Django spara per primo

This Spaghetti Western isn't as bad as it's been described in "Stracult", a compilation of essays on Italian B-movies that I purchased at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, but it's certainly not anything special either! Glenn Saxson is a cheerful lead in the Errol Flynn vein, which is incongruous for the genre - at least in this early phase, before comedy set in with the Terence Hill/Bud Spencer films!

Still, the revenge/control-of-a-Western-town plot is fairly engaging - though it has nothing whatsoever to do with the original DJANGO (1966; whose 2-Disc LE Set via Blue Underground, incidentally, I should be receiving soon) - and even includes some nice, original touches: Django taking his outlaw father's corpse (after dispatching the bounty hunter who murdered him) to town to pick up the reward money for himself; a "Three Musketeers"-like subplot involving a beautiful but wicked woman (Evelyn Stewart) and her former husband, friend of the hero, who warns him against her; an amusing double-twist at the end in which, first, heroine Erika Blanc outwits a fleeing (i.e. uncommitted) Django, thus making sure that he goes back to her - followed by a reprisal of the film's opening sequence with the arrival of a new gunslinger in town, this time to challenge Django's own authority! The climax, set inside a graveyard, is also effective - as is Bruno Nicolai's bouncy score.

Having said that, the film is too slowly-paced and, even at a little over 90 minutes, it feels protracted - particularly the silly bar-room brawl towards the end!

This spaghetti western has a great story-line that grabs you from the get-go, and keeps you interested til the end.

The performances from the actors are about average for the genre. The most recognizable euro-western actor in the film, Fernando Sancho, is OK in this movie, but not as good as he usually is. Of course, one always has to keep in mind that the portrayal is not his alone, since the voice in English is done by someone else.

The movie has a very good spaghetti-style music score, nice camera work, some riveting scenes, and a great revenge plot with some unique elements and a couple of twists. The end was a real kick. I was going to give it a 7 out of 10, but then the ending made me want to push it up a notch.

If you are a fan of spaghetti westerns, and not just the well-known ones, you will most likely really enjoy this one.

This film begins with a bounty hunter by the name of "Ringo" (Jose Manuel Martin) riding along in a deserted part of the country with the body of a dead man strapped to another horse trailing behind. He then comes across another man who has settled down to lunch over a camp fire eating a plate of beans. Being quite hungry he eagerly accepts the stranger's hospitality and helps himself to some food while his host takes a look at the dead body on the other horse. As the two men are talking it is soon revealed that the stranger is a man named "Glenn 'Django' Garvin" (Glenn Saxson) and he just happens to be the son of the dead man on the horse. Naturally, a gun fight ensues with Django easily killing the bounty hunter and-rather than burying his father right there-he decides to take the body to the nearest town and claim the $5000 reward for himself at the local sheriff's office. However, once he and the sheriff go to the bank for the money he is met with a hostile reaction from the bank owner "Ken Kustler" (Nando Gazzolo) and a rather icy reception from his attractive wife "Jessica Kustler" (Evelyn Stewart). Although he is puzzled by this he is soon informed by a well-meaning stranger the exact reason why and from that point on Django rejects everyone's advice to leave town in order to resolve issues he wasn't aware of before. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a pretty good Spaghetti western which had plenty of action and a little bit of intrigue to keep things interesting. Along with that it also had two rather attractive actresses in Erika Blanc (as "Lucy") and the afore-mentioned Evelyn Stewart to brighten the scenery as well-with the latter being especially treacherous. In any case, while this was clearly not a great western by any means, it was certainly good enough for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Easygoing saddle tramp Glenn Saxson finds his father cooling off on the back of a bounty hunter's horse. Killing the bounty hunter, he takes his father's body into town to claim the reward, where he's informed by ambitious local Fernando Sancho, that his dad was actually quite wealthy and set up by his greedy business partner. The two then team up with a mystery man, carrying a switchblade stiletto cane, to take on the murderous big-shot.

Django Shoots First is another colorful, fast-paced spaghetti western. There isn't much new here, but it's a pleasantly entertaining way to spend an hour and a half, with an adequate amount of action, plot-twists, and gun-wielding heavies.

There's also a good score by Ennio Morricone's frequent collaborator Bruno Nicolai and a neat early cameo in the film's final scene, by Italian genre favorite George Eastman, who's minus his distinctive facial hair.

I don't know why this well-made film is underestimated by the viewers? The rating is 6.1 and I think it had to be higher.

Director Alberto De Martino and his collaborators made a good film that can be watched several times.

Lead actors: Glenn Saxson (as Glenn Garvin / Django), Evelyn Stewart (Jessica Kluster), the legendary Fernando Sancho (Gordon) and Alberto Lupo (Doc), Nando Gazzolo (Ken Kluster) are especially credited for providing above-average acting to the audience presented a complex plot.

By the way, in this film, there is an action almost from the beginning to the end, which requires constant attention from the viewer. There are also quite a number of witty, funny scenes that seem relaxing.

6 screenwriters deserve great credit, including the director Alberto De Martino.

Visually, the film is above average why they are deserving: Art Direction by Pier Vittorio Marchi, Set Decoration by Franco D'Andria, Costume Design by Gaia Romanini, Cinematography by Riccardo Pallottini.

Acceptable music was composed by the esteemed Bruno Nicolai.

My recommendation is that this good, long-made ago film, must be watched carefully by spaghetti western fans. I don't think they'll complain that they spent about 95 minutes watching him. Spectator Coventry rated it even with a high rating of 8! The ratings here are whole numbers, so I couldn't rate the movie with a rating of 7.5.