Viva Django

Nothing new story wise, like many of the spaghetti Westerns, a gunslinger is out for revenge after his wife is raped and murdered (why was this so common?).

The acting is pretty good, plenty of action to enjoy and the camaraderie between Django and Carranza is reminiscent of Blondie and Tuco, as pointed out by another reviewer.

However, the editing is very choppy and interrupts the story, as well as some plot holes.

All in all, not up there with the greats but an enjoyable hour and 20 minutes.

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.

After his wife is murdered by a gang of cutthroats, Django (Anthony Steffen again) saves one of the gang's ex-associates from a hanging in order to identify the men responsible, finding them caught up in a gun smuggling scheme involving the Mexican revolution.

Although it steals ideas from about half a dozen other spaghetti westerns, this fake Django sequel is certainly fast-paced enough, with adequate production values and enough action to fill up it's running time. However, the comic relief is sometimes too pervasive and not very funny either. Way too often, it kills the tension and takes away from Steffen's hard-edged character.

Speaking of Django, as a justice/vengeance seeker, he sure is morally dubious here, gunning down a lot of people not responsible for his wife's death, including some men attempting to hang a condemned criminal (What a hypocrite!) and Mexican soldiers that just happen to be around when he kills one of the men that is responsible!

The "surprise" ending is fun, though you can see it coming a mile away.

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.

(1971) Viva! Django/ A Man Called Django!/ W Django!

DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN

It opens with a young blonde lady murdered in her own place and was shot and killed after a failed attempted assault. The next scene has Django (Anthony Steffen) coming into town with his saddle, and he notices that the entire town is almost empty other than gun men and a bar keep, Paco (Donato Castellaneta) at a saloon who lives with his cheating wife, Lola (Esmeralda Barros). Django also manages to get a sap, Sam to carry his saddle around for him as well. And just when a hanging begins, Django manages to set him free by disguising himself as a monk robe and all. When the man of the town, Jeff (Chris Avram) notices this, he then orders his gun men to go after him. A few unfunny comedy routines later with Django making fools out of Jeff;s gun men, he then manages to escape them, by loosening their saddles beforehand as each one of them fall off. By the time he goes and meets up with the guy he freed from the hanging, he then shoots and kills the rest of his men, before he cross examines him. We find out his name is Carranza (Glauco Onorato) and that he needs his assistance to pin point the people involve that has something to do with his wife's murder. It was at this point we are enlightened in terms of the young lady who was shot and killed at the opening, as it became Django's main objective. For the only assumption is that we saw is that four people were involved with one shooter. The first name is the gun runner, Thompson (Riccardo Pizzuti) and the leader of the gun running gang, Jeff, and Gomez (Chris Avram).

The comedy routines are flat and some of the gun scenes are nothing special. And then it is like after the 27 minute mark, viewers should be able to figure out that other person is way before the star does.