Django
Review: Taking much of its inspiration from Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (which in turn took its inspiration from Kurosawa’s Yojimbo), Sergio Corbucci’s Django tells the tale of a mythical lone gunslinger who after rescuing a helpless female from two different groups of would-be killers, enters an essentially deserted town where he becomes caught in the midst of a feud between a group of pseudo-Klansmen and some Mexican bandits. Unfazed at becoming a target for the Klansmen, he massacres them in grand fashion then joins forces with the Mexicans to commit a gold heist. Though itself being the product of plagiarism, Corbucci still manages to pull off a pretty original spaghetti western, and one that has inspired countless imitations and unofficial sequels. The opening scenes of Franco Nero dragging his mud-encrusted coffin across the desert to the strains of Bacalov’s epic theme song is some pretty powerful imagery. "a must-see for spaghetti western fans, or someone wanting to familiarize themselves with the genre" Some of the violence on display here is surprisingly graphic for its time too (and led to the film being banned in Britain for over 25 years), amongst the impressive body count we see an ear sliced off and fed to its owner and Django’s hands mangled into unrecognizable lumps of flesh by horse hooves. Then there’s the racist element: Major Jackson and his red-hooded Klansmen offing Mexicans right, left & centre because they consider themselves superior beings. The scene of Mexican target practice was particularly amusing. With every surface practically caked in mud - including the actors - it brings an overall dirty and downtrodden feeling to the film, which is enhanced with a splendid prostitute mud wrastlin’ scene. On a humorous side-note: in the DVD bonus featurette, Ruggero Deodato - who acted as assistant director on the film - mentions that the main reason the “Klansmen” wore hoods was because the production was burdened with the ugly leftover extras, so they decided to mask them. All things considered, Django is definitely a must-see for spaghetti western fans, or someone wanting to familiarize themselves with the genre.
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