Preparati la bara! (1968)

Director:

Ferdinando Baldi

Writers:

Ferdinando Baldi (writer)
Franco Rossetti (writer)

Release Date:

5 July 1968 (West Germany)

Genre:

Western | Action

Plot:

A mysterious gunfighter named Django is employed by a local crooked political boss as a hangman to execute innocent locals framed by the boss...

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Gold | Native | Cemetery | Cowboy

Cast

Terence Hill	...	Django
Horst Frank	...	David Barry
George Eastman	...	Lucas
José Torres	...	Garcia
Pinuccio Ardia	...	Orazio
Guido Lollobrigida	...	Jonathan (as Lee Burton)
Andrea Scotti
Barbara Simon	...	Mercedes
Spartaco Conversi
Luciano Rossi		(as Edward G. Ross)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Franco Balducci
Gianni Brezza
Lucio De Santis
Giovanni Di Benedetto		(as Gianni De Benedetto)
Adriana Giuffrè
Angela Minervini
Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia	...	Pat O'Connor (as Ivan Scratuglia)
Roberto Simmi
Valerio Tordi

Also Known As:

Django Sees Red (Canada: English title)
Django, Prepare a Coffin (USA)
Get the Coffin Ready
Viva Django

Runtime:

Sweden:88 min (DVD)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 (nf) | Brazil:16 | Iceland:16 | Germany:16 (DVD) | Norway:(Banned) (1968) | France:-12 (10, TV rating) | France:U (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

B.R.C. Produzione S.r.l.

Trivia:

Following the success of the Bud Spencer/Terence Hill Italo western comedies in Germany this film was re-released as a re-dubbed comedy version in the late 1970s. Therefore it was heavily cut to 82 minutes and changed in plot. Django (now renamed to Joe) even mentions "the big" a few times referring to several characters of Bud Spencer in other movies.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Spaghetti West (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

You'd Better Smile

Yo-Djang-bo

Really, really good old fashioned Spaghetti Western starring a young Terence Hill as the titular gunslinger.

Gianfranco Reverberi's music is one of those old Western songs that just gets stuck in your head. I haven't seen the film in about four years and still remember the theme song beat-for-beat. Great cast too: with George Eastman, Horst Frank, Guido Lollobrigida, and Luciano Rossi (who dies like he does in every other movie). The dramatics is all melodramatic enough to the point of almost being funny, like with the action sequences where whoever is supposed to win just kicking ass and never getting hit once.

It's also interesting to note that this film has almost the exact same structure as Kurosawa's Yojimbo / Leone's Fistful of Dollars, yet it throws in enough variation (and "Django-ism") to retain its own unique and colorful feel. The best scene is definitely the ending showdown in the cemetery. Much better filmed and more comic book-style than anything in the original DJANGO - plus a lot more fun.

I never really was a big 60's Spaghetti Western fan, but I still liked this movie quite a bit, which definitely says something.