Django Begins

I figured the nephews should see the original Django (1966) before they went to see Tarantino's version, Django Unchained, so I took it with me when we went to see the family over the holidays. Unfortunately, I brought the Blu-ray, and they did not have the capability. So they missed out on this educational film.

This Italian western (shot in Spain) is directed by Sergio Corbucci, and stars blue-eyed Franco Nero as Django. The film starts out (accompanied by the lovely theme song) with Nero dragging a coffin through a muddy wasteland. That coffin and that mud will be his constant companion throughout. I kept wishing he would get a chance to take a bath.

After a little salutary bloodletting, Django winds up in a whorehouse in a town deserted by all except two warring factions: a racist remnant of the Confederate army, and a band of Mexican revolutionaries without portfolio. If you think Django plays one faction off of the other, you've got another movie in mind.

If you're wondering what's in the coffin, you find out surprisingly quickly.

A pretty brutal, dirty, rotten Western, and one that's still spinning off sequels movies with "Django" in the title, like Django Unchained and Sukiyaki Western Django. I wonder how the kids would have liked it.