) is wounded and pursued by the Spanish military into a church. He is given

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

by a sympathetic priest (

Sam Jaffe Shalom "Sam" Jaffe (March 10, 1891 – March 24, 1984) was an American actor, teacher, musician, and engineer. In 1951, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in '' The Asphalt Jungle'' (1950) and ap ...

), who will not turn Alastray over to the military. The church authorities side with the army, and when the priest still refuses to hand Alastray over they send him to minister to a remote village, San Sebastian. The priest smuggles Alastray, who is proudly

atheistic Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

and anti-clerical, past the soldiers surrounding the church. Alastray feels guilty for what has happened to the priest, so accompanies him to the village to ensure he gets there safely. However, he is angry and embittered throughout the trip. They arrive at San Sebastian to find the church barely stands and the village apparently abandoned. The priest is killed by a marauding

vaquero The ''vaquero'' (; pt, vaqueiro, , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain. The vaquero became t ...

, but his ringing of the church bell brings the villagers out from their hiding places in the surrounding hills. They hide there because they are regularly terrorized by

Yaqui The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United Stat ...

Indians. The villagers mistake Alastray for a priest. He at first denies it and is scornful of them, but, guided by a persistent village woman, Kinita (

), to whom he is attracted, decides to take on the role and organize the villagers. They are aided by the persuasive power of an accident the villagers think is a miracle. Teclo (

) is a half-breed leader of the vaqueros. He pretends to side with the villagers, but in reality wants them to be scattered in the hills permanently, under his leadership. While Alastray organizes the men of the village to build a dam, the Yaqui attack and massacre many of the inhabitants of the village. The angry villagers order the priest out. Alastray leaves, with Kinita following. He tells her all his life he has fallen just short of achieving something meaningful, and sends her back to the village. A storm of approaching riders are heard, and the two take cover. They see Teclo and the Yaqui leader, Golden Lance ( Jaime Fernández) together, and realize the alliance of those two means terrible things for the village. Alastray goes to the capital and, using a previous romantic connection, obtains muskets, gunpowder, and a cannon, which he takes back to the village. When the villagers see the weapons, they are encouraged and willing to fight. Alastray makes a peace overture to Golden Lance, which is initially successful, but Teclo sabotages it and a Yaqui attack is inevitable. On the eve of the battle, the villagers ask Alastray to lead them in a Mass. He tells them he is not a priest, but they nonetheless accept him. Together, they repel the Yaqui attack on the village, but they use up most of their gunpowder and their prospects appear grim. However, a village boy out playing sees the vaqueros and the Yaquis gather in preparation for the next day's attack. During the night, Alastray and a few villagers set charges in a mountainside overlooking the gathering place, to explode rocks down onto the attackers. The next morning, Teclo rides by and sees the fuse to the charges, but the villagers kill him before he can do anything about it. The Yaquis gather below the rocks, and most, including Golden Lance, are killed when the charges are detonated. With the area pacified, government authorities come to administer the village. A military officer recognizes Alastray and sends soldiers to capture him. The villagers outwit the soldiers, getting them to pursue a decoy. Alastray flees on horseback in the opposite direction, with Kinita riding after him.

Cast

Production

Differences between the novel and the film

The original novel by Faherty had the hero be a former soldier who became a Jesuit cleric, as opposed to the film's depiction of the hero as an army deserter and atheist bandit. The Indians in the novel were

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

, rather than Yaqui, and the

half-breed Half-breed is a term, now considered offensive, used to describe anyone who is of mixed race; although, in the United States, it usually refers to people who are half Native American and half European/white. Use by governments United States In ...

character played by Charles Bronson does not appear in the book.

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guns for San Sebastian 1968 films 1968 Western (genre) films 1960s action adventure films 1960s historical adventure films American historical adventure films French historical adventure films Mexican historical adventure films Italian historical adventure films French Western (genre) films Spaghetti Western films Mexican Western (genre) films Films based on Western (genre) novels Films directed by Henri Verneuil Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films set in Mexico Films set in the 1740s Italian historical action films English-language French films English-language Italian films English-language Mexican films French historical action films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films 1960s Italian films 1960s French films 1960s Mexican films