Preparati la bara!

You might have to do a double-take every so often while watching Django, Prepare A Coffin! Or Preparati la bara!, a 1968 Italian spaghetti western starring well-known action-comedy legend, Terrence Hill. It's a spin-off of the 1966 Django film that became popular with Italian movie star Franco Nero in the lead role.

Why the double-take? Because you might be convinced that Hill is none other than razor-jawed, dreamy-eyed action hero, Franco Nero.

The close-ups is where the doppelganger effect comes into play, but when the frustrum gives way to a full view of Hill's more lanky form -- especially when he isn't wearing the black overcoat -- you can readily see the difference between him and the more brutish Nero.

The size difference does kind of vitiate the luster of Hill's performance as Django, but not by too much.

Where Nero was more stoic and resolute in both the profile and portrait shots, with a sturdy gait that made him seem both charming and menacing all at the same time, Terrence Hill only manages the menace in the close-ups, and when wearing the large black overcoat in the distant shots.

Even then he has a propensity to let his glowing smile shine through the glower, infrequently, which can also give Django more of a personable appeal in this film compared to the tortured-soul effect that Nero had going for him in the original.

Now some people prefer this film to the 1966 outing, but I can't say for certain that this is better. It certainly has more layers going for it than the original due to the various characters having their own motivations, and that makes it a lot more unpredictable. The characters aren't just 2D cardboard cutouts, and that gives them a much more grounded flavor than what you might be expecting from a western.

There are occasional shootouts to sate the action-hungry viewer, but they aren't particularly as memorable as the ones from the original Django, which might disappoint some viewers.

Also, while Hill can some impressive displays of fisticuffs, his stringy physique doesn't quite make him as imposing as Nero, and in turn he comes across as a much more vulnerable Django than Nero's turn as the character.

However, where the acting counts Terrence Hill actually delivers. He does a very fine job of imitating Nero to the best of his abilities, and that alone definitely deserves a huge hat tip. It's not often someone is able to embody the role made famous by someone else and then turn in a performance that very closely resembles the original, while still managing to add their own spin on it (and managing a verisimilitude without the performance being satirical or farcical).

It's a hard balancing act to pull off, but I think Hill did a wonderful job with what he had to work with. It's a steep departure from his physical-comedy work that he became renown for with Bud Spencer, but well worth the watch for those who enjoyed the original Django that starred the devilishly handsome Franco Nero.

When Django is wounded, presumed dead and his wife is killed he starts working as a hangman while plotting his revenge.

Ferdinando Baldi's offering is a little rough round the edges but it has great Italian Spaghetti Western feel. Thanks to Franco Rossetti's story and setup, Django, Prepare a Coffin comes up trumps. There's vindication, retribution and unlikely relationships. With a twist and some memorable scenes including the fistful of hangings and showdown shootout Baldi delivers a rounded violent piece of entertainment.

Originally intended to star Franco Nero, thankfully, oozing screen presence Terence Hill comfortably slips in to Nero's boots. The supporting cast are solid enough. Actor Horst Frank is notable and refreshingly is not your typical villain. Staple Italian film actor George Eastman also appears. Gianfranco and Giampiero Reverberi's score is great (and decades later was partly sampled by Gnarls Barkley for the hit song 'Crazy').

Overall, it may not reach the heights of Sergio Leone Westerns or debatably Sergio Corbucci's Django, nevertheless to Baldi's credit it has a good time shooting for the stars thanks to Hill's spurring performance.

Django, you are a gullible one. Haven't you seen all them Spaghetti Westerns starring Horst Frank? He's not a good employer! Django finds this out the hard way when, following a successful election for Frank, Django gets ambushed transporting gold, his wife gets killed, and he gets turned into a vigilante killer! Worse still, he ends up taking a job as the hangman, but with motives! His motives involve not actually hanging folks as they are being framed by Horst Frank and sidekick giant George Eastman. So Django is forming his own little army of not-dead guys to get revenge on Frank and Eastman. Can he trust them? There's a gigantic amount of double crossing in this film which almost threatens to derail the entire film. Some of Django's guy double cross him, and then each other, until you stop caring about what's happening on screen and hope that at some point people will stop double crossing each other and you can just get to the big fight at the end.

George Eastman is good in this one and has a memorable death. Terence Hill in non-comedy mode is pretty good (He's basically Franco Nero with a pointier nose) and I'm watching too many of these films now as Horst Frank seems to be in most of them and it's hard to separate what he does in one film from the other.

This one plays out like an average Spag Western but there are enough quirks in there to make worth watching once. I love the way Arrow DVD have very slyly packaged the film so that unsuspecting folks would be it thinking they've bought Django Unchained!

Of all the unofficial "Django"-sequels(40+), this is the one that sticks closest to the original. This time around, Django is portrayed by a pre-Trinity Terrence Hill. Hill does his best to copy the original performance by Franco Nero, and succeeds. Director Ferdinando Baldi co-wrote this with Franco Rossetti (who also co-wrote the Corbucci film), and the result is an extremely entertaining film, with plenty of action, and enjoyable performances. This is nowhere the really great spaghetti westerns such as "Keoma", "Bullet For The General", and the works of Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci, but fans of the genre will be more than pleased. The ending is the best bit, and was actually copied in the only official "Django"-sequel, "Django Strikes Again". Extremely hard to find, but well worth the search.

Ferdinando Baldi's "Preparati La Bara!" aka. "Viva Django" of 1968 with Terence Hill in the lead is a great Spaghetti Western, and, in my opinion, Baldi's second best film after "Blindman" of 1971. After Sergio Corbucci's 1966 masterpiece "Django", quite a bunch of Spaghetti Westerns were given a 'Django'-title, although most of these cash-ins had little to nothing to do with the original. Out of all these unofficial sequels, however, "Viva Django" is maybe the only one that can really be described as a sequel, and Terence Hill's Django-character in "Viva Django" has by far the strongest resemblance to the original character played by Franco Nero. I would personally refer to "Viva Django" as the third best film with a Django-title after Corbucci's brilliant original, and Giulio Questi's surreal "Django Kill... If You Live Shoot" (aka. "Se Sei Vivo Spara"), which is not really a Django movie, and which was only marketed as a Django-film in the German and English language versions, in order to make more cash. Therefore, out of all films that were actually meant to be Django films, "Viva Django" is my second favorite after the original.

Django (Terence Hill) is employed as a hangman by corrupt politician somewhere in the old West. Django does not really hang the delinquents, however, but just makes it look like he does, and thereby saves the lives of a bunch of innocently convicted men. He then founds a gang of seemingly hanged men in order to avenge the death of his wife, who was killed in the robbery of a money transport guided by Django years ago.

"Preparati La Bara!" is a great and very entertaining Spaghetti Western, and, although in some parts quite humorous, not the usual comedy many would expect from Terence Hill. I am personally also a fan of the Bud Spencer/Terence Hill comedies, their serious Spaghetti Westerns, however, are in my opinion their best films, and 'Viva Django' is definitely one of the best films Terence Hill has ever starred in. Hill's performance as Django is excellent from the beginning to the end, and out of all the unofficial Django-sequels his character is definitely the closest to the great Franco Nero's character in Corbucci's original. José Torres fits into the role of hangdog Garcia very well, and lovely Barbara Simon is worth mentioning as beautiful Mercedes. The supporting cast furthermore contains Spartaco Conversi in a small role. The rest of the performances are also quite good, but most of them are not mind-blowing. The score by Gianfranco Reverberi is very good and the movie is photographed very well on great locations.

As I mentioned above, out of all sequels, the 'Django' character in "Viva Django" is the closest to the original character. Terence Hill's character is not exactly the same as Franco Nero's of course, and in some parts even very different, but in comparison to most of the other sequels, the resemblance is much stronger.

All things considered, "Viva Django" is a very good Spaghetti Western, and probably the only one of the unofficial 'sequels' that can actually be regarded as a sequel to the original.