Euro International Films first released Django in Italy on 6 April 1966. Co-written and directed by Sergio Corbucci, it has his usual locomotive-level subtlety. At its time, it was considered extremely violent. They didn’t even let adults see it in the UK until the 1990s, which is, you know, ridiculous. Today, it seems pretty tame.
But nothing has taken away from the film’s effectiveness. Westerns are, at their core, about the conflict of Good and Evil. The only thing that determines whether I want to watch one is if the hero is suitably interesting.
The main villain, Major Jackson, is shaved and well-dressed. He looks like a hero from central casting. Django, in contrast, is scruffy and drags around a coffin through the mud.
Why Django Works
But what really makes Django work is its over-the-top action that seems more like a Hong Kong martial arts film than anything by John Ford or Akira Kurosawa. Most of the time, you don’t see Django shoot anyone. There are simply some gunshots and six men lie dead.
It’s hard not to compare Corbucci with Sergio Leone. I understand why the latter is held in such high respect. His films tend to be more artful. At the same time, they are also more self-indulgent. Leone usually believed that a scene that needed one minute should take five. Corbucci directs more like a storyteller. His pacing is perfect and nothing gets in the way of the drama.
Django plays for a very speedy hour and a half. Sadly, little effort was put into syncing the English version. The performances are fine, however; so you can try to avoid noticing. But it’s also interesting just how different the Italian and English performances are. You get a very different feel from the two versions. The Italian version is grittier and the English more comedic. So take your pick!
Here is the English version:
Here is the Italian version with subtitles:
One thing just between us, I like Franco Nero a lot more than Clint Eastwood in this kind of part. Two decades later, he played Django again in Django Strikes Again.
There is one funny thing: the title. Django ends up with his hands crippled, so they named the character after the handicapped jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.
Also on August 6th
The following films were released on August 6th: The Thing From Another World (1951), I Vampiri (1957), In Harm’s Way (1965), Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), The Ghost In the Invisible Bikini (1966), Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966), The Reptile (1966), Audrey Rose (1977), The First Power (1990), Grindhouse (2007), Denizen (2010), Malpractice (2010), and ATM (2012).
Actors born on this day: Billy Dee Williams (89), John Ratzenberger (79), Marilu Henner (74), Michael Rooker (71), Paul Rudd (57), Diora Baird (43). And director Barry Levinson is 84.
Also born on August 6th: Screenwriter Dudley Nichols (1895-1960) and director Ivan Dixon (1931-2008).
Django Poster from Euro International Films via Fair use.
