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

Once one gets over the poor attempt to conceal Anjanette Comer's rather Hollywood sex appeal in a Hispanic makeover (they had tried before with Sidney J. Furie's "The Appaloosa" (1968) with Marlon Brando), Anjanette's forte was comedies like "The Loved One" and "Quick Before It Melts", and also Charles Bronson's rather cheezy blending into a half-breed Indian that detract from the movie's realism, I was rather pleasantly surprised by 1968's "Guns for San Sebastien." The index I checked before ordering the film prepared me for a rather tedious exercise which turned out to be totally unwarranted and thanks to my knowledge of the reputation of Henri Verneuil, who had done so well with "The 25th Hour" the year before and star Anthony Quinn, I was treated to an exciting and enthralling assault on the imagination in both sound and spectacle. It predates "The Wild Bunch" at first with the stop motion on violence, but then goes for straight Western spectacle, providing Quinn another well suited role as a renegade thrust into the unlikely role of a priest of a village he can help display their humanity so aptly. Verneuil again shows quite a talent for widescreen. Ennio Morricone's score is helpful. The script flows well by James R. Webb from a book, "A Wall for San Sebastien" by William B. Flaherty. Photography by Armand Thirand is quite good. Halliwell's calls the film "undistinguished." How totally wrong they were this time, as this film, somewhat riveting, goes beyond the routine western and lives on in the spirit of your imagination.

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.

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.