W Django!

A group of bandits raped and murdered a woman that, for their bad luck, was Django's wife.After that,the famous gunman goes in a vengeance against the bad guys, killing everyone in his trail. This one is a typical Italian western although is really strange to find Django as a married man. Some good moments - some violent shots, some comic scenes -but it's just routine material but good for spaghetti westerns buffs. I give this a 6 (six).

One of a number of cheaply made Italian Westerns designed to cash in on the Django brand name, "W Django!" a.k.a. "A Man Called Django", doesn't compare of course to the original Franco Nero film but is still very acceptable non-think entertainment that keeps you watching for an hour and a half. In this story the cunning bounty hunter is actually married, but the poor woman lasts barely a minute and a half; she's assaulted and gunned down by bandits. A year later Django (Anthony Steffen) comes to a small town and learns that a thief about to be hanged, Carranza (Stelio Candelli) can identify the members of that gang, so he saves his life. The two men are then united as Carranza points out one lowlife at a time while bodies regularly get pumped full of bullets and a shipment of guns plays into the plot. Don't look for too much story here, but you can expect a fair amount of style, courtesy of director Edoardo Mulargia, and the violence is pretty constant; the body count in this thing is impressive. You can also expect a LOT of comedy in this thing, thanks to writer Nino Stresa. Candelli in particular is an absolute hoot. The acting is competent all the way down the line; horror fans may recognize Chris Avram from Mario Bavas' "A Bay of Blood", cast here as the outlaw Jeff. Esmeralda Barros adds appreciable eye candy as Lola, and Donato Castellaneta is quite appealing as saloon owner Paco. Some fans of Italian Westerns may find that ultimately it gets too silly, but it's undeniably very lively from start to finish and hard not to like. Steffen may not be Franco Nero, but he's pretty cool in his own right and the viewer simply has to love how ingenious he is. He establishes himself as a cool customer soon after his entrance, and he comes up with nifty ways to trick various bad guys. (The bit with the fake arm is a show-stopper.) All in all, this is quite agreeable and well worth a viewing. Seven out of 10.

¨Ravioli¨ Western with two top-of -the range ¨Macaroni¨ players as Anthony Steffen and Chris Avram . Italian production full of action , exaggerated characters , shootouts and lots of violence . A good example of Latino western genre from Italy . For money, for pleasure, for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how . Django (Anthony Steffen) is on the trail of some renegade outlaws who raped and killed his spouse . En route, he saves a horse thief named Carranza (Stelio Candeli) from an impromptu hanging . He learns the man knows who committed the killing , as three bandits named Jeff (Chris Avram) , Ibanez (Benito Stefanelli) and Thompson (Riccardo Pizzuti) . The two men team up and head west for vendetta . Django goes out to avenge his wife battling murderous and executes a single-handedly revenge , as he shoots , ravages and kills each person involved in the killing .

This meaty Western contains an interesting but well known plot , violence , shoot'em up and results to be quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . This moving Spaghetti packs noisy action , thrills , drama with exciting final . Ordinary Spaghetti Western follows the Sergio Leone wake and it is proceeded in violent style . The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . It's a thrilling western with breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist Anthony Steffen against the heartless Chris Avram , Riccardo Pizzuti and his underlings . Anthony Steffen is fine , he ravages the screen , hit and run and kills . This movie is a lot of fun to watch . It's an acceptable story with a touch of peculiarity , some particular characters, and an amazing music score . The picture is a tale of justice and revenge, as a man returns home , a border little town and looks for vendetta against the wife's killers . The basic plot is typical spaghetti western fare , but what makes this movie stand out is its style . This is an exciting film, plenty action , thrills, fights , gun-down and breathtaking outdoors from Lacio , Rome , and interiors in Elios Studios . In the picture appears Spaghetti habitual secondaries playing brief interventions such as Riccardo Pizzuti : ordinary in Terence Hill-Spencer movies , Giovanni Cianfriglia or Ken Wood as a henchman , Benito Stefanelli , Fortunato Arena and Simone Blondell : Demofilo Fidani's daughter , known as the Italian Ed Wood . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Anthony Steffen is good in his usual tough role . The pic is well starred by Anthony Steffen-Antonio De Teffe- , he began playing secondary roles into typical examples of popular Italian films of the late 50s as sword and sandal epics, comedies, adventures and was with spaghetti westerns that renamed achieved worldwide stardom . photo) Anthony Steffen may be a name best remembered by Spaghetti Western aficionados, but in his day, from the mid-'60s to the early '70s, Steffen was one of the most popular actors of the genre — at the time cheap B movies, now revered cult classics . The handsome, Italian-born — actually at the Brazilian embassy in Rome — Antonio Luiz de Teffè von Hoonholtz began working in films as a studio messenger for Vittorio De Sica. From there, Steffen began acting in sword-and-sandal epics, later moving onto the Western genre, where he found his niche. Unlike fellow Spaghetti star Clint Eastwood, however, Steffen never became a top international box-office attraction. His acting is often accused of being wooden, but in many manners is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the genre . His others successes include well liked features as Seven Dollars to Kill, The last Mohican¨, ¨Train for Durango¨, ¨Gentleman Jo¨ , ¨Four dollars for Django¨, ¨Shango¨, ¨Arizona colt¨, ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ and several others .

There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some 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 gunfights and the customary showdown 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 and rocky landscapes under a shinning sun and fine sets . Good cinematography by Marcello Masciocchi , including a nice remastering . Great musical score by Piero Umiliani , furthermore a catching and emotive leitmotif . This motion picture was well and professionally directed by Edoardo Mulargia though with no originality. Edoardo Mulargia directed a lot of Spaghetti as ¨W Djianjo¨, ¨El Puro¨ , ¨Django Spara¨ Cjamngo¨ , ¨Shango¨ , ¨Vete con Dios , Gringo¨, most part starred by Robert Woods or Anthony Steffen . Rating : 6. Acceptable and passable Western that will appeal to Spaghetti fans .

This spaghetti western has a typical but well executed storyline. The relationship between the two main characters is reminiscent of Blondie and Tuco from "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly." It also has pretty decent acting, an awesome music score from Piero Umiliani, and one of the coolest endings I have ever seen.

I probably would have rated it even higher if it was dubbed in English. I don't mind subtitles in other kinds of movies, but for some reason I prefer to watch westerns in English, even if the dubbing is bad.

Still, it's a really enjoyable flick, and I recommend it to all die-hard spaghetti western fans.

W Django! (1971)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Django (Anthony Steffen) comes home to find that his wife has been raped and murdered by four bandits so he sets off to capture the killers. Along the way he saves a man (Stelio Candelli) who is about to be hanged because he use to be a member of the gang of killers. The two set out to kill the bandits but there are plenty of twists and turns to follow. You can tell watching this thing that the budget was probably very small but I think this adds to the enjoyment of the film because the director has to cover up some of the cheapness with clever action and stylish twists. The film looks the low budget very well and I think this really adds to the atmosphere as well. The film is ugly, mean and at times funny and this is what makes this a better than average Spaghetti Western. This was my first time seeing Steffen and he really shocked me at how good he was. He perfectly looks the part of the man wanting revenge but he also has a good comic timing in a few scenes. The greatest moment is when he's riding into a small town and runs into a prankster who likes throwing dynamite at people. Django, calmly picks up the burning stick, lights his cigar and throws it back at the man. Candelli is also very good in his role and the two men act very well together. There's plenty of gun battles in the film but none of them get too graphic so you could probably even show this to kids. The soundtrack by Piero Umiliani is also very good. This certainly doesn't rank up with the greatest films in the genre but it's a nice addition.