I saw it! I’ve been wanting to see it for quite some time, and I was not disappointed! Django came out a couple years after A Fistful of Dollars, which should technically be called a spaghetti western, and it was written and directed by the director and his brother (I think) who had worked with Sergio Leone, the director of FoD. It centralizes on an anti-hero from late 1800’s Old West (they toss around references to the Civil War left and right, so its likely soon afterward.) Django, the protagonist appears, walking into town carrying a girl (who he saved) and dragging behind him a coffin. The local villain, Major Jackson, waltzes in to shove him around and he shows him whats up by wasting all his cronies but letting him off the hook. The Major then rounds up all his guys to kill Django (about 50 guys) he waits patiently for the attack outside the saloon, and as they mass up in the streets, he reaches into his coffin, pulls out a gattling gun, and mows them all down, but still lets Jackson escape. Turns out, while burying the bodies in the cemetary, the Major had killed Django’s ‘girl’, and he wants revenge. With the Mojor on the run, Jackson’s rival General Rodriguez, moves into town, and then meets up w/Django, the two are old friends. Django is a gun-runner, intent on selling a few of the gattling guns to the embattled General. The two plan a heist of gold, both to weaken the Major and to pay Django for those machine guns. Off they go, stealing a treasure of gold, but when the time comes for the General to pay Django for his help, the General stalls, and Django makes off with the loot, smuggling it in his coffin. But Django is followed by the Girl he saved, Maria, and they, in turn, are followed by the General’s men, who cause the coffin to be lost, and take out their frustrations on Maria, shooting her, and Django’s hands, crushing them, but not killing either of them. While out looking for Django, Rodriquez’s men are ambushed by the Major, who eventually finds and kills Rodriguez, and corners Django in a cemetary, hiding behind his girl’s gravemarker. A tense few seconds passes as they close on Django, who has bitten off the trigger guard of his pistol to use it withhis broken hands, killing the lot of them.
Simple enough, but the style with which it was done sticks in the memory, and now that I’ve seen the movie, I see its echos in many places. An ear-severing scene in it is the forerunner of Tarantino’s Resevoir Dogs’ infamous scene. (turns out Django had a great deal of influence on Tarantino, hence his appearance in SWD, see below). But the stranger with the coffinful of Death is a trope I’ve seen in many places, from video games and comics, to film and television. Personally I think this movie has had as much a creative impact at FoD, but I could be wrong. It seems its a smaller, more localized spread in comics, anime, and video games, all of which interconnect, and are of interest to me.
All-in-all, though, I thought it was a great spaghetti western and I dearly want to add it to my collection.
8.5 out of 10
~Luby
