Django (film)

Django
Directed by	Sergio Corbucci
Produced by	Sergio Corbucci Manolo Bolognini
Written by	Sergio Corbucci (Story) Bruno Corbucci (Story) José Gutiérrez Maesso Franco Rossetti Piero Vivarelli
Screenplay by	Sergio Corbucci Bruno Corbucci
Starring	Franco Nero Loredana Nusciak Eduardo Fajardo José Bódalo
Music by	Luis Enríquez Bacalov Franco Migliacci (Lyrics)
Cinematography	Enzo Barboni , Eastmancolor , Panavision
Editing by	Nino Baragli Sergio Montanari
Studio	BRC Produzione (Rome) Tecisa (Madrid)
Distributed by	Argent Films (UK) Anchor Bay Entertainment (US)
Release date(s)	April 6, 1966 (1966-04-06) (Italy) September 21, 1967 (1967-09-21) (Spain) August 30, 2007 (2007-08-30) (Venice Film Festival)
Running time	97 minutes 88 minutes (UK DVD)
Country	Italy Spain
Language	Italian English (Dubbed)

Django is a 1966 Italian spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Franco Nero in the eponymous role. The film earned a reputation as being one of the most violent films ever made up to that point and was subsequently refused a certificate in Britain until 1993,^[1] when it was eventually issued an 18 certificate. Subsequent to this the film was downgraded to a 15 certificate in 2004.

Despite lending its name to over thirty "sequels" from the time of the film's release until the mid 1980s, none of these were official, featuring neither Corbucci nor Nero, and simply sought to capitalize on the success of the original. Nero did reprise his role as Django in 1987, in the only official sequel to be written by Corbucci: Django 2: Il Grande Ritorno (lit. Django 2: The Great Return).^[2]

Plot

Django and Nathaniel burying Jackson's men

Django (Franco Nero) is a drifter who drags around a coffin that conceals a machine gun. He rescues a young woman, María (Loredana Nusciak), from being murdered by bandits led by Major Jackson (Eduardo Fajardo), a man whom Django is seeking revenge on for the murder of his wife.

After killing most of Jackson's men, Django makes a deal with a Mexican bandit general, Hugo Rodriguez (José Bódalo), who is in conflict with Jackson, and the two steal a large quantity of gold from a Mexican Army fort (where Jackson is doing business with a government general). When Rodriguez is slow in paying for his supplies and seems to be dragging his feet (possibly meaning to kill Django later), Django and Maria steal the gold. Unfortunately, the gold falls into quicksand. When Rodriguez catches up to them, María is shot (though she survives) and Django's hands are crushed. Rodríguez and his men are massacred by Jackson and the Mexican Army when the bandits return to Mexico. Jackson then goes looking for Django in a cemetery after killing Nathaniael. However, Django, who has bitten the trigger-guard off his pistol, kills Jackson and his five surviving men by pressing the trigger against a tombstone and repeatedly dropping the hammer.

Cast

• Franco Nero as Django. Django is a lone and mysterious gunfighter who drags around a coffin which contains a powerful machine gun. Django remarks at one point that the "person" in the coffin is actually called Django. He is a skilled gunfighter, who displays the ability to shoot without looking.
• Loredana Nusciak as Maria. Maria is a prostitute in the local town, who has betrayed Major Jackson by turning to the Mexicans. She then betrays them also and is later saved by Django before she can be crucified and burned by Major Jackson's men for her betrayal.
• Jose Bodalo - General Hugo Rodriguez
• Angel Alvarez - Nathaniel
• Eduardo Fajardo - Major Jackson
• Rafael Albaicin - Rodriquez's Man
• Gino Pernice (as Jimmy Douglas) - Brother Jonathan
• Simon Arriaga - Miguel
• Ivan Scratuglia - Klan Member
• Luciano Rossi - Klan Member
• Guillermo Mendez - Klan Member
• Remo de Angelis (as Eric Schippers) - Riccardo
• Jose Terron - Ringo
• Lucio De Santis - Whipping Bandit
• Cris Huerta - Mexican Officer
• Silvana Bacci - Mexican Prostitute
• Jose Canalejas - Hugo Henchman
• Rafael Vaquero - Uncredited Role

Production

Sergio Corbucci had originally wanted to cast Mark Damon in the lead role, but Damon experienced a conflict in his scheduling and had to withdraw.^[1] Corbucci then turned to a reluctant Franco Nero, who eventually accepted the role.^[3] Filming began in December 1965^[3] at the Tor Caldara nature reserve, where a specialist set had been constructed for use in Western movies. Despite the winter conditions leaving the set in extremely muddy conditions, Corbucci rejected set designer Giancarlo Simi's proposal to clean up the set, as he felt it added to the atmosphere of the film. With no real script in place for filming, Corbucci turned to his brother Bruno to draft out a story; over the Christmas period, Bruno Corbucci wrote out a scaletta, which Nero identifies as being "like a synopsis, but more detailed, [yet] still not a full screenplay".^[3] Filming also took place in several locations around Madrid, whilst interior scenes were shot at Elios Studios outside Rome;^[4] the filming was concluded by late February 1966.

Upon its network premier on BBC Two's Moviedrome in 1993, Django was preceded by an introduction by series-presenter Alex Cox, during which Cox stated that the film was,"to the best of [his] knowledge", the only spaghetti Western to be shot in the 4:3 aspect ratio, rather than the usual widescreen Techniscope format.^[5] Cox also attempts to clarify the name Django, stating how it appears to be "a sick joke on the part of Corbucci and his screenwriter-brother Bruno" as it seems to make reference to jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt who was able to play the guitar despite, Cox erroneously states, "lacking several fingers on one hand"; Reinhardt actually had several fingers paralyzed on his left hand, but was able to overcome this disability, in a similar way to how Django is able to operate his gun in the final shootout despite his hands being crushed.

Django's gun

Django overcomes astounding enemy numbers (for example killing forty-eight men in short order) using a weapon the film's dialogue calls a "gatling gun." The prop is mechanically inconsistent, featuring revolving barrels like a gatling gun but otherwise resembling a mitrailleuse fed from an ammunition belt. Django fires the gun on fully automatic with no apparent concern for recoil.

Reception

Django received an 18-certificate in Italy due to its then-extreme violence. Bolognini says Corbucci "forgot" to cut out the ear-severing scene when the censors requested he remove it and in Sweden it was banned outright.^{[citation needed]} There are rumored to be over 100 unofficial sequels, though only 31 have been counted. Four were made the same year, in 1966.^{[citation needed]} Most of these films have nothing to do with Corbucci's original, but copy the look and attitude of the central character.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Django (1966) - Trivia". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060315/trivia. Retrieved 2011-09-03. 
2. ^ "Django 2: il grande ritorno (1987)". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093113/. Retrieved 2011-09-03. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Franco Nero: No escaping Django". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/may/26/franco-nero-django. Retrieved 2011-09-03. 
4. ^ "Django (1966) - Filming locations". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060315/locations. Retrieved 2011-09-03. 
5. ^ "Moviedrome - Django". Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbIsfCErfG4. Retrieved 2011-09-03. 

External links

• Django at the Internet Movie Database