I wasnāt exactly sure what was in the coffin, but having played Red Dead Revolver, I had a pretty good idea! 
Thought it was about time we revisited this one.
Rewatched it yesterday and am keen to know what everyone feels about it.
I still really like this movie and itās influence on the genre in terms of violence etc is major. But I was struck yesterday by the lack of cohesion with the storyline and even the character of Django. Does he actually care for Maria or not? Or is it just part of his character to lurch from one direction to another? He walks into town appearing to dish out justice to all sides and then it seems he is an old pal of General Hugo and joins up with his gang for the robbery, only double crossing them when he senses he is not going to get his share of the gold. He saves Maria from both Jackson and Hugoās men and then hands her back to Hugo and refers to her as āThat little toyā. He is clearly planning to skip town without her then carries her back after she has been shot despite his bleeding and pulped up hands. Iām so confused!!
Maybe Iām just expecting too much from a film that Franco Nero admitted was shot without any real script to speak of. Corbucci was probably making most of it up as he went along. But this does detract from the filmās overall quality for me. (As does the horrible english dub which is clearly not Corbucciās fault)
Donāt get me wrong Iām still a Django fan. Nero looks great and Corbucciās action and violence sequences are great. And you canāt ignore itās influence and legacy, not just on spaghetti westerns but on action films in general. For all that I still give it 4 stars (which I only give to real favourites). I just wish the other elements of the film were stronger.
So what do you think? Am I just being picky?
Well the double crossing feels like a stolen idea or at least a ripoff from FOD. I said it before that the parts with the mexicans are by far the worst of the movie. But the style of Django allways gets me. The dirty town the coffin the violence the different gangs and social criticism. I cant rate it obejectively since I fell in love with it the first time i saw it, just ignoring the ābadā parts. when i rewatched it, i was quite surprised that they were even there, allready had forgotten them. But the influence and the character of Django stay in mind!
This is the crazy thing for me. I am exactly the same. I remembered all the great parts and they are what stuck in my memory. The image of Django, the action scenes, the gothic mood and muddy desolate setting. All the weaknesses just seemed to be forgotten. I canāt think of a single other film that I have done that with.
Ever since watching this one on a ācrappyā VHS for the first time in the mid eighties, I have always liked this film.
I like everything about the film from the mud in the streets to the music score.
This film was way ahead of itās time, and I have nothing bad to say about the film, as I am a huge fan!
Corbucci is my favourite Spaghetti Western director.
It was a pleasure to watch this film on the big screen on a mid 90ās screening here in the U.K.
Same here. Despite the shortcomings of the plot, this film has that indefinable qualityā¦and of course the iconic image of Franco Nero dragging his coffin to that fantastic theme song. Itās stood the test of time very well, and is one film i never get tired of watching.
Itās due for release here, soon, and is on my buy list. I saw the same crappy VHS version. How were the special features?
Due for release soon? Where are you again? I have the Blue Underground dvd (which claims to be the most complete version ever). You have the choice of watching it in English or Italian with subs. Extras are a feature called āDjango: The One And Onlyā, along with a stills gallery, trailer and bios. The one i have also has a bonus disc of a short called āThe Last Pistoleroā starring Franco Nero. If you go to Blue Undergroundās site, they have the regular dvd (the one with the bonus disc is out of print now, tho you could probably pick it up from somewhereā¦)
The States, and according to what I heard, a new DVD is on itās way. Whether itās a re-release by BU, I donāt know.
Ahā¦sorry! Mind youā¦thatās one thing that really annoys me. All the different versions and special editions and re-releases in different covers or just one extra featureā¦ >:(
[quote=āSilver, post:70, topic:148ā]Ahā¦sorry! Mind youā¦thatās one thing that really annoys me. All the different versions and special editions and re-releases in different covers or just one extra featureā¦ >:([/quote] Yes, and it monopolizes shelf space with all those different editions, preventing anything new from getting up there. Even new movies have 2-3 versions on display. What do you need 2 versions of The Wild Bunch DVD for, when they are virtually the same. Pull the older version down and put it in the bargain bin. 3 versions of the new King Kong. Ridiculous. It wasnāt good enough to rate 1 DVD, IMO.
Django talks about his pastā¦ ;D What a mysterious hero? He should not talkut his secret, only have flashbacks.
Silenzio didnāt talkā¦ ;D ;D ;D
doesnāt matter if you buy the new or the old BU django dvd, theyāre more or less the same, itās just a re-issue
Watched this film yesterday. Quite enjoyable despite the many flaws that have been mentioned in this thread. The Bacalov theme performed by Rocky Roberts is very Elviseque. Kinda makes you really sit up and listen because itās easy to mistake for The King.
I thought the red masks and scarves were a nice touch, even if it was just to cover up the ugly faces of the extras. And the town is the darkest, creepiest town set I can remember in any western. Add those masked men, and you get a really disturbing quality about it. A sense of evil.
Itās just a low budget film that turned out pretty damn well. A classic.
[quote=āJack Burns, post:74, topic:148ā]I thought the red masks and scarves were a nice touch, even if it was just to cover up the ugly faces of the extras. And the town is the darkest, creepiest town set I can remember in any western. Add those masked men, and you get a really disturbing quality about it. A sense of evil.
Itās just a low budget film that turned out pretty damn well. A classic.[/quote]
I was told by a friend, who interviewed Franco Nero recently, that Ruggero Deodato was putting everyone on with that story about using the red masks just to cover up the faces of the ugly extras. According to Nero that is just an amusing tale that Deodato cooked up for the interview as seen on the DVD. Nero says that the red masks were intentional, that they were mentioned in at least one draft of the screenplay (which was written as they went along, by the way)ā¦and that Corbucci used them to comment on how he felt there were similarities between the Red Brigade and the KKK.
I like Deodato and highly enjoyed his animated interview on the DJANGO discās Special Features; but, I donāt think we can take too much of what he says as gospel. He is quite the prankster, so I am told.
But, the important thing isā¦YESā¦DJANGO is, indeed, a classic!!
PS= The town in DJANGO looks incredibly like photos my Grandmother used to have of the Oklahoma Oil Boomtown of Quay. The streets of Quay (once known as Lawson, now non-existent)ā¦were full of mud made by oil leakage, water leakage from steam engines, and poor sewage and drainage conditions.
For my money, the town in DJANGO is one of the most authentic looking towns ever visualized in a Western.
[quote=āChris_Casey, post:75, topic:148ā]PS= The town in DJANGO looks incredibly like photos my Grandmother used to have of the Oklahoma Oil Boomtown of Quay. The streets of Quay (once known as Lawson, now non-existent)ā¦were full of mud made by oil leakage, water leakage from steam engines, and poor sewage and drainage conditions.
For my money, the town in DJANGO is one of the most authentic looking towns ever visualized in a Western.[/quote]
And when you consider how much of the mud in an authentic Western town was made up of horse shit, you see why they built those raised boardwalks along each side of the street!
Well, so all we know is that we really donāt know āwhy,ā we just know it worked!
It does seem unlikely, however, that all the people were ugly and had to be maskedā¦
That is precisely the truth, amigo!!
By the way, who the hell is Erik Schippers? Can anybody shed some light on this actor?
Chris, did you friend say anything about Ruggero Deodatoās (Assistant Director) story of Sergio Corbucci (Director) getting the idea for Django from a character (who dragged a coffin behind him) in a comic book he picked up at the newsstand on Via Vento in Rome. Iāve been trying to identify the character/comic book for some time without much luck, could this be a prank as well?