Keoma (1976)

Director:

Enzo G. Castellari

Writers:

Enzo G. Castellari (screenplay)
Nico Ducci (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 November 1976 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | Western | Action

Plot:

Half-breed Keoma returns to his border hometown after service in the Civil War and finds it under the control of Caldwell...

Plot Keywords:

Half Brother | Half Breed | Revenge | Slave | Father Son Relationship

Cast

Franco Nero	...	Keoma
Woody Strode	...	George
William Berger	...	William Shannon
Donald O'Brien	...	Caldwell (as Donald O'Brian)
Olga Karlatos	...	Lisa
Giovanni Cianfriglia	...	Gang Member (as Ken Wood)
Orso Maria Guerrini	...	Butch Shannon
Gabriella Giacobbe	...	The Witch
Antonio Marsina	...	Lenny Shannon
Joshua Sinclair	...	Sam Shannon (as John Loffredo)
Leonardo Scavino	...	Doctor (as Leon Lenoir)
Wolfango Soldati	...	Confederate Soldier
Victoria Zinny	...	Brothel Owner

Also Known As:

Desperado (USA) (cut version)
Django Rides Again (USA)
Django's Great Return (USA)
Keoma il vendicatore (Italy) (alternative title)
The Violent Breed

Runtime:

Norway:97 min | Italy:105 min | West Germany:90 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Sweden:15 | Norway:15 (DVD release) (2007) | UK:12 (re-rating) (2004 ) (cut) | Spain:18 | West Germany:16 (f) | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-15 (cut) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | France:-12 | Norway:16 (video rating) | UK:18 | Norway:(Banned) (1978-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

Campo Imperatore, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy

Company:

Uranos Cinematografica

Trivia:

The storyline of the film was mostly improvised same time the film was made. First version of the script was written by Luigi Montefiori (aka George Eastman), but director Enzo G. Castellari didn't like the story. Because of problems with schedule, they written script for next day every evening after filming of the day.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Keoma: He can't die. And you know why? Because he's free. And man who's free never dies.

Movie Connections:

References C'era una volta il West (1968)

Beautiful western from Castellari

Well, what would you say about the cinematic talents of the director of such cheesy classics like "1990 - The Bronx Warriors" and "The Day of the Cobra"? Well, think it over many times because he made, at least, one masterpiece (not only for the spaghetti-western genre, but to the classic western as well). "Keoma" is one hell of a macho movie, I can only say that. While watching the movie I could only remember of two GREAT directors: Peckinpah and Leone. Let me explain: I remembered Peckinpah for the use of editing that Castellari employees here (and basically the many deaths that both directors are capable of showing in a matter of seconds) and Leone for the use of widescreen. Franco Nero rocks as the title character (ok, so he doesn't really look like an Indian, but that Italian accent - in the English dubbed version (!) - makes it all forgivable) and good ole star appearances like Woody Strode (from "C'Era una Volta il West", or as you say in English "Once Upon a Time in the West") and William Berger (from the first "Sabata") only makes this movie more enjoyable (oh, and let's not forget that beauty from Lucio Fulci's "Zombie" and Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America", Olga Karlatos). Very good movie with an excellent script (something as rare for a spaghetti-western as a good Halloween sequel), great musical score (if you're like me and likes Bob Dylan then this is the movie for you) and great mise-en-scéne from Castellari (just for you to see what I'm talking about here, there are moments in this movie that one would rather remind as coming from directors like Alain Resnais (!), Luis Buñuel (!!) and Alejandro Jodorowsky (!!!) then coming from directors like Duccio Tessari, Gianfranco Parolini or, let me pick one... Sergio Sollima?). One of the bests ever to come out of it's genre.