Over twenty years ago, I was browsing through my Columbia House DVD flier and was in the mood for a "Spaghetti Western"! I've been a fan of Sergio Leone's westerns since I was a kid and I wanted to branch out to and check out some other Italian western cinema to see how it compared with Leone's masterpieces, so I read up and blind bought 'Django"! I mean another Sergio directed it so it couldn't be bad right? 

Wow! I was hooked and became hooked on these type of westerns. I bought a couple of "Django" films figuring there might have been a franchise bought soon discovered that after the worldwide success of Sergio Corbucci's "Django" dozens of copycats were filmed. Even if Django wasn't a character, the distributors would put Django in the title to sell tickets! Crazy!

Franco Nero as Django helped create a mysterious and iconic, cult figure! I won't get into the plot, but like Leone's "Fistful Of Dollars" was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo", but unlike Leone's "Dollars", it's a completely different plot, but "the bounty hunter going after two rival gangs" element remains. We don't know why a former confederate, "Django" is after these gangs. We see him at a woman's grave at the beginning. Is it the grave of his wife? I'll let you watch if you haven't already! This film is extremely violent! Even after all of the films we've seen since, these violent scenes still have the power to shock! Yes, Tarantino loves this film and he made his own Django film, ("Django Unchained" with an unforgettable cameo from the original Django, Franco Nero!) which has more violent scenes, but none are as brutal or as shocking (in my opinion) as the this film. 

I'm not sure if you are able to stream this film, but there are at least TWO home video options. 4K editions are available for purchase from Arrow Video & Cult Films boutique labels.

We discussed this cult masterpiece recently and you can listen to that discussion here!

Sergio Corbucci’s cult spaghetti western classic, “Django” was released on April 6th, 1966 with a legendary and iconic performance from Franco Nero! #Western #classic #Cinema #FilmTwitter #FilmX pic.twitter.com/kEvPJsw9hl

— Chris O'Neil (@FroggyCO) April 6, 2024