Is there a reason not to give all your reviews also to the SWDB?
The very last scene of this film is also quite touching, with Joeās horse coming back with the stolen money to the townspeople, and then Nicoletta Machiavelli sending the horse to ride away while Morriconeās score is playing.
Yes, it is, beautiful end.
Also the 1st scene is done very well.
Good news turns bad!
Important message for everyone in the U.K. (and abroad if you were thinking of importing)
Navajo Joe is getting a U.K. release from Optimum but those motherfuckers at the BBFC have cut it by 6 seconds.
One to avoid i think.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/0/4E2579E79C18A1C18025748900475A3D?OpenDocument
Roll on the Koch media releaseā¦
Btw, Scherp I think your review was a little harsh, this is a first-class SW in my opinion, even it itās not as mature as say The Great Silence 
Iāll give it another chance when the Koch DVD arrives (if necessary, Iāll rewrite my review before loading it up here)
For me it was avarage Corbucci, which is of course still good
The problem with Corbucci probably is that all his films invite comparison with the likes of The Great Silence or The Mercenary; I know thatās not fair, but watching Corbucci, those films inevitably are in the back of your head
[quote=āscherpschutter, post:87, topic:74ā]Iāll give it another chance when the Koch DVD arrives (if necessary, Iāll rewrite my review before loading it up here)
For me it was avarage Corbucci, which is of course still good
The problem with Corbucci probably is that all his films invite comparison with the likes of The Great Silence or The Mercenary; I know thatās not fair, but watching Corbucci, those films inevitably are in the back of your head[/quote]
Iām afraid Iām pretty much with Scherps on this.
Navajo Joe is a decent film but I canāt help but judge it by the standard of Corbucciās other work. As such, for me, it rates as a middling effort. Not in the same league as Great Silence but far better than Massacre at Grand Canyon. I still enjoy it, but nowhere near a top 20 film for me.
Another Corbucci favorite although not as brilliant as TGS. 4/5
i was a little disapointed with this as it was a sergio corbucci film. not his best but that said it is watchable but to me not much of a story. i agree with what has already been said in that film starts off well and ending of film is reasonable.burt reynolds is ok and shows off his athletetism, but film lacks that certain something. 6/10
Itās always the same with those āwhatchableā flicks of the grat directors: Theay are not the big masterpieces, but still great ones. But compared to ths masterpieces they are just average. So, people remember them as bad movies. But thatās not fair, because compared to the hundreds of other SWs they are still great!
thatās well said!
[quote=āStanton, post:78, topic:74ā]Made between Django and The Great Silence, both Navajo Joe and I crudeli were a major step back for Corbucci, if you want to consider him as an artist.
A more logical order of his films would be:
Johnny Oro
Navajo Joe
I crudeli
Django
The Specialists
The Great Silence
The Mercenary
Companeros[/quote]
Actually I find āNavajo Joeā to fit quite nicely after āDjangoā in terms of output.
āGli Specialistiā has some curiosities but personally I donāt think it needs to be moved from between āIl Mercenarioā and āCompanerosā.
However I definitely agree with you regarding āI Crudeliā. Personally Iām not too fond of this one either, but I doubt that even the many fans of this one would disagree that it is stylistically very different.
I think round here we try to compensate this phenomenon by overrating the underrated ;D
[url]http://img23.imageshack.us/my.php?image=navjoed.jpg[/url]
![http://img23.imageshack.us/my.php?image=navjoed.jpg[/url]](http://img23.imageshack.us/my.php?image=navjoed.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
Thereās an extended an completely revised review of the movie available now:
http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Navajo_Joe_Review_(Scherpschutter)
Thereās also a review of the new French DVD by Wild Side:
http://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Navajo_Joe_DVD_Review_(Wild_Side)
I like the cover.
OK, Iāve read your updated review, a few comments:
Navajo Joe is one of those Italian westerns that is easy to criticize and was therefore loaded with scorn when first released. It is neither realistic nor authentic; Navajos lived in hogans (huts), not tipis (tents), and they were rather peaceful farmers, not fierce warriors; Burt Reynolds, who plays the Navajo, is of Cherokee descent , but behaves more like an Apache (and is dressed like no particular Indian at all)
Hmm, there are many SWs that are not exactly authentic, and this is generally not what the genre is about, so why criticise this movie for it?
Besides I donāt think many people really know who lived in hogans or tipis, or who were farmers or warriors.
Duncan never sends more than two men at the time after Joe, so he can kill them two by two, and when Joe surrenders to Duncan (who drags along the gorgeous Nicoletta Machiavelli by her hair) he couldāve easily shot the guyās brains out.
This certainly doesnāt bother me, whatās wrong with this? If the whole gang went after Joe he would have escaped instead, and when Duncan drags Estella he has his gun pointed at her head.
And this scene with Duncan, Estella and Joe is also an awesome scene btw with Duncan walking to pick up Joeās rifle!
To me it also seems strange to call Morriconeās score for this film ākitschyā, itās a great score in the best SW tradition with the Cantori Moderni choir, you can call it an Indian variety of the yells in the GBU score.
In Italy it got a ā18 ratingā (frustrating the filmās chances at the box office)
Frayling says in his book it was one of the SWs that made a fortune in Italy alone, is this not true?
[quote=āLindberg, post:97, topic:74ā]In Italy it got a ā18 ratingā (frustrating the filmās chances at the box office)
Frayling says in his book it was one of the SWs that made a fortune in Italy alone, is this not true?[/quote]
Giusti says it failed at the box-office; actually it had such a bad name in Italy that until recently it was hard to find on either VHS or DVD. Itās not in the top 10 of '66 :
http://www.spaghetti-western.net/forum/index.php/topic,957.60.html
I guess Frayling is simply wrong
[quote=āLindberg, post:97, topic:74ā]Navajo Joe is one of those Italian westerns that is easy to criticize and was therefore loaded with scorn when first released. It is neither realistic nor authentic; Navajos lived in hogans (huts), not tipis (tents), and they were rather peaceful farmers, not fierce warriors; Burt Reynolds, who plays the Navajo, is of Cherokee descent , but behaves more like an Apache (and is dressed like no particular Indian at all)
Hmm, there are many SWs that are not exactly authentic, and this is generally not what the genre is about, so why criticise this movie for it?
Besides I donāt think many people really know who lived in hogans or tipis, or who were farmers or warriors.[/quote]
American critics critisized it for this reason; I guess they evaluated the movie as if it were an American western. The tipi-hogan thing was mentioned here, on this thread. Personally Iām not bothered by all this, I just wanted to point out that the film was critisized at the time for these reasons. More spaghetti westerns were critisized for being āall but authenticā in the early days, when critics were unfamiliar with their style and approach.
[quote=āLindberg, post:97, topic:74ā]Duncan never sends more than two men at the time after Joe, so he can kill them two by two, and when Joe surrenders to Duncan (who drags along the gorgeous Nicoletta Machiavelli by her hair) he couldāve easily shot the guyās brains out.
This certainly doesnāt bother me, whatās wrong with this? If the whole gang went after Joe he would have escaped instead, and when Duncan drags Estella he has his gun pointed at her head.[/quote]
Well, thereās nothing wrong with all this. Joe following the gang from a distance is okay of course, itās a good opportunity to show some good action, and itās always cinematographically interesting, a lone rider in the distance - but it still is a clichĆ©. And so is, of course, the hero being caught and tortured by the villains.
Morricone: this is a personal opinion
- Navajo Joe sold slightly above 1 mio tickets in Italy.
Not too bad, not good either. There are at minimum 140 SWs who were more sucessful in Italy. Well, I have calculated the box office for 188 SWs (the more famous ones) and Navajo Joe is only on position 135 of these.
Iām surprised myself that it didnāt made more money.
-
Whatās wrong with all these scenes where Duncan sends men after Joe, or when Joe sneaks up on someone, whatās wrong with these scenes is that they are done in a rather unimaginative way. A bit brain hurting.
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The score on the other hand is one of the main reasons why I prefer this film even to better made westerns, why I really like it despite all itās shortcomings. It may not be the most varied score, but the main theme is fantastic.
And itās guaranteed to stick in your head for days. NA-VA-HO-JOE na-va-ho-jooooe