Maybe the people involved in these development hell projects need to attack the problem another way by pooling their resources. Shared universe franchises are all the rage these days, and of course Spags used to take liberties like that all the time. “The Resurrection of El Puro”, “Keoma Rises” and “Django Lives” all sound like cowboy zombie pictures. They need to push those movies out in quick succession, then get them all together for a single zombie-spag mash up (a spaghetti bolognese?).
Of course, they’ll need to save “Rise of Ringo” and “If You Meet Sartana, He’s Probably Undead” for the phase 2 rollout.
I don’t hate it … not at all, and I’d take it ahead of most contemporary releases … it’s just that when you break down it’s components, there isn’t much to it.
It comes down to what is your benchmark, I guess. In my book the theme, a great opening and downbeat ending, a strong spaghetti feel and a good score goes a long way to compensate for weaknesses in other departments. Django is not a very well-made film, still GREAT
.
I agree with you there … it has some good things going for it, but it seems inconsistent - When we first see El Puro, he has pushed the saloon girl to the ground and he spits at her … then after being beaten over the head and thrown from the bar, Rosalba Neri takes pity on him … why? He’s a drunken, self pitying shithead!
Gypsy’s one aim in the film is to kill El Puro, but we are never told why he’s so obsessed about this … the rest of the gang just seem to tag along, presumably for the reward. Avoiding Spoilers They all meet up for a showdown - The End
BTW … I’ve made a composite version from the Italian TV broadcast, dubbed the English audio and inserted the missing scenes from another rough source. I’ll post it on CG in the near future
I don’t need any of these explanations, never saw a reason to ask these questions. It works very well as it is. But I’m still sure that the film was much shortened.
Apart from that and the comparatively cheap production the directing is pretty strong. For me still one of the 10 best Spags.
Well, Rosalba must have really fancied the arse off him, cause he’s a right miserable cunt, whose just been abusing one of her girls from the saloon - then she picks him up on the street, promises to use her life savings so they can go off together … Yep, the classic whore with a heart of gold and a brain the size of a peanut.
Gypsy isn’t interested in the reward, that’s established in the ruined church scene, where Specks does comment on the bounty, in a wonderful Irish accent, “Ah, that’s a goodly sum”.
As I mentioned earlier, I don’t hate the movie … I just see it as having a lot of holes in the story, and rather slow moving to boot.
This seems like a key scene, but I don’t get it. The English goes on something like - Chickenfeed, once El Puro is gone, all the chickens are ours. It doesn’t seem to be an exact translation of the Italian, though. I wonder, what is it Gypsy is saying in the Italian?
Gypsy is completely crazy, so maybe it doesn’t have to make sense? … and as Fiorini, as Gypsy is doing his thing in English, I can’t imagine there’s anymore to be gleaned from his statement in an Italian version … perhaps one of our Italian members can help out ?
Yes, the parts with the Mexis are too often conventional, the story loses focus, and some scenes are even weak, but yes, luckily the ending is fantastic again.
I wish Corbucci had made Django after Navajo Joe and I crudeli, after he garnered some more directing experience, after he had learned how to edit bigger action scenes. Well, and a slightly bigger budget would not have hurt either
May be and may be not. I don’t know Italian, but to me it seems something like
Spiccioli. Quando l’avremo eliminato (then I don’t get it, and then) e la premi Mexico in mano (Small cange. When we have eliminated him … the reward is Mexico in hand).
“Mexico in hand”, that might perhaps count as an obsession?
You’re definitely right about the story losing focus and weak scenes, Django seriously feels like two seperate movies at times, and it doesn’t help that some moments can be a real bore due to it lacking any of the cinematographic flair that came with Corbucci’s later films. Case in point that fucking part with Django slowly moving the coffin through the saloon attic and down the chimney to get the gold takes far too long and is genuinely uninteresting. Compare that to the slow opening with Django’s arrival in the town where there’s an amazing feeling of dread and mystery. As much as I love them, it’s the same problem I have with a lot of Spag’s. Whether it’s due to their age or the directors abilities I’m not certain, but they seriously have some unevenness to them.
