Django (Sergio Corbucci, 1966)
Alright, since so much have already been Said about this film (in this thread and elsewhere), I souldrottningen like to just make a recap of my reflections on this particular viewing as opposed to a proper review.
It’s been almost three years since the last time i saw Franco Nero stumble away from the cemetery, leaving his gun (and hopefully his violent life) at the cross, but a big change on this viewing was that i finally got to watch it in Italian, which is naturally a big lift (though the Swedish subtitles on my borrowed DVD still follows the english dub anyway. Slightly annoying).
I found myself liking the second half, which focus on Django’s collaboration with the Mexicans, more this time around. That’s a considerable plus since I’ve previously felt, like many others, that the film loses its momentum after the gatling gun scene. I maintain the most memorable scenes are in the first half, but I’ve begun to get so used to them that they continue to impress, bit don’t knock me anymore, that is - They’re as great as ever, bur not as striking as egen i first saw them, leaving the second half with more re-impressions. I think the second half dives more into a character study of Django and Maria, who spent the first part of the movie as basically a conventional anti-hero and damsel in distress, respectively. That said, the second part still doesn’t quite flow the way everything does right up until the moment Major Jackson runs away with his face all covered in mud. The fort raid is quite awkwardly staged, far below other action scenes, and there are moments when i wish the infamous ear cut scene had ben kept cut for purely artistic reasons. It’s clumsy and fairly meaningless beyond the shock value. Nor is the mud fight one of Corbucci’s great cinematic moments (I didn’t like the target practice scene earlier in the film either before i found out it had a real-life colonial basis*. After that it makes much more sense, but i will probably never cite it as my favorite scene).
This all lead us to another point i thought i would make about this viewing; it become clear to me that Django in many ways follows patterns of Genre B-movies (it could perhaps be argued that Corbucci made himself an architect behind such with this film), but one thing that stands out from generic Genre B-movies is that the performances are great. The five major characters are all played in a way which makes them entirely believable despite their unrealistic traits. Nathaniel and General Hugo Rodriguez are both basically comic book characters (though with diametrically opposed temperaments), but they are perfectly casted in that regard (one funny detail i hadn’t noticed before is Nathaniel apathically throwing a broken bottle behind him after Django demonstrates his machine gun on the bar counter). Nero in particular creates a genuinely interesting character who feels like much more than just a western anti-hero.
That’s about it, i think. It holds up well compared to my last viewing.
*According to Cox, the source of this was a reportage about the native brazilian population by Norman Lewis, i’ll check that.
. Bud Spencer was also a delight. Riz Ortolani’s music was top notch as always. I also liked that there wasn’t a dull moment in the film from beginning to end. The dates were confusing regarding when the attack on Fort Holdman was supposed to take place during the American Civil War. I thought I saw 1872 for the year at the film’s beginning. Nonetheless, it is a great SW war film and it’s whole is greater than minor details. Rating: 3/5.
