The most influential spaghetti western of all time is DJANGO, starring Franco Nero as the tortured gunfighter who travels with a coffin. DJANGO has everything that makes a spaghetti westerns great: a mysterious antihero, extreme violence, black humor, and a loud, flamboyant soundtrack. Though mostly overlooked in the U.S., DJANGO was such a hit in Europe that it spawned a whole genre of imitators right up and into the 1980’s. The film made a star out of young Franco Nero, although he did get typecast a bit, he never regretted the role he will always be remembered for. Anchor Bay Entertainment, who have tapped into the consciousness of genre film fans like no other home video company before, presents DJANGO uncut on DVD, and for the first time ever on U.S. home video.

DJANGO is directed by genre great Sergio (THE GRAND CANYON MASSACRE) Carbucci, a man who is more intimate with western films than practically anyone. Besides Franco Nero, the film features Eduardo Fajardo as the insane Colonel Jackson. Fajardo plays the role with such sleazy relish, that you will not soon forget his performance. Jose (THE SOUND OF HORROR) Bodalo is Rodriquez, leader of the Mexican bandits, and friend of Django. Bodalo too, gives an interesting portrayal of Django’s accomplice in gold thievery. Loredana Nusciak plays former prostitute and Django’s love interest, Maria.

A pack of Mexican bandits are brutalizing a prostitute, Maria (Nusciak), when members of a racist group of radicals gun down the Mexicans so they can abuse her themselves. Django trudges over a hill dragging a coffin behind him, and quickly disposes the radicals who threaten Maria. She explains she lives in a nearby town, which has been ransacked by warring Mexican revolutionaries and the racist forces of dejected civil war leader, Colonel Jackson (Fajardo).

Maria takes Django back into town, which is now a deserted ghost town, except for the local whorehouse who service both the Mexicans and Colonel Jackson’s men. The psychopathic Colonel Jackson and his posse pass the time by shooting Mexicans like fish in a barrel. After having his fun, Colonel Jackson returns to the whorehouse because he has a thing for Maria. Jackson and his men find Django sitting peacefully in the whorehouse, and start to goad him. Django replies by shooting his men dead before Jackson’s eyes. Django lets Jackson go and tells him to return to town with the rest of his men. Jackson returns with an army of extremists all wearing red hoods. Django opens his coffin, pulls out a Gatlin gun, and cuts down Jackson’s men like so many thistles in the breeze!

Jackson and a few of his men wisely retreat. Django and Maria leave town too, but get captured by Mexican bandits. The bandits take them to their leader, Rodriquez, who happens to owe a debt to Django. Django once saved Rodriquez’s life, so Rodriquez feels he can trust Django. Django informs his friend that by using Django’s Gatlin gun, they can infiltrate Colonel Jackson’s fort and steal his supply of gold. Rodriquez is only more than happy to cooperate Django and orders his bandits to accompany them to Colonel Jackson’s headquarters. The heist is successful, and Django and the bandits return with the gold.

Rodriquez and Django discuss splitting the gold, but Django knows he cannot trust the Mexicans so he decides to act first, and devises a plan to abscond with all the gold (which you have to see to believe). Django is successful, but he loses the gold in a pit of quicksand. Rodriquez and his men catch up to Django and Maria, and as you would imagine, they are not happy. Django once saved Rodriquez’s life, so he does not kill Django; he only maims him. The gold means nothing to Django now, the only thing that means anything is revenge on Colonel Jackson. You see, Colonel Jackson has something to do with the death of Django’s lover, and before Django finds peace, he wants revenge.

Sergio Carbucci directs in the style of Sam Peckinpah and John Huston, and uses the unforgiving desert almost like another character to itself. Though the film is somewhat derivative of the work of those directors, Carbucci adds his own touches to the myth. Cabucci went all out to differentiate DJANGO from the glossy Hollywood westerns of the same period (such as EL DORADO). His Old West is one of grime, filth, whiskey, and all the characters are trashy and amoral to some point. Like the giallo’s that were popular during the reign of the spaghetti western, DJANGO has an episodic disjointed plot that favors brutal setpieces over a linear structure. Carbucci imbues the film with a fatalistic feel, and he makes no apologies for the taboo-breaking subject matter or the purposely overdrawn stereotypes.

The character of Django is legendary. He is death in disguise; and sly as a wolf. But he remains an enigma. We discover he has a heart buried under that gruff exterior. Interestingly, Carbucci keeps the audience guessing about Django’s intentions. He is friends with the evil Rodriquez and even convinces Rodriquez to join him in stealing the gold (hardly the act of a hero). We don’t know if Django is soulless or righteous until the last five minutes of the film. Franco Nero is perfect in the role, and is quite an overwhelming presence, with his ratty confederate clothing and razor-stubble beard. The way Nero moves and slowly talks, with his steely eyes gleaming at his opponents. The scenes of Django shambling though the endless mud, dragging a casket like a trophy (and reminiscent of the Reaper in THE MASK OF THE RED DEATH), are archetypal unto themselves.

The storyline borrows heavily from Japanese samurai classics such as YOJIMBO. Since Django has to deal with two threats, Colonel Jackson’s posse and the Mexican bandits, he uses his wits and plays them off against each other. Hopefully they will take each other out. In the first act, Django has an opportunity to kill Colonel Jackson, but he spares him because he will use Colonel Jackson’s forces for his master plans. Django cunningly knows what buttons to push, and the leaders of the two factions fall right into his hands (though not without a few hitches). There is plenty of violence in DJANGO, and surely it has a record number of deaths in a western film. Underlying all this is a wry sense of black humor.

- Darren Collette