The Spaghetti Western rose up in the ’60s when Italian film distributors were frustrated that Hollywood severely cut back on producing westerns. By this point in time, Americans were getting their share of western action with shows such as Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Bonanza, The Big Valley and Have Gun Will Travel on the TV dial. In Italy, TV was still a bit of a mess and so the people of Rome, Naples and Milan preferred to get their primetime entertainment in the local cinemas. Instead of begging Hollywood to give them more tales of the Wild West, the Italian producers found international actors that could ride horses and they rode off to Spain to create a hundreds of films that entertained the Western fans all over of Europe. Sergio Leone’s Fistful of Dollars with Clint Eastwood became a big enough hit that it conquered America in 1967. This set the expectations of filmmakers to create films that would feature characters and action that be sensational around the globe. Producer Manolo Bolognini was eager to make a Western and approached director Sergio Corbucci to create his own cinematic legend in a cowboy hat. Corbucci used this shot to give the world the gunman that not merely challenged Leone’s Man With No Name, but created an entire subgenre of Westerns that even Quentin Tarantino had to be a part of. When Django dragged his coffin into town, the wild west got wilder.
Maria (Ten Thousand Dollars for a Massacre‘s Loredana Nusciak) is not having a great day. The woman tried to escape her life of prostitution, but instead gets tied to a bridge and whipped by a group of Mexican bandits that ran her brothel. But a group of men in red scarves stop the bandits. Except instead of being rescued, the new men are ex-Confederate soldiers and instead of a whipping, they want to lash her to a crucifix and set her on fire. Little does she know her true salvation is a drifter in a union army suit lugging a saddle and a coffin across the desert. A little friendly banter leads to the drifter pulling out his gun and taking out all the ex-Confederates. He introduces himself to Maria as Django (The Fifth Cord‘s Franco Nero). The two hit the road together and end up in a hamlet that’s rather muddy and rundown. It would almost be a ghost town if it didn’t have a bartender and five hookers. The location is part of a neutral zone between the ex-Confederate soldiers led by Major Jackson (The Killer Must Kill Again‘s Eduardo Fajardo) and the Mexican revolutionaries controlled by General Hugo Rodríguez (Dollars for a Fast Gun‘s José Bódalo). Even though the town is neutral, does shake down the brothel for protection money. The major and his men play a sadistic game of tag with a local farmer and his family before dropping by the bar for their cut of the action. The Major’s men upset a few of the prostitutes with their bad manners. Django shuts them down with his gun once more. The Major isn’t happy at a Yankee killing his crew and returns with even more men. That’s when we learn what’s inside the coffin that Django drags around.
The film was a massive success in Europe as crowds couldn’t get enough of Franco Nero being tough enough to take on everyone and also hold a machine gun in his hands. While Sergio Leone kept making his movies longer and longer, Carbucci made Django a tight 92 minutes. They barely wiped the blood off Nero’s knuckles before another fight breaks out. The action is as gritty as the mud on the streets that the characters slog through. Sadly the film didn’t get a true audience in America for a long while. Nero sponsored a few screenings in Los Angeles when he was making Camelot. But the film didn’t get a distributor until 1972 when a small company put out a butchered version retitled Jango. The film didn’t get seen uncut in America until around the time that Quentin Tarantino released Django Unchained which had nothing to do with the original, but did feature Nero in a small role.
Django was a serious success with star Franco Nero exploding as a cinema star. He’d cement his career internationally after being cast in the big Hollywood production of Camelot. But he wouldn’t completely be gone from the world of the Spaghetti Westerns. Included as a bit of a bonus feature is Texas, Adios. The film was made right after Django with producer Manolo Bolognini and co-screenwriter Franco Rossetti. This led to quite a few countries retitling the film as Django 2. But this isn’t a Django. Nero plays Sheriff Burt Sullivan. He and his brother Jim (Zombi 2‘s Alberto Dell’Acqua) head across the border to locate crime lord Cisco Delgado (La muerte de un presidente‘s José Suárez). Why? Turns out Delgado killed their father. But in order to take on Delgado, they have to team up with Mexican revolutionaries. Things get nasty quick, but Franco Nero doesn’t care how dirty things get.
Django and Texas, Adios are two Spaghetti Westerns that are essential viewing when you want a little pasta with your grub. Franco Nero became a wild west superstar on par with anything generated by Hollywood including Clint Eastwood. With Django, Sergio Carbucci created an iconic hero. Even Bob’s Burgers had fun with the the character when Bob got a massive boxset of a Spaghetti Western series based on a character called Banjo that had dozens of movies that weren’t really sequels. But there’s not much fun in the action for either film. These are tense films that weren’t going out for laughs.
The video is 1.66:1 anamorphic. The 4K UHD scan gives you really get an eyeful of the mud as Nero heads into town. Texas, Adios is 2.35:1 and transferred off a fresh 2K scan. The audio is both the English and Italian tracks in uncompressed 1.0 PCM mono. Like all productions of this time, neither track reflects the original cast. They made these films in ADR with a lot of voice actors. The subtitles are English.
DISC 1 – DJANGO (4K UHD)
Audio commentary by film critic, historian and theorist Stephen Prince. He goes deep on both Nero and Carbucci.
Django Never Dies (26:07) is a newly filmed interview with star Franco Nero. He talks about how he wanted to be a serious actor at 24. He was told to risk it since nobody know who he was when Django was offered. He speaks about how they started without much of a script. Sergio Carbucci and his brother came up with a script during the Christmas break.
Cannibal of the Wild West (25:48) chats with assistant director Ruggero Deodato. He would go on to direct Cannibal Holocaust. He recounts how it was working with Carbucci. He talks about Carbucci’s big break into directing involved being shot in the face with a blank.
That’s My Life: Part 1 (10:16) is an unseen vintage interview with co-writer Franco Rossetti. He talks about the losers in his screenplays and his love of France.
Sergio, My Husband (27:48) speaks with Sergio Corbucci’s wife Nora Corbucci. Turns out Sergio did the movie as a favor and didn’t get paid much for the film that established him as a director. If he only got a dollar for every western with Django in the title, he’d be rich.
A Rock n Roll Scriptwriter (11:03) has co-writer Piero Vivarelli point out that he doesn’t mind being a genre filmmaker. He wanted to be a director in order to meet and marry his favorite actress. Sadly it didn’t happen. But he did get to work on Django.
A Punch In the Face (18:43) lets stuntman and actor Gilberto Galimberti discuss the battles on the set. He was trained in judo. He ended up with a role in Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Discovering Django (23:33) newly filmed appreciation by Spaghetti Westerns scholar Austin Fisher. He talks about how the film flies under the radar because it wasn’t made by the other Sergio. He deals with how so many films became rebranded Django films in Europe.
An Introduction to Django (12:04) has Alex Cox, director of Repo Man and Sid & Nancy. He gives a bit of details on the film. He has written a few books about Spaghetti Westerns.
Gallery of original promotional images from the Mike Siegel Archive includes stills, posters, lobby cards, press and home video.
Original trailers features both the Italian (2:58) and International (2:58). Both focus on the theme song and the greatness of Franco Nero pulling the coffin in the mud.
DISC 2 – TEXAS ADIOS (Blu-ray)
Audio commentary for by spaghetti western experts C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke gives more tales of the production and context.
The Sheriff Is in Town (20:19) continues the talk with star Franco Nero. He focuses on how Texas Adios looks like an American western more than European. He enjoyed working on the film. He speaks about being dubbed even though during the filming he spoke his lines in English.
Jump Into the West (33:46) gets co-star Alberto Dell’Acqua to talk about his time in the wild Spanish west. He had already done two Spaghetti Westerns before Texas Adios and knew Nero. Alberto got his start in the circus with his brother. He got his big break in film by providing a trampoline to a production.
That’s My Life: Part 2 (9:19) resumes the conversation with co-writer Franco Rossetti. He speaks of having to make ends meet by writing scripts and never quite getting the break to set up to the director’s chair. He thought Ferdinando Baldi was a decent director, but not quite up to Carbucci. He especially liked him as a person.
Hello Texas! (16:24) is another appreciation by Spaghetti Westerns scholar Austin Fisher. He puts it in context with the other films that came out around this time. He talks about how the film how the film played a bit with the successful format. Texas, Adios was on the cusp of the Mexican revolution films.
Gallery of original promotional images from the Mike Siegel Archive includes stills, posters, lobby cards, press and home video.
Original trailer (2:42) has a lot of shooting and plenty of Franco Nero. This isn’t one with the Django title.
Arrow Video present Django. Directed by: Sergio Corbucci. Screenplay by: Sergio Corbucci, Bruno Corbucci, Franco Rossetti, José Gutiérrez Maesso & Piero Vivarelli. Starring: Franco Nero, Loredana Nusciak, José Bódalo, Ángel Álvarez & Eduardo Fajardo. Rated: Unrated. Running Time: 92 minutes. Released: May 25, 2021.
