Django der Bastard

Nice Italian Western with sad atmosphere ,full of feeling ,wonderful musical score and special appearance by the great Fernando Sancho . This is a very entertaining SW from Giovanni Fago and the prolific western and horror screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi. ¨For one hundred thousand dollars per killing¨ deals with two brothers hate until death since one of them killed their father. The film is set during American Civil War . As the bastard brother is a bounty hunter named Johnny Forest (Gary Hudson or Gianni Garco , usual player on Sartana personage , another famous hero of S.W. )and swears to chase his brother(Claudio Camaso) who is a rebel confederate . Clint Forest has one hundred thousand dollars reward and is wanted : ¨Dead or alive¨ and then he double-cross his band ( Carlo Gaddi, Bruno Corazzari) led by evil Jurago (Piero Lulli) . Johnny Forest, tries to carry out his mother's dying wish that he brings in his outlaw brother, Clint, alive. On the run from Jurago, a former pal he has betrayed , Clint accepts Johnny's help, and agrees to surrender . But his lover ( Claudie Lange))is kidnapped and Forest seeks vengeance .

Acceptable twilight Spaghetti Western with interesting dialogue by the usual Ernesto Gastaldi , splendid cinematography by Federico Zanni and memorable musical score by Nora Orlandi . It's a typical Spaghetti Western in which blends the common scenarios , as invincible and tough antiheroes, difficult and fast showdowns with numerous deceases , impulsive and quick zooms , lots of action , musical score with Morricone influence .The film follows the usual SW plot of an arrogant character that takes on more than he can handle, is humbled (beaten, shot, hung) before he either changes certain elements of his character or learns the secret necessary to ultimately succeed. Ernesto Gastaldi isolated this basic plot in most of his westerns and utilized to again in this movie .

The picture has a certain remembrance to ¨100.000 dollars for a massacre¨(by Romolo Guerrieri) regarding the avenging theme and including Clint Forest character well played by Claudio Camaso , who subsequently committed suicide , he bears remarkable resemblance to his brother Gian Maria Volonte , furthermore Claudio Camaso holding physical likeness and similar playing . Besides, good set decoration filmed in Elios studios and of course Almeria (Spain) . ¨Ten thousand dollars blood money¨ was shot at the same time to ¨For one hundred thousand dollars per killing ¨ with similar artist and technician team and also starred by Gianni Garco , Claudio Camaso and Fernando Sancho . The motion picture finely produced by Mino Loy ,Luciano and Sergio Martino brothers is well directed by Giovanni Fago who also made other S.W. as ¨One more to hell¨ that also starred Claudie Lange , Carlo Gaddi with music by Nino Fidenco and ¨O Cangaceiro¨. Fago had collaborated with Gastaldi before on Vengeance Is Mine (1967) and the next year would direct the Tomas Milian vehicle O Cangaceiro¨ . Rating : Better than average Spaghetti Western .If you are into Italian westerns, you won't be disappointed by this movie

The spaghetti western is generally an enjoyable genre. Whether it's Clint Eastwood shooting bad guys, Franco Nero standing tall, or Lee Van Cleef being an all-around tough guy, there's plenty to like in these movies.

Unfortunately, even this genre has its low points. Nowhere is that more apparent than with Giovanni Fago's "Per 100.000 dollari ti ammazzo" (called "Vengeance Is Mine" in English). Although it has an interesting plot, the action takes too long to get going. The end has a lot of fun, but they could've trimmed fifteen to twenty minutes off of the movie. I recommend sticking to either Sergio Leone's movies, the Django series, or the Sartana series.

For the record, although John Wayne's movies usually get treated as the great westerns, the real masterpieces are Arthur Penn's "Little Big Man" and Robert Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller".

Fans of Italian Western will know Gianni Garko (aka Gerry Hudson) as Western Hero Sartana in many of his later movies. The first scene with the wonderful Fernando Sancho will remind you on Sartana but this time Gianni Garko will be another main Character. In "Per 100,000 dollari ti ammazzo" he is Johnny Forest (in some alternate Version round the world Django) a man who was accused to have killed his father by his brother. After years in prison he became a bounty hunter and his brother an outlaw. Johnny Forest chases his brother. The background to the Cain/Abel story is set place during the civil war. There are several interesting scenes including brutality of war and melodramatic sequences. As there are some flashback scenes and some atmospheric scenes in a ghost town. These flashbacks are the highlights of this movie and important for the story of the main characters. Overall the music score is very good but in the flashback scenes a bit too overwhelming.

If "100.000 dollari ti ammazzo" will remind you on another western with Garko you probably have watched "10.000 dollari ti un massacre". More or the less the same cast was used in both movies. If you would like to see a Western with full time action and cynical one liner all the time this one isn't really for you. There are of course several shootouts but not as much as in other contributions. The mixture of action and drama is well balanced. Watch out for the duel it's outstanding for a Western. The revenge with a gold treasure might be not unusual for this genre but with all these dreamlike flashbacks from the main character it's a fresh look.

If you are looking for Westerns from Italy with lesser Action but more Story and atmospheric scenes "100.000 dollari di ammazzo" should be for you.