User Reviews

This exciting picture deals with an outlaw disguising himself as priest who helps defend tribal land ,(people living on the edges of themselves and their resourcefulness and limited supplies) from a gang of mean bandits and rebel Indians that want tribe's crop . ¨Two hundred years ago Mexico was ruled by a King in far-off Spain who was attempting to impose an alien religion and system of law upon a proud but diverse people . They ranged from simple villagers , torn between old and new , to the most warlike of the Indian tribes : the Yaquis who were determined to resist all change . This is the story of Astray who chose to fight both the king and the Yaquis ¨ . Leon Alastray (Anthony Quinn) is a bandit who has been given sanctuary in a church by Father John (Sam Jaffe), whom he then accompanies to the village of San Sebastian (Mexico) . The village is deserted, with its cowardly residents hiding in the ridges from Yaquis, who ordinarily attack the little town and rob all their food . When Father John is killed, the villagers mistakenly believe the bandit is a parish priest . Alastray at first tell them he is not a priest, but they don't believe it, and an apparent miracle on a San Sebastian sculpture seems to demonstrate they are correct . After that , the priest train them to kill and defending themselves when the village is besieged by the violent Yaquis . Meanwhile , the Indian war party (commanded by Jaime Fernandez as Golden Lance) and a rebel group (led by Charles Bronson) then head out to conquer the Mexican village held in an impregnable fortress that the villagers have built and the priest assists them in regaining their confidence.

This Western movie produced by Jacques Bar is a Franco-Mexican-Italian co-production,; it packs thrills, emotion, romance, action packed , extraordinary performances and spectacular finale battle . This Western-drama is an interesting story that carries a genuine charge of intelligence with exciting battle of wits between an upright outlaw and a nasty mestizo . Sensational acting by two big star names, Anthony Quinn and Charles Bronson . Strong secondary cast plenty of Mexican actors as Silvia Pinal, Pedro Armendariz Jr , Enrique Lucero, Jaime Fernandez, Chano Urueta and special mention to Sam Jaffe as kind old priest and Leon Askin as Vicar General . Interesting and thrilling screenplay by the prestigious James R Webb . Very good cinematography filmed in Metrocolor by Armand Thirard and on location in Durango, El Saltito, Durango, San Miguel de Allende, and Guanajuato, Mexico . Sensible musical score by the maestro Ennio Morricone in one of his best scores , including particular style and sound . The picture is splendidly directed by Henry Verneuil, a Turkish director working in France from the 40s. Although not a director of great reputation among the critics, his movies have almost all been aimed squarely at the commercial market. Verneuil is an expert on heist-genre such as he proved in ¨The Sicilians clan(68)¨ also with Gabin and Delon, ¨The burglars(1971)¨with Omar Shariff and Jean Paul Belmondo , furthermore on Warlike genre : ¨Weekend at Dunkirk¨and ¨The 25th hour¨and only one Western : Guns of San Sebastian(68)¨. He seemed to have dropped out of the film-making after 1976, but in 1981 unexpectedly reappeared with yet another of his caper film : ¨Thousand millions of dollars¨. Rating : Good movie and above average, a must see for Western lovers and Quinn and Bronson fans.

A spaghetti western surprise with Anthony Quinn as a "priest" and Charles Bronson as a Mestizo malcontent.

The movie has a theme, a developed plot, some actors with charisma and an Ennio Morricone score. That's more than most movies give you, regardless of genre.

I was pleased to find that Spaghettiville isn't a one-horse (Eastwood/Leone) town.

8 out of 10.

This is one of those films that nearly loses you, but in the end rewards you for sitting through it. It makes for a very good view, despite its leisurely pace at times.

In summary Anthony Quinn stars as a outlaw that is saved by Father John, whom he escorts to the village of San Sebastian. The village is deserted, with its cowardly residents hiding in the hills from indians, who pillage their crops and burn their buildings. When Father John is murdered, the outlaw is mistaken as the man of god by the villagers, and assists them in regaining their confidence and defending themselves.

Quinn is superb in his role, complimented by Charles Bronson, who plays the bad guy "half breed" Teclo. Sam Jaffe's Father Joseph character is also very likable.

Whilst the movie is quite slow in places, this only helps to plot out the story. Although casting the indians as the "bad guys", it does explain that the massacre of the villagers is no different than what the white man has done to their own race "in the name of god".

The soundtrack is again provided by Ennio Morricone and, whilst not his best work, does help provide the suitable atmosphere, borrowing heavily from some of his other compositions.

Definitely worth a view.

Guns for San Sebastian is directed by Henri Verneuil and adapted to screenplay by James R. Webb from the novel "A Wall for San Sebastian" written by William Barby Faherty. It stars Anthony Quinn, Charles Bronson, Anjanette Comer, Sam Jaffe and Silvia Pinal. Music is by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Armand Thirard.

An outlaw on the run is mistaken for a priest by peasant villagers who are at the mercy of bandits and Yaqui Indians.

Something of a multi euro Western, Guns for San Sebastian latches onto the Spaghetti Western coat tails whilst attempting to put something new in the wardrobe. Undeniably the critics who said it's pedestrian in pace are absolutely right, the first two thirds of the piece asks for a great deal of your patience, whilst simultaneously demanding you buy into the various themes trundling away.

With a surreal sub-plot at play, a jokey romance and some atrocious dubbing, it's not hard to dismiss it as purely fun cannon fodder. Yet there's some strengths in the piece, literary wise and from a thrilling stand point as the last third brings the thunderous siege - cum battle stations. Quinn throws in a good turn, the Durango locale is superbly photographed, and Morricone offers up one of his tonally astute scores.

It's all very Magnificent 7 et al, but nothing wrong with that, that is on proviso you can get through the labours of the first hour or so. 7/10

Anthony Quin plays Leon Alastray, part time revolutionary and full time bandit, on the run from the Spanish authorities in Old Mexico in the 18th Century. Through a series of unlikely but possible events, Quinn is mistaken for a priest whom has come to the small village of San Sebastian. The villagers are being victims by Jaime Fernandez and his band of Yacquis. Charles Bronson plays (badly, worst performance of his career) a half-breed whose loyalties are always suspect. Anjanette Comely, er Comer, plays the sultry love interest. Rather silly story, good cinematography, fairly good special effects, and outstanding music (by the master, Ennio Morricone) makes this a worthwhile view. Turner Classic Movies shows it in letterbox. Otherwise, you are out of luck. It's not available in video.

The European Western takes a couple steps back in time with the rascal-mistaken-for-clergy theme, a proved device that worked for Bogie in "The Left Hand of God" & Whoopi in "Sister Act." In colonial Mexico, bandit Leon (Quinn) takes refuge with dedicated Father Joseph (Jaffe) & escapes when the priest is transferred to a forsaken northern village. The villagers, terrified of marauding Yaquis & exploited by a frontier protection racket led by embittered half-Yaqui Teclo (Bronson), mistake Leon for the priest & implore him for miracles. Unable to escape back into colonial settlement & tempted by naive, spirited village girl Kinita (Comer), he teaches the villagers to fight back & believe in themselves rather than praying for miracles. Quinn is colorful as ever but not quite believable making the transition from Leon the selfish, godless rascal to Leon the selfless, principled hero, though he is properly scruffy all the way through. Comer is fetching but Bronson is only bulky & menacing. Two extraordinary talents--Gravet as a stuffy bishop & the legendary Silvia Pinal as Leon's conniving girlfriend--are relegated to minor, superficial roles. The time period is wrong for the film's big gunfights, since firearms were clumsy & rare in the 18th century. But the tongue-in-cheek flavor of the spaghetti Western, with a scruffy rascal confounded, puzzled & frustrated on the way to his selfish goal, holds true all the way through. The Yaquis are represented--up to a point--with the sympathy typical of Westerns of circa 1970. A subplot, Leon's pursuit of a wild white horse, is an effective, slightly surreal device. A contribution by Bunuel, Jr., the 2nd unit director? Oh, my God, this movie has Silvia Pinal & Juan Luis Bunuel! It's the closest thing to a surrealist Western!

Over the years I seemed to have missed this great picture with Anthony Quinn, Charles Bronson, Sam Jaffe and Anjanette Comer. At first I was not sure if I was going to like this picture because Sam Jaffe,(Father Joseph),"The Dunwich Horror",'70, gave the impression it was going to be a long boring film about the struggles of a poor priest in the desert. I was soon fooled as Anthony Quinn,(Leon Alastray),"The Shoes of the Fisherman",'68 is befriended by Father Joseph and at one point takes over the church and rings the bell of the church to summon the local people who are hiding in the hills. Leon Alastray meets up with Anajanette Comer,(Kinita),"The Baby",'73, who has very deep romantic feels for Leon and wants to make love, however, Leon is overwhelmed with a strong religious feeling and is unable to cooperate. There is lots of action battles and even a cannon gets into the action along with plenty of arrows flying through the air. It is a very entertaining film and Anthony Quinn had me laughing in quite a few parts of the film.

The film has a good theme and set in quite genuine historical settings. It brings out the conflict between the indians and the settlers, the poor settlers and the ruling elite. It packs in quite some punch on the action category.

The movie begins bad with some bad story-flow and also the rest of the movie suffers from this, though the movie definitely gets better as the movie progresses. In the beginning it isn't too clear were the movie is heading to and the movie makes a pretty formulaic and redundant impression. However from the moment on when the main character arrives in San Sabastian, the story gets developed well and becomes interesting and original. This certainly ain't no formulaic spaghetti western. The movie gets multiple layered, when it concentrates on the divine. It helps the characters to develop well and the story to become interesting. The movie certainly shows some parallels to the movie "The Mission", even though it isn't as beautifully and professionally made.

It doesn't seem like it at first but the movie becomes surprisingly action filled toward the ending, with some quite big scale battles. Also the ending most certainly does not disappoint.

The movie has some good actors that help to flesh out the flat characters. Anthony Quinn is a good main lead and he makes the moral change his character goes through seem believable. Charles Bronson plays a good movie villain, though his character is perhaps a bit underused. Further more the movie features Sam Jaffe, once again in the role of a Christian.

The directing isn't much good, since the story-flow of the movie is quite poor at times, which is also due to some bad editing. Nevertheless the movie is filled with some memorable and great looking sequences, although it's also definitely true that most of those sequences are being uplifted by the musical score by Ennio Morricone.

Definitely worth seeing if you get the chance.

7/10

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In 18th century Mexico, a bandit (Anthony Quinn) and army deserter is helped to escape by a sympathetic priest (Sam Jaffe) who takes him to a small secluded and isolated godforsaken town. When the priest is killed the townsfolk mistake the runaway for the priest who takes on the priestly identification. He appears to the villagers and asks for their help to fight off the marauding Yaqui Indians led by Teclo (Charles Bronson).

An interesting and at times violent international western that captures some of the spirit of European westerns but adds its own flavour.

The original story written by William Faherty was called " 'A wall for San Sabastian' and later under the direction of Henri Vernevil changed to " Guns For San Sabastian. " The late great Anthony Quinn plays the titled character Leon Alastray, a fugitive outlaw and bandito running from the military police. Wounded and helpless, he takes refuge in a Catholic Church under the protection of Father Joseph (Sam Jaffe) and Sanctuary. With the good priest being sent to a forgotten mission, where it's residents live in fear of the Native American, Yaki Apache, Alastray stows away and arrives at the distant mission, where Father Joseph is murdered. Due to circumstances, Leon take's the old priest's place and serves as protector and counselor to the frightened populace. Among the heavies of the film, audience members will see a very young, Charles Bronson, Jorge Martínez De Hoyos and Jaime Fernández as 'Golden Lance.' The story is slow to develop, but does rise to the occasion when expected, to such a degree it has become a Western Classic. Fine casting and good story. Recommended. ****

I finally caught this film today for the first time. I was actually looking forward to it since I had already seen Quinn directed by Verneuil in "The 25th Hour(La Vingt-Cinquieme Heure)". THAT was a captivating, haunting film. THIS one wasn't. Quinn plays a Mexican Bandit on the run rescued by Sam Jaffe's Catholic Priest in sanctuary. Through a series of mischances, Quinn winds up in the role of Priest where he teaches the villagers to fight off bandits led by Charles Bronson and Yaqui Indians. I agree to the surrealist elements of this film which, quite frankly, detracts from the main story of an otherwise formulaic spaghetti western. So if you want to see a REALLY good film starring Quinn and directed by Verneuil, skip this one and find "The 25th Hour" instead.

See it - A pretty stereotypical plot about villagers who must stand up for themselves and fight against the bad guys who have been pushing them around for years. It sounds like "The Magnificent Seven," but this story is unique enough in its own right. Anthony Quinn is a fugitive on the run who is shown kindness by a priest. When the priest is killed, Quinn impersonates the priest and becomes the leader that the village of San Sebastian so badly needs. A leader who is willing to fight against the villain played by Charles Bronson. A pretty average movie, but it has an awesome "Alamo-like" final battle and a great ending! 3 out of 5 action rating.

Two-time Academy Award winner Anthony Quinn (Viva Zapata!, Zorba the Greek, Lust for Life) as a priest? Not really, he is on the lam and finds a "god forsaken place" to hide out. He borrows a robe and hopes he doesn't get caught.

But Charles Bronson (Once Upon a Time in the West, Death Wish) doesn't want any priests around to mess things up for him. He likes taking from the people, and priests just complicate things.

Felicia (the prolific Mexican actress Silvia Pinal) is going to do her best to keep him in San Sebastian.

It turns into a Magnificent Seven, but there is only Quinn, who gets help from the Governor after he tells his wife that he will expose their affair if she doesn't help him. :-)

Lots of excitement at the end.

This is a good albeit slow moving film and other reviewers have given accurate reviews of the film. My only reservation is the title makes it sound very B GRADE. I'm sure this film would have a stronger following if given the a title I have put or titled THE PRIEST OF SAN SEBASTIAN.

There are many films in which a band of rebels want to take over a peasant village with violence and killing and as with this one I question, Why? Especially when in doing so they almost burn the village to the ground. But That's my issue.

Anthony Quinn does a very good job of carrying the film and I just wish his character had more to say because his words at the end are quite poignant. When he does talk he is very strong, forceful and illuminating.

I also feel the film needed another strong male lead in the village. Anthony Quinn in fact was too much of a strength and I got the feel that villagers would not be able to stand on their own two feet without him.

The action scenes are quite inventive and makes me think this could be remade successfully.

Anjanette Comer is very good and very beautiful. It's a pity she hasn't been in more films.

Some 200 years ago, Mexico is ruled by the Spanish crown and church facing local rebellions and Yaqui Indian insurrection. Outlaw Leon Alastray (Anthony Quinn) escapes the military and finds sanctuary inside a church. Father Joseph (Sam Jaffe) smuggles him past the military checkpoint. He joins the priest on his journey to the remote god forsaken abandoned village of San Sebastian. The priest is killed by an anti-church marauder led by Teclo (Charles Bronson). The villagers had moved into the hills to avoid Yaqui attacks under Teclo's protection. The villagers return mistaking Alastray for a priest.

It's an old fashion spaghetti western. It even has its own version of Indians. The main drawback is that the Indians are not really the villains. They're hard to root against. They have real grievances which are aggravated by Teclo. The movie shows that they are honorable warriors. The best solution would be to make peace with them and fight their real enemy. In the end, the corrupt overlords are back in control and there are a lot of dead Indians and dead villagers. It's not a satisfying conclusion.

Those of you shying away from Guns of San Sebastian because Anthony Quinn plays a priest and therefore will have no opportunity to use his great sex appeal, don't dismiss the movie right away. He's not a very good priest. In fact, he's not a priest at all; he's an outlaw hiding out in a village pretending to be a priest.

This period piece was much more entertaining than I was expecting. I thought it was going to be just another Mexican Revolution movie, but it had a compelling story. Tony meets up with a real priest on the outskirts of town, and when they're attacked by bandits, the priest is killed. The villagers assume the surviving man is the priest, and he's forced to act the part. He doesn't know his scripture, he's a great sinner himself, and he feels put upon by the blind faith and expectations of his new parishioners. Yes there are some action scenes when the village gets attacked again, but mostly it focuses on Anthony Quinn and his new life. And any movie that focuses on Anthony Quinn is going to be good.

I have never actually seen the film, but Morricone's main theme is one of his greatest. Soaring, Beautiful, subtle and Unique. if the film is anything like as good as its score then it will be a masterpiece!

The score is up there with Morricone's compositions for The Good The Bad and The Ugly and A Fistful of dynamite. In some ways more conventional....in that this was a major MGM western and not just a pasta western. Worth remembering that Morricone carried on composing great scores for this Director, including the twangy accompaniment to The Scicillian Clan and all those great early 8o's action flicks with Belmondo (Not to forget of course The Burglars as well)

A man guided by God's hand without knowing it, Leon Alastray fulfils his destiny following a chain of violent events out of his control. Definitely Leon Alastray is God's Messenger. Father Joseph, the priest who saves his life from the King's soldiers, makes a quick remark about God's sharp sight about Leon. His comment really summarises the spirit of the movie. 10/10 I don't know why this Film has not received a reward from the Academy. It should have. The sound track is one of the best I have ever listened to. The casting is extraordinary. This film has left a lasting impression in my memory, I watched its premiere when I was 10 years old, and I still watching the film full of emotion.

This movie is better than what you will see, better than what it seems to be, that is, just an adventure movie, an action movie, a drama. It is more than that, and not only to the contribution of undisputed professional masters who were Henri Verneuil, Anthony Quinn, Charles Bronson and the music of the brilliant Ennio Morricone. It has a much deeper message, it must be "read between the lines", the intelligent will understand what I mean. In fact, the film has more comic than dramatic moments. Somehow, it is a Sergio Leone film directed by the only great Henri Verneuil.