Django et Sartana

Django and Sartana team up to fight back against two gangs of outlaws who are terrorising a lawless town.

The unique angle of this Italian western is in combining both the Django and Sartana characters together, both of whom had their own series of spaghetti westerns. Although it does have to be said that this distinctive aspect has to be set against the fact that both protagonists only resemble these characters in name and act decidedly differently than usual. Truthfully, it seems obvious that these names were only applied to the characters as an after-thought. Quite honestly, this is a very clichéd and derivative affair with stock characters such as an enigmatic bounty hunter and amoral villains aplenty. But despite all this, I found it overall to be slightly better than average for this kind of thing. It didn't descend into tedium too often and its sparse running time seemed like good manners on the part of the film-makers. So, while any seasoned fan of this kind of thing is highly unlikely to find anything new here, I still think it entertains more effectively than many others in the sub-genre.

The word 'Django' is really irrelevant in many westerns, as most have nothing to do with the original Franco Nero film "Django". It's NOT the same character and producers tossed the word into titles hoping to lure unsuspecting folks to the theaters looking for a Django film. Now, it's even more confusing with the recent release of the Quentin Tarantino film "Django Unchained"--yet another film that really is not about Django! As for "Django Meets Sartana", it's yet another non-Django film! Confusing, huh?!

The film begins with a new sheriff arriving in a town that hasn't seen the law in years. Not surprisingly, the place is overrun by bandits and Jack Ronson (aka 'Sartana'; Fabio Testi) has his hands full. When a bounty hunter named Django (Jack Betts) arrives soon after, Ronson has a new ally to help him get rid of the thugs.

So is this Django film worth seeing? Well, probably not unless you absolutely adore Italian westerns which are poorly written. The fight between Sartana and Django makes no sense at all--nor does their dialog in this scene. Plus, with the big shootout with the final group of baddies, one of the men has a clear shot at the Sheriff--but runs up some stairs in order to give the guy a chance to shoot him! The film also seems to have little in the way of unique plot--just one killing after another after another. Sure, there are some decent moments, but the film itself has little to differentiate it from several hundred other Italian westerns. Well, that isn't 100% true--it IS the only western I've ever seen where the Sheriff and the leader of the baddies arm wrestle to show who's the toughest hombre!!

By the way, although Jack Betts may not be a name you recognize, this handsome actor later became quite famous in soap operas. The reason you might not recognize him as the same guy is that in "Django Meets Sartana", he had brown hair--not his signature silver hair. Also, note the one battle where it's six against Django. Django's gun CLEARLY shoots more than six shots without reloading (he shoots one guy, the boss, twice)!! Not only is he cool, but he apparently has the ability to defy physics!!

Why I did not adore the original "Django", it's sure a lot better than this tripe. Not one of Italy's finer moments in the film world.

Fabio Testi, dressed as Tom Baker in Doctor Who, turns up in a windy town and announces that he's the new sheriff. That's all fine and dandy, the locals say, but then they point out that there's a bunch of Mexican jerks that ride into town now and again to steal stuff, and that lot are affiliated with an even bigger bunch of jerks, who think they run the town and make a big show of playing 'keep away' with Fabio's gun, pulling his pigtails and making fun of his really long scarf.

Testi, unable to stand up to these bullies, goes back to his sheriff's office to mope and listen to The Cure. Shaken, he's now got to figure out how to get rid of these guys, but what you're thinking is "Well buddy the most important plot point I'd like to know is how these two bad guy gangs got together – that'll help the momentum of the film greatly". You're in luck, because we get a flashback that goes on for so long I wasn't sure if the film had moved on to some future bank heist involving the bad guys.

Hunt Powers is here too as Django (but dressed as Sartana) and maybe he's the answer to Testi's problems, seeing as he appears to have a six- shooter that can fire twelve or more bullets with being reloaded! He's also not a timid pussy like Testi's character.

Director Fidani is not so much the 'Ed Wood' of Spaghetti Western so much as a he is a trailblazer for how utterly trashy Italian cinema would become after the money started drying up. Here, he fills the film with everything he can think of – laughing bad guys, drinking, food eating, punch ups, gunfights at dawn, wind, punch ups, walking, looking, smelling, fire, glass raising, blinking, punch ups, shaving, roof climbing, Mexican doing the Times crossword, crossing streets, looking out of windows, looking into windows, pouring beer, brushing dust off of trousers, smoking cigars, Ames taping, hyperfine splitting, horse riding, squinting, scarf wearing, stereographic projection mapping, opening doors, crying, sitting, Morphological analysis and re- examination of the taxonomic circumscription of Acosmium, drooling, pointing, putting socks on, tracklaying and resignalling for the East London Line extension, baking, wriggling toes, scratching, wondering, The implementation of the AMPHORA2 workflow for phylogenetic analysis of metagenomic shotgun sequencing data, stirring, singing, farting, flirting, punch ups, etc.

Fabio Testi takes a job as the new sheriff in a lawless town besieged by two ruthless gangs. Meanwhile, tough mystery man Hunt Powers also arrives to take care of some unfinished business. Considering the title of the film, you can pretty much guess who these two strangers turn out to be!

A derivative, so-so spaghetti western, One Damned Day At Dawn...Django Meets Sartana! has good atmosphere, production values, and two decent actors in the title roles, just not a very good script.

As in all three films I've seen from director Miles Deem, it's just too rushed and sloppy for it's own good, though not as bad as the other two.

I would recommend this only for people who have already seen everything else.

ONE DAMNED DAY AT DAWN...DJANGO MEETS SARTANA! would have you believe it chronicles a meeting between those two icons of spaghetti western cinema, yet, as with so many others, the title is a misnomer and the names seem to have been added in post-production. That's particularly true in the case of Sartana (Fabio Testi), a rather weak and weedy sheriff who finds himself at the mercy of a criminal gang in this movie. At least Django is clad in black and thus looks the part...

This middling western involves the usual clichéd gang of criminals wreaking havoc in a western town and bumping off anybody who gets in their way. When Sartana arrives in town to clean things up he finds himself with his hands full, so the silent and brooding Django steps in to help out. ONE DAMNED DAY AT DAWN... is full of action, but none of it is particularly impressive, with non-existent choreography and a whole lot of familiarity in the events that play out. The storyline is straightforward at best.

Jack Betts (under the pseudonym Hunt Powers) successfully conveys Django's brooding persona, but Fabio Testi is a disappointment in this. His character is irritating and he only comes into his own at the climax. None of the others in the cast stand out. Director Demofilo Fidani made a career in cut-rate westerns but I suspect most of them are of second-rate quality, like this. Only a few scenes, like the bit with the arm wrestling and the candles, are memorable.