Oro maldito

This one certainly lives up to its reputation as the most peculiar Spaghetti Western there is, a quality which makes it unique but not exactly entertaining (the pace is slow and the film somewhat protracted, if never less than fascinating)!

It features an atypical performance from lead Tomas Milian: usually the brash man of action with a humorous streak, here he's the cynical and mostly passive observer who even arrives late for the climax! Apart from the star, Marilu' Tolo and Ray Lovelock, the international cast - including several non-professionals - is unfamiliar but, as director Questi said in the exclusive Audio Commentary, their indelible faces were just what he needed for the film! By the way, in spite of the film's English title, it's not related to the 1966 DJANGO - and, in fact, Milian's character remains unnamed throughout - that spawned innumerable variations but only one direct sequel (made more than 20 years after the original)!

Here, we also find several elements of Gothic horror (Milian 'rising' from the dead, the 'mad woman' character borrowed from "Jane Eyre", the weird prison torture scene involving vampire bats and iguanas, the fiery climax in which the villain's face is covered with melted gold, etc.); besides, Tolo is made-up to look like Barbara Steele and the greedy townsfolk's gory groping into the body of a dying bandit riddled with golden bullets curiously anticipates the zombie films of George Romero! Actually, the film's graphic depiction of violence gave it a certain notoriety which further fueled its cult status; in fact, the bullet sequence and the scalping of an Indian were censored at the time but, curiously, got reinstated for the shortened 1975 re-issue under the name of ORO HONDO (which had been the film's working title)! There's even a scene in which a horse is saddled with a charge of dynamite and let loose among the villains (whereupon we see shots of its intestines and the body parts of the various victims strewn about!) - though, in all fairness, in A PROFESSIONAL GUN (1968) a man was also nonchalantly killed by a grenade in the mouth!!

Other unexpected elements in the film are its religious overtones (apart from Milian's crucifixion, the Indians who help him are mystics while the villainous Hagerman also serves pretty much as a bible-thumping preacher to the community) and the presence of black-clad gay cowboys as prototype Fascists (thankfully, we're spared their gang-rape of Lovelock - here in his film debut! - whose immediate reaction, naturally, is to shoot himself) led by a Spaniard (all dressed in white!) that goes by the name of Mr. Zorro(?!), and who shares a love-hate relationship throughout with a spirited parrot!!

The film also features a good score by Ivan Vandor and Techniscope photography by Franco Delli Colli (though the outdoor night scenes are way too dark!), and the locations - Questi was especially proud of his uncharacteristic white desert - are notable too. Franco Arcalli, an unusual combination of screenwriter and film editor, devises some 'trippy' montages throughout - which, therefore, adds psychedelia to an already eclectic mix of cinematic styles that distinguish this Spaghetti Western!

I opted to purchase the Italian DVD over Blue Underground's R1 edition due to the inclusion here of the afore-mentioned highly informative, full-length Audio Commentary featuring director Questi (who is very modest and actually attributes many of the film's bizarre touches to logical progressions of the narrative - which, needless to say, doesn't entirely convince the trio of moderators who accompany him throughout this engaging discussion!). However, with respect to the otherwise commendable Alan Young Pictures disc, one has to contend with a distracting layer change (in mid-sentence!), at least one other instance of audio drop-out and a baffling reversal, for one line of dialogue, to the English soundtrack (for the record, I watched the Italian-language version with the audio set in its original mono rendition; I tend to scoff at re-mixes of classic films)!!

Bandit Tomas Milian survives an impromptu execution by double-crossing partners. Crawling out of a pit, he's nursed by two Indians who ascribe mystical reasons for his not dying. Soon he tracks the others to a strange town where inhabitants strung up the gang and took the gold, which another violent big shot is willing to kill to possess.

I don't quite get what others say about this being "surreal" or "hallucinatory", as the film appears to be pretty straight-forward to me. It's weird, but it's not Eraserhead or Alejandro Jodorowsky weird.

It's more along the lines of an artiste tying to make a political statement about capitalism, using shocking, violent imagery to attract the attention of the bourgeois and perhaps make the movie attractive to the art-house and grind-house crowds.

Although pretentious, this stays interesting throughout, with a good performance by Milian. However, teen-aged Ray Lovelock's implied gang-rape by Zorro's (Yeah, that's the villain's name!) horribly-dressed goons was a bit silly and gratuitous.

Italian/Spanish production full of action , excessive characters , shootouts and lots of violence . For money, for pleasure, for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how . Mexican outlaw Django (Tomas Milian) is part of a gang of robbers that steal a cargo of gold from an army stagecoach . However, the Americans led by Oaks (Piero Lulli) in the group betray him, and shoot all the Mexicans . Mestizo Django is not completely dead though, and crawls his way out of his shallow grave , being saved by some Indians , going on his chase of the gold, and exacting a bloody vendetta . The stranger teams up with two Indians and head west for vengeance . The Stranger or Django is on the trail of some renegade outlaws and en route he arrives in a little town . There are various factions including a Mexican Bandit , a gang of Homosexual Cowboys (Sancho Gracia , among others) led by Mr Sorrow (Robert Camardiel) , a saloon owner (Milo Quesada) , a preacher (Francisco Sanz) feud over stolen gold in the surreal town . Django goes out to avenge his former colleagues , battling murderous and saved from an impromptu hanging . The stranger executes a single-handedly revenge , as he shoots , ravages and kills each person involved in the treason.

This meaty Western contains an interesting but twisted plot , violence , shoot'em up and results to be quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . A good example of Latino western genre from Italy and Spain ; it is daring , surreal and notoriously violent Spaghetti , so extreme in every way , it is one of the handful of great Italian Western . This moving Spaghetti packs noisy action , thrills , crossfire , rare events , twists and turns with exciting final . Offbeat Spaghetti Western and it is proceeded in violent style and unusual narration . The film packs violence , gunplay and high body-count ; it's fast moving and quite entertaining . It's a thrilling western with breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist Tomas Milian against the heartless Milo Quesada , Francisco Sanz , Robert Camardiel and his underlings as Sancho Gracia . Tomas Milian is fine , he ravages the screen , hit and run and kills . The Cuban Tomas Milian plays splendidly , he had got fame and fortune with his character ¨Cuchillo¨ from the trilogy directed by Sergio Sollima . Tomas created his own image and propelled himself to stardom in likewise fashion with such important Spaghetti as ¨The Bounty Killer¨ (1966) ¨The Big Gundown¨ (1967) with Lee Van Cleef, ¨Face to Face¨ (1967), ¨Django Kill!¨ (1967) and ¨Run, Man, Run¨ (1968) , ¨Sonny and Jed¨, ¨Tepepa ¨ and ¨Compañeros¨ , getting maxim popularity with his hippie cop character , Nico Giraldi , from ¨Cop in Blue Jeans¨ ,"Squadra Antimafia" ¨Squadra Antigangsters¨ and sequels . He nowadays continues acting in secondary as well as prestigious roles such as in ¨Traffic¨, ¨ The Yards ¨, ¨Amistad¨, ¨The burning season¨, ¨Nails¨, ¨JFK¨, ¨Havana¨, among others . Strange and twisted screenplay from an idea by Maria Carmen Martinez Roman , a notorious writer who wrote a lot of Spaghetti such as ¨Requiem for a gringo¨, ¨Winchester Bill¨ , ¨fury of Johnny Kid¨ , "In a Colt's Shadow" , ¨Dynamite Joe¨ and "Sheriff Won't Shoot" . The screenplay is filled with outlandish issues as suicide , gays , non-sense hanging , a closed woman and many other things . According to the actors and director, the producers decided to release the movie in countries outside Italy as "Django, Kill!" as a way to take advantage of the success of a prior release, Django (1966) starring Franco Nero. In reality, "Django" had nothing to do with "Se sei Vivo Spara." This is predominantly an Italian film rather than a Spanish one , but the Spaniard participation is important , as here appears a lot of Spanish secondaries , ordinary players in Spaghetti/Chorizo or Paella Western such as : Roberto Camardiel , Milo Quesada , Francisco Sanz or Sancho Gracia (800 bullets) . Furthermore , being produced by Hispamer , Sergio Newman and Alex Rascal, who produced many Spaghetti . Well set in a little town in Hoyo De Manzanares (Madrid) with sets by Jaime Perez Cubero and Jose Luis Galicia , today sadly disappeared ; the village was called ¨Golden City¨ where filmed several Western as the classic ¨Fistful of dollars¨ and ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨ ; furthermore there was shot : ¨Welcome Padre Murray¨ , ¨Brandy¨ , ¨Cabalgando Hacia Muerte¨ , ¨Three good men¨, ¨Quien Grita vengeance¨, ¨Two crosses in Danger Pass¨, among others .

There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some violence , shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes. There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , as in the final and the unusual conclusion . The movie gets the usual Western issues, such as avenger antiheroes , violent facing off , exaggerated baddies, soundtrack with Morricone influence , among them . The sense of pacing is such that his film can be counted on to move quickly and smoothly . Good production design creating an excellent scenario with luminous outdoors, dirty , deserts under a shinning sun and fine sets . Good cinematography by Franco Delli Colli , including a nice remastering . Great musical score by Ivan Vandor , furthermore a catching and emotive leitmotif . The motion picture was originally directed by Giulio Questi in his directorial debut . He is a director and writer, known for "Death Laid an Egg" , ¨Arcana¨and especially this ¨Django kills¨ .

A fine, if somewhat bananas spaghetti western that cashes in on the Franco Nero/Sergio Corbucci Django of the previous year simply by including Django in the title. What we have here, though, is a marvelous, if somewhat slightly mysterious example of the genre. More interesting than Django is a B***ard, or whatever its called this week, Django Kill really pulls out all the stops in an endless parade of the macabre. From the curious opening scene with Tomas Milian crawling out of a grave to the brutal lynchings and gothic horror drenching of one of many villains in liquid gold- this is a real treat for genre fans. As with many similar movies there are no morals anywhere to be seen, characters turn up, rub their hands together, kill mercilessly and then are shot down or, in this case, killed by an exploding horse. I understand that there are many versions of this movie in existence, which is not surprising in the least. The version i have was shown on uk tv five or six years ago, so i suppose its incompleteness would be down to broadcast quality prints. Its still a real doozer though.

It first seems it's going to be a standard "hunt-down-for-revenge" western, but then half an hour in it takes a surprising turn. In fact, at first you don't know where it's going, and it's a lot of fun trying to figure it out. There's certainly a lot going on (various subplots), and it's directed in a slightly surreal style that keeps you interested. In the end, the movie bites off more than it chews - some things seem unresolved at the end (where did Django's Indian friends go, for example?), though since I saw the 110 minute version instead of the 117 minute version, maybe some things got lost in the cut. Though it's not perfect, spaghetti western fans will find enough to make it worth their while.