Kill Django … Kill First / Uccidi Django … uccidi per primo! (Sergio Garrone, 1971)

Database page: https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Uccidi_Django…_uccidi_per_primo!

You know that you have seen too many SWs … , part 2

This one now with an often disjointed Spanish dub, in a slightly better picture quality than Colt in the Hand of the Devil, but the quality was still a shame.

It’s the 5th of Garones 6 westerns, and it’s an overall solid genre contribution with a pale hero and a few bizarre scenes with George Wang as a strange Samurai like bandit who lives in a water cave for unknown reasons. It would have been probably an advantage to understand the dialogues.

Aldo Sambrell is the evil banker in the background, but here again he isn’t very convincing in a typical Fajardo role.

Haven’t seen the film
Wang in a cave? Do these guys ever give up …??

In a way this was Garrone’s last westerns, since Vendetta at Dawn was shot over a long period of time. Also one of the last Django rip-offs. Locations are better than in Vendetta… but the film is even more boring, there’s hardly any action.

I wonder why this was called Tequila is Spain…

I wonder why it was called Django in the rest of the world …

And I wonder why the “crazy about Django” Germans could live without releasing it …

I’d very like much like to see this one…anyone know a DVD-r vendor for this one…

Has this ever been released in english?

It has recently been uploaded on cinemageddon

Never come across an english audio version.

Since 13 April, there is an Australian DVD of this film:

[url]http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/819228[/url]

Well thats a surprise with english audio.

Yep, for the first time available with English audio. I think this company released about a dozen spaghettis on budget dvd. Too bad all of them are cropped. Kill Django Kill is nice quality, but the intro pre-credits and credits sequences are missing. And that amounts to about 10 minutes in this particular case.

They also released Revenge of Ringo, now for the first time available without that annoying screener text. Image is much better too.

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Thats a shame.

Watch this “Tequilla” recently.
The first 10 minutes almost made me quit, but somehow I found the courage to watch it till the end. That said, I consider it an acceptable western, but still another disappointing film by Sergio Garrone.

George Wang looks a little troubled hanging about in a cave alot of the time. Aldo Sambrell is the typical greedy bad guy wanting all the cash. Easy story to follow with no surprises. Some action but not very inspired. One of those ones I enjoyed for what it is.

Didn’t like it very much. Only memorable stuff was the already mentioned George Wang’s Mexican samurai who keeps hiding in the cave and apparently has a death wish.
Sambrell plays the main villain but I’ve never liked him in such roles. I prefer him in supporting roles like he has in Leone films. Giacomo Rossi-Stuart was ok as a hero.

Music seemed to be recycled from Django the Bastard and other films.

My rating: 2/5

Nothing special, but to tell you the truth my expectations for this penultimate western directed by Garrone were very low and consequently I found it better than expected, even if the interminable pre-credits sequence (10 minutes!) with Aldo Sambrell seems a bit a foreign body* and the final idea - repeated some months later in another SW - is not much to my liking.

  • Maybe because the just released CultMedia DVD (Spanish master) for that scene is missing the Italian dub; besides, the scene with the Adams seems blatantly cut.

[hr]

On IMDb this film is incorrectly stated as Anthony Steffen’s twenty-sixth SW (including in the calculation Der letzte Mohikaner), and between the cast members we also find Roberto Camardiel. Why?

Most likely the confusion stems from the fact that Tequila is the Spanish title of Uccidi Django… uccidi per primo!!! ('71, released in Spain in June 1974) but also the Italian and US title of Uno, dos, tres… dispara otra vez ('73), in which Steffen and Camardiel are the main actors together with Eduardo Fajardo.

Perhaps we can consider E continuavano a chiamarlo figlio di…/El Zorro justiciero - in which his face appears “in effigy” on a wanted poster - as Anthony Steffen’s twenty-sixth SW… ;D

               [b]Some [size=8pt]minor[/size] Spoilers...[/b]

Kill Django… Kill First! is the final Garrone western for me to see. I absolutely loved No Graves on Boot Hill, and was hoping this might surprise me in a similar way… and though it did surprise at times, it ain’t as good as t’other I mentioned - I’m afraid to say.
Still – although a bit bored at some of the more lacklustre scenes, it still entertained me overall, and I’d rather sit through a proper low budget clichéd, but seriously toned, spag than any of the later comedic ones.

I have two versions of this (both called Tequila) – a newer English language one (that needs the subs put on for the first scene), and a Spanish language version… I was led to compare them this morning as there were a couple of things that needed checking.

Onto the film… and that first scene? Well, It ain’t on the Spanish version, and is a discreet stand-alone scene that isn’t really relevant to any story that may yet enfold, but it does set a welcome serious tone – brutal murders at a homestead and revenge on these mexi-banditos at night by some mysterious avenger/bounty killer type? I can only assume that this is the leather-clad camp looking Mario Novelli character (that appears later) doing these deeds, but as it is night and done a lot in silhouette I couldn’t be sure – and I’m not even sure that it even belonged to the film at all – maybe just grafted on as an extra?

The next scene in the English version is where the Spanish one starts – with a deranged looking George Wang and machete coming up against a couple of gold prospectors, and again here there’s a problem with the film – an obvious cut that leaves the scene unsatisfactorily concluded. A check of the Spanish and that scene is shown in full – machete coming down, screams, and the men being plundered of gold, boots and stuff. We also get a bit more development of Wang and his tormented soul.
It is obvious here that anybody putting together a ‘complete’ version of this film would need to trawl through any available versions to cobble the most coherent mongrel together.

The story itself…? Well, Jack Stewart/Giocomo Rossi is our hero as Johnny McGhee, but of course he ain’t no Django in this. He does his job well though, and reminded me of a young Ghidra in looks and physique and understatment. In a barroom brawl he gets some help from the Mario Novelli character who’s as near to a characterful camply dressed Django type as we’re gonna get, although more mexi-Sartana would be closer to the mark – all leather waistcoat, feather in hat, big moustache and dart-shooting flute/whistle!
We get Aldo Sambrell doing a good job as sleazy and corrupt buyer-upper of land – forcing people off or dispatching them with the aforementioned madman Wang – who’s holed up in an old Indian cave – all gothiky and stalactitey. A bit of ‘nailed-on’ weirdness for atmosphere’s sake here as it’s never fully explained why - although Burton has summat on him.
Burton ( Sambrell) has a hidden past as well, but in the meantime is playing hide the sausage with a fine looking Diana Lorys – the barroom gal, but also has the hots for town drunk gambler/loser doc’s sister played wholesomely by Krista Nell.
We got a colourful ol’ scrote gold miner who’s never struck yet but is sure he soon will, and won’t sell to Burton. He’s helped in his quest by Johnny and the whole thing revolves around these characters in a bit of a messy but enjoyable romp with not a lot of gunplay.

Phil’s favourite, Lorenzo Robledo, gets 6th billing on the English titles – but don’t get yer hopes up there Phil – I only saw him 4 times throughout. He does get a couple of lines though and seems to live through to the end!!! :o
There’s some quite nice music – what you’d want… guitars, trumpets and organ, and all in all not a bad film. It definitely needs a ‘definitive’ version putting together. I was pleasantly surprised but it ain’t no lost gem… unfortunately - and NGOBH remains the best Garrone by far in my book.

Well worth a look though - 3 stars.

Lorenzo Robledo surviving till the end was enough for me to dig this one out for a viewing and it was passable stuff. Rossi Stuart is fine in the lead but we tend to see more of the main villain played by Aldo Sambrell which is fine by me as he is the best thing in the picture for my money. Lorenzo certainly isn’t killed on screen as far as I can see but he also doesn’t feature much towards the end while his brother does so not quite sure what happens to him to be honest. Perhaps they just stopped paying him. ;D

Anyhow, Diana Lorys was lovely on the eye and Furio Menicone is always a welcome face so all in all a reasonably enjoyable time was had without setting any real fires of excitement.

@Rev

I think the opening scene you talk about is of a younger Aldo in his bandit Santana days double crossing his men to grab all the booty from their raids. This sets up how he got to be the town big wig later on but it is difficult to follow in my version (a fan composite of the Spanish and English versions) because these first ten minutes are so dark. Perhaps I missed something but that seemed to be the drift as far as I could see.