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DJANGO (Sergio Corbucci, 1966) ***, 24 August 2006

Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

In my review of Corbucci's THE GREAT SILENCE (1968), I had written that it was "superior" to this one; well, having re-acquainted myself with DJANGO now (which, incidentally, I chose to do on my 30th birthday!) - and bearing in mind that my viewing of the former was only the first - I can say that it edges the latter only slightly, as I thoroughly enjoyed Corbucci's most famous Spaghetti Western featuring star Franco Nero's signature role!! While I was disappointed in Blue Underground's DVD transfer, with occasional color fluctuation and rather more severe print damage than I was expecting (considering that it was reportedly taken directly from the original negative), the film really stood up to its reputation as one of only a handful of titles (among them, of course, THE GREAT SILENCE itself) to challenge Sergio Leone's supremacy in the Spaghetti Western subgenre!

Anyway, with respect to the film's terse plot line, it wasn't anything novel or even special: a mysterious loner turns up at a ghost town (in which only the saloon is operative, also lending the service of prostitutes to passing bands of renegade soldiers and Mexican bandits) who, while antagonizing the former, assists the latter in stealing Army gold (which he later runs off with but eventually loses in quicksand!); however, he also finds time to aid a beautiful woman who falls for him (but whom he shuns because of his devotion to a dead spouse). The handling, however, is extremely stylish marking a definite improvement from previous (and largely lackluster) Spaghetti Western efforts by Corbucci, of which I've watched two - the utterly routine MASSACRE AT GRAND CANYON (1965) and the tongue-in-cheek RINGO AND HIS GOLDEN PISTOL (1966)!

The film is also noted for its brutality - a man's ear is graphically slit (anticipating RESERVOIR DOGS [1992] by a quarter of a century!) and fed to its owner, Nero's bloody smashed hands (giving rise to a uniquely memorable climax inside a graveyard), not forgetting the soldiers' callous massacre of Mexican peasants (whom they keep behind a fence and release one by one, like cattle, only to gun them down!) and a striking bar-room fight filmed with a hand-held camera - and some genuinely surreal touches in the script, such as the presence of its coffin-carrying hero (with a large machine-gun device concealed within it!) and KKK-type villains (amusingly, assistant director Ruggero Deodato - whom I met at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, by the way - claims that the crew covered the characters' faces because they were saddled with 'leftovers' to feature as extras!). Besides, the grimy deserted setting is highly effective, while Luis Enrique Bacalov's melancholy and haunting theme tune gave me goose-pimples the first time it came on! - and the acting is above-average as well: Nero emerges as the most satisfactory Clint Eastwood substitute the Italians came up with; he's ably supported by the likes of Eduardo Fajardo (as the villainous Major Jackson), Jose' Bodalo (the bandit chief), Loredana Nusciak (the woman) and Angel Alvarez (the saloon-keeper).

While not as bountiful perhaps as a cult classic such as this would seem to be worthy of, the extras prepared by Blue Underground are certainly well done. These include a short but informative featurette (in which Nero and Deodato are interviewed separately), talent bios for both Corbucci and Nero, an extensive still and poster gallery and the film's theatrical trailer (as well as those, in the form of an Easter Egg, for DJANGO, KILL! [1967], RUN, MAN, RUN [1968] and MANNAJA: A MAN CALLED BLADE [1977] - which had formed, along with the original Blue Underground single-disc release of DJANGO, "The Spaghetti Western Collection" Limited Edition Box Set). As for the short THE LAST PISTOLERO (2002), included on a mini-disc with this re-issue, it is reviewed individually elsewhere.

I haven't watched this film's belated official sequel - DJANGO 2: IL GRANDE RITORNO (1987) - which has been on Italian TV a number of times and, as far as I can tell, have only managed to catch two of the myriad releases to which the iconic title character has been attached - DJANGO SHOOTS FIRST (1966) and DJANGO, KILL!

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