Arrivano Django e Sartana ...è la fine!

DJANGO AND SARTANA'S SHOWDOWN IN THE WEST is unquestionably one of the worst spaghetti westerns ever made. Directed by the infamous Demofilo Fidani on a non-existing budget, with long intervals of absolutely nothing happening and what little does happen isn't anything to write home about either. If you must, watch it for Gordon Mitchell who is genuinly funny as the crazy gang leader who is engaged in a poker play with his mirror image for the most of the film. By the way Django and Sartana doesn't even have a showdown!

If you've been around the spaghetti western block a few times, most likely you've concluded that the "Django" and the "Sartana" in this particular spaghetti western only share the names of the characters from the official movies and nothing else, and you'd be right. That fact didn't bother me - I am used to rip-offs in Italian movies, and I just asked that the movie be entertaining. Unfortunately, it wasn't. The movie does gets to a good start, swiftly setting up the plot in the first ten minutes, and there is a pleasant (though repetitive) musical score. But other than those things, there's not much of merit on display here. After the first ten minutes, we have to sit through about a half hour of essentially NOTHING important happening. And when the movie eventually gets going, it's at a very slow pace, seemingly knowing there simply isn't that much plot here. The director adds absolutely no style or energy, and the Django and Sartana characters are given absolutely no color or personality, so you don't care if they will triumph at the end. Probably not the worst spaghetti western made, but would likely make it into a decent-sized list from the average spaghetti western connoisseur. It certainly made MY list!

The Italians sure made a lot of westerns featuring the characters Django and Sartana. They didn't usually feature in the same film mind you, although I have seen at least one or two others where this pair do share screen-time. It was clearly a marketing ploy really, as the characterisations on offer are so vague that they could effectively go out under any names but I guess 'Buck and Hank Take the Town' was a title that just didn't cut the mustard. Needless to say in this reincarnation our there is no attempt whatsoever to have our friend Django drag a coffin around with him and both gun-men are no more than standard spaghetti loners with highly developed weapons skills. The story has bandits abduct a girl after massacring all others in a ranch. Django and Sartana are soon on the case and set out to rescue her and administer a bit of a pasting to the nefarious good-for-nothing bounders.

The synopsis, and above paragraph in general, should hopefully make it clear that there is absolutely nothing in this movie that stands out from the crowd at all. Its highly generic fare which will offer no surprises to anyone who has seen a number of Italian westerns. Having said that, it's not precisely a bad example of the sub-genre either and I thought it did go about its business in an efficient and entertaining enough manner. But, at the same time, it was undeniably pretty forgettable stuff and one which was definitely no better than a time-filler.

"Django & Sartana" is probably the worst Spaghetti western I've seen thus far, but maybe just because of that it also provided a lot of fun and laughs. I honestly don't think it was writer/director Demofilo Fidano's deliberate choice to deliver such a bad film, which makes it all the more sad for him but all the better for us, because bad movies with good intentions are even more entertaining and hilarious. Don't feel too sorry for Mr. Fidano, by the way, because he made over twenty flicks like this and that earned him the questionable nickname "The Ed Wood of Spaghetti Westerns". Basically the concept of this dud describes itself somewhat as an avant-garde "Freddy Vs. Jason". "Django" was a hugely popular franchise started by Sergio Corbucci's classic in 1966, and it promptly skyrocketed the international career of Franco Nero. Even though the film only has one official sequel, the name Django was put on practically every Italian western film poster ever since. "Sartana" is an almost equally popular franchise with approximately twenty titles in total and the character has been played by eminent Euro-cult actors like William Berger, George Hilton and Fabio Testi. With this film, Demofilo Fidano had the brilliant idea of shooting something that featured both characters, but unfortunately his script is just too atrocious and certainly doesn't glorify any of the two principal characters. I doubt Fidano has even seen any of the other Django/Sartana movies, because their styles and personalities are completely different. Besides, even though the English titles state "showdown" and "Django against Sartana", there isn't any fight or confrontation between them at all. Quite the contrary, in fact. Both men are in pursuit of Burt Keller's gang of thieves and murders. They kidnapped a beautiful buxom blond and plan to flee to Mexico. Instead of actually doing that, the gang hangs around and patiently await for Django and Sartana to kill them. So, they kidnap a girl to assure a safe getaway, but then they stay to fight the unbeatable bounty hunters. That's how stupid the scenario is! Due to the imbecilic and simplistic plot, Demofilo Fidano does everything possible to stretch the running time. This means that nearly half of the film exist of tedious footage of various random people riding their horses and cameras zooming in on people's face even though the actual scene is already over for like 5 seconds. There even are some downright shameless padding sequences as well, like an entire game of poker in a saloon. The body count is enormous and the gunfights are exactly what makes this film so darn hilarious! The victims don't just boringly drop dead when shot here! They fly limply through the air, jump over fences, roll numerous times over the ground and some of them even make a looping! All this and more is illustrated alternately in slow-motion and regular speed and I haven't got a single idea why! The lead actors depicting Django and Sartana are pretty worthless. Django looks like he's made of plastic and Sartana actually doesn't look any older than adolescent. The girls are yummy enough and the absolute main asset of the film is the magnificent Gordon Mitchell in his role as the deranged criminal leader Burt Keller. He's an ego-maniacal lunatic who plays poker against himself in a mirror … and cheats!

This is directed by the infamous Demofilo Fidani (aka Miles Deem, Dick Spitfire, etc.). I have seen a couple of his westerns, and haven't found them to be as bad as their reputation. Of course, if you're expecting Sergio Leone you are not going to get it here. This is a simple good guys vs. bad guys story that in some ways hearkens back to the old westerns of the 1930's and 40's, yet it still has the unmistakable flavor of a spaghetti western. Think of it as The Lone Ranger meets Fistful of Dollars.

The acting isn't the greatest, but I've seen much worse. There are some funny moments which may or may not have been intentional but they are entertaining nevertheless. The character of Burt Kelley is pretty amusing. He is an insane babbling idiot who plays cards with his mirror image and is not very bright, yet he manages to have control of an outlaw gang the size of a small army.

Unlike so many other "Django" movies that weren't originally intended to be Django movies, this one seems to have been originally written to have Django and Sartana in it. The guy who plays Sartana even has a bit of resemblance to Johnny Garko. In this movie, Sartana is a vigilante hero much like the Lone Ranger, while Django is more like the usual spaghetti western hero whose reasons for doing good are a bit more selfish.

The score is great. It's probably the best thing about the movie. It's very spaghetti western-ish and fun to listen to. I especially like the organ and trumpet part when Django first appears in the film, and the organ music played when Django appears in other parts. The theme song is very cool too.

If you are into the more obscure spaghetti westerns, give this one a try and decide for yourself.