GUNS FOR SAN SEBASTIAN (1968)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: G
Duration: 111 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Henri Vernuil
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Anjanette Comer, Charles Bronson, Sam Jaffe, Silvia Pinal
In Guns For San Sebastian (1968) Hollywood manly-man Anthony Quinn (Zorba the Greek) plays an army deserter named Leon Alastray. He is pursued by the Spanish military and is wounded, taking refuge in a Catholic church where the old priest (Sam Jaffe, The Day the Earth Stood Still) offers him sanctuary. However, when the Spanish military comes knocking at the churches door looking for their man the Bishop (Francisco Reiguera, The Brainiac) sides with the army and surrenders Leon, with the priest objecting, and the deserter is imprisoned.
In the aftermath the old priest is reassigned to a god forsaken village called San Sebastian, but before he leaves he smuggles Leon out of prison and hides him beneath his donkey cart. On their way the wagon wheel breaks and the donkey does leaving the priest and Leon to make the treacherous journey through Yaqui Indian territory on foot. As they walk through the desert the anti-religious Leon pokes fun at the faithful priest, who is never bothered by his newfound antagonistic friend. Finally arriving in San Sebastian they discover the town is barren and nearly destroyed, having come under attack from the Yaqui.
Undeterred the old priest rings the bell to summon the faithful whom he feels are hiding in the surrounding area, and for his troubles he is gunned down by a marauder. Leon buries the priest in the village cemetery, and soon after the people of the village do return, having heard the ringing of the belles, and mistake Leon, who is dressed in the a robe given by the priest to protect himself from the sun, to be their new priest.
He admits to a young village woman named Kinita (Anjanette Comer, The Baby) that he is no priest, but she insists he keep the charade going, for it is the only thing that will bring the people of the village back to rebuild the town, which he does. The town comes under threat again by a band of marauders lead by a "half-breed" named Teclo (Charles Bronson, Hard Times), who shoot and leaved the new "priest" for dead, but when he miraculously survives the villagers stand behind home and set about rebuilding the village, including a new stone wall to protect from future Yaqui attacks, and damning the river so that have water resources.
Leon also sets out to forge an alliance with the Yaqui leader, an honorable man named Golden Lance (Jaime Fernández, A Bullet for the General), but the peace deal is derailed by the interference of the duplicitous Teclo and they war against San Sebastian once more. This time however the village is protected by a wall and Leon, still masquerading as a priest, is able to obtain the use of the Spanish military's weaponry and ammo, thanks to a former lover turned wife of the Capital's governor, to defend the tiny village.
Guns for San Sebastian is a bit long but Anthony Quin is great as the rugged, grumpy and anti-clerical deserter who is unwittingly tasked with saving a godforsaken village. While there were times I thought the flick was a slog there's some great stuff here that erase any misgiving I might about the pacing. Early on Quinn and Jaffe are terrific as the sparring odd couple, and Bronson is a solid baddie though he doesn't feature all that much, but what we do get is solid. The final action sequences are also bombastic and energetic with some terrific stunts with fiery explosions, arrow and bullets flying and horse stunts, plus we get a dam-bombing, even if the logistics of it look a bit sketchy.
Audio/Video: Guns For San Sebastian (1968) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Warner Archive in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. It's a strong transfer with plenty of organic looking film grain throughout, we get some nice pops of color with the religious period costuming and plenty of gritty looking desert scrub and dirt. Skin tones look authentic and black levels are solid, it's another fine restoration from the WAC.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. Everything sounds clean and well-balanced, I didn't detect any issues with distortion or hiss, and the score from Ennio Morricone of course sounds fantastic.
Extras include the 10-minute San Sebastian: 1746 in 1968, an archival behind-the-scenes feature that speaks to the legend of the story, plus we get a 3-minute Trailer for the film. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- San Sebastian: 1746 in 1968 (10 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
Guns For San Sebastian is a fun bandit-turned-savior mini-epic, not one that I hear a lot of folks talk about, and while it might not be an out-and-out classic it's certainly an entertaining gem, and the new Blu-ray from Warner Archive looks terrific.
Screenshots from the Warner Archive Blu-ray:
