When DJANGO IL BASTARDO was released in the US the title was changed to THE STRANGER’S GUNDOWN.
At the time many newspapers would not run an ad for a movie with a bad word like “bastard” in the title (especially in the south where SWs were popular). Of course “bastard” isn’t even considered an expletive anymore. It hardly was back then. That’s change number one.
The VCI Region 1 DVD of STRANGER’S GUNDOWN is quite odd. It’s clear from watching it that it has been cut. But I’ve read that not only is it cut but it has been re-edited so the scenes don’t run in the same order as the original Italian film.
Can anyone verify if this is true? Has anyone seen the German DVD and the US DVD?
It seems very unlikely that a US distributor in the 1960s would go to the extreme cost of re-editing a movie. It’s not likely they would make any additional money on it. But why would VCI re-edit the movie?
Also is the widescreen VCI in the correct aspect ratio, or is it partially matted to make it make it look like a proper widescreen print. It certainly looks odd. Also the print is shit anyway with incorrect contrast, hue and saturation.
I hate budget DVD labels. As far as I’m concerned they are thieves who don’t care how dissatisfied you are with their crappy product. US budget DVD labels don’t pay for rights to these films because of weird copyright laws.
As long as budget labels put out crappy cut full screen versions of film like DEATH RIDES A HORSE and A BULLET FOR SANDOVAL for $3 (USD) companies are not going to spend money to put out high quality DVD versions which will sell for full price. The fans are the ones who get cheated.
The skin tones are clearly note correct and there is a tendency towards green in the overall picture. Also too dark. If this were a $3 DVD it would be acceptable, but at $10 it’s costs as much as an MGM disc.
If you look at the www.dvdcompare.net site they claim the VCI is the best version available at present. And they also answer one of my questions, yes the US distributor re-edited the film. Odd. I still suspect cuts in the VCI DVD.
Also, on their site they have reviews of most (if not all) of the Koch SW DVDs and compare the Japanese versions to the German versions. Seems many of the Japanese versions feature cuts compared to the German DVDs. Well written reviews you might enjoy reading.
So is there any region restrictions or not, especially regarding those copies sold at the Ebay and Amazon ? The fact that there should be a big demand from many European customers also should lean towards region free, I presume…
I’m not sure at all that I’m going to receive my blu-ray. I pre-ordered it ages ago, it shipped in the US on the 15th and now it’s made it to the UK it’s been handed off from UPS I-Parcel to an outfit called One World Express who have a disconcertingly vague tracking page and some absolutely horrendous reviews on Trustpilot. My wife’s telling me not to worry and that those review sites are always top-loaded with complaints and she’s right but, I dunno. As Han Solo was often fond of saying: I’ve got a bad feeling about this…
Right, never mind all that paranoid bumwrong: It arrived twenty minutes ago. Hurrah! It’s definitely region-free, and it’s the English-language version so The Strangers Gundown titles and English audio only (plus English subs), plus a commentary from film historian Troy Howarth.