Cjamango

This movie is beautiful. It was shot beautifully and the acting is above average. Sean Todd (Ivan Rassimov) is both beautiful and rugged. He plays the ant-hero with a twist..he IS a hero. He takes care of a little orphaned boy and saves a girl from certain rape. He only goes after gold that was originally stolen from him. Everything he does is heroic!

Helen Chanel has got to be one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.

Cjamango sits firmly in my top 25 Spaghetti Westerns thus far. (I still have about 450 to track down and view!! If you like Euro or Spaghetti Westerns, then this is a must have for your collection!

Immediately after winning a sack of gold in a card game, Cjamango (Ivan Rassimov) has it stolen by a gang who literally kills everyone else in the room. Traveling to a small town to retrieve his treasure, he helps out a young orphan and crosses paths with mystery man Mickey Hargitay.

Not content with merely ripping off Sergio Corbucci's popular Django character, the producers took the unusual step of creating their own Django-like character, that ends up being more in the spirit of the original film than many of the knock-offs that actually used Django in the title. Ironically, German distributors actually re-titled the film as another bogus Django sequel.

As far as the movie goes, it's alright. There's a lot of familiar European faces and some good action scenes. Fans of Ivan Rassimov (who's been in quite a few good cult films), Django, or the spaghetti western genre as a whole, will probably appreciate this more than the casual viewer.

Tellingly for the quality of the film, the German print I watched was retitled DJANGO - CROSSES IN BLOODY SAND. Yes you guessed right, this is one of those "countless Django knock offs" that many know about and bring up every time DJANGO is discussed, but few brave dare to sit through. Obviously shot on a shoe-string budget, it's a rudimentary affair with this Mulargia guy going for simple hackneyed efficiency (ie. getting a film in the can in two weeks), he's not making high art. Cjamango the titular gunslinger wins the hard earned gold of a greasy Mexican bandit in cards but before he has time to savour his win, he gets robbed by a bunch of crooks. The rest of the movie sees Cjamango trying to get revenge and his gold back. There's also a love interest, an annoying child that follows him around (a social commentary on the plight of celebrities perhaps?) and the occasional shootout that spices things up, but it's all too workmanlike to register. Of note is Ivan Rassimov in the titular role. He would go on to play the baddie in several Italian thrillers (the infamous gialli) but with his mesmeric stare, he's just as good as the gunslinger.

I quite often don't expect too much usually in spaguetti western Cjamango isn't exception, just a strong violence without purpose, despite the plot to be a mess, with many twist in same time barely baseless, about a female presence required in every movie had just only one in so puritanical who came from some covent, long skirt and well covered shirt remains nothing to show, it' a crying shame indeed, very confuse split in two gangs who fight each other for gold, Cjamango try to be an Clint eastwood's cover, rough and dull, highly disappointed!!

Resume:

First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 5

The most memorable thing about this SLIGHTLY above average movie from the Django wave is that the anti-hero takes care, albeit somewhat unwillingly, of a little boy who admires him. Among the countless Spaghetti shoot-outs, you wouldn't find another quote from Shane so easily, I presume. Rada Rassimov you may remember from "Django the Bastard" gets a good part in this cast again.