Django Vem Para Matar

A fine, if somewhat bananas spaghetti western that cashes in on the Franco Nero/Sergio Corbucci Django of the previous year simply by including Django in the title. What we have here, though, is a marvelous, if somewhat slightly mysterious example of the genre. More interesting than Django is a B***ard, or whatever its called this week, Django Kill really pulls out all the stops in an endless parade of the macabre. From the curious opening scene with Tomas Milian crawling out of a grave to the brutal lynchings and gothic horror drenching of one of many villains in liquid gold- this is a real treat for genre fans. As with many similar movies there are no morals anywhere to be seen, characters turn up, rub their hands together, kill mercilessly and then are shot down or, in this case, killed by an exploding horse. I understand that there are many versions of this movie in existence, which is not surprising in the least. The version i have was shown on uk tv five or six years ago, so i suppose its incompleteness would be down to broadcast quality prints. Its still a real doozer though.

Spaghetti western with Tomas Milian as "The Stranger", who is left for dead and buried in the desert after being betrayed by his former compadres. He's "resurrected" by a pair of odd Native medicine men who agree to assist the Stranger as long he imparts the wisdom he's gained from being in the spirit world. They end up in a small town where various factions are fighting over bags of gold dust.

Also featuring Roberto Camardiel as "Sorrow". This is a bizarre western even by spaghetti standards. It's violent, bloody and outrageous. The "hero" uses bullets made of gold, so if someone survives a shooting, others try to tear them apart to get to the valuable nuggets inside their bodies. The oddest aspect to the film may be the "Sorrow" character, a portly bearded rancher with a small army of gay gunfighters in his employ, all wearing matching uniforms. The script is a mess, and the direction by Giulio Questi is uneven, but cult film fans may enjoy seeing this for the uniqueness of it. Oh, and it has no characters named "Django", or any connection to other films with Django in the title.

"If You Live, Shoot!" offers an intense diversion for fans of the Spaghetti Western. It goes on for quite a long time, and gets dull on occasion, but it's also noteworthy for its content. It's on record as one of the most utterly nasty of all SWs, with plenty of bright red movie blood and depictions of sadism.

It's actually not particularly surreal most of the time, telling a rather linear story of The Stranger (Tomas Milian), who was double crossed by his partners in a heist, and shot & left for dead. The opening credits see him emerge from his grave, and two Indians (Miguel Serrano and Angel Silva) witness this. They vow to stay at his side and assist him, under the condition that he tell them what it's like on the "other side".

However, this isn't really what you would call a revenge saga. Soon, The Stranger is getting caught up in greed and corruption in a small town known to Indians either as "The Field of Anguish" or "The Unhappy Place" (depending on which version you're watching). He gets involved as a few warring factions try desperately to lay their mitts on the gold snatched by The Stranger & gang.

Co-writer / director Giulio Questi ("Death Laid an Egg") takes his time telling the story, but does populate it with some enjoyably despicable villains, such as Oaks (Piero Lulli), Hagerman (Francisco Sanz), Sorrow (Roberto Camardiel), and Bill Templer (Milo Quesada). There's an especially fun comeuppance for one of them. Add to that an atmospheric score by Ivan Vandor, two beauties (Patrizia Valturri and Marilu Tolo), and a sense of mysticism, and the results are generally agreeable. The handsome young Milian has charisma sufficient enough for one to remain invested in his character. Ray Lovelock of "The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue" fame also appears.

Good entertainment overall, and worth a look for any SW completist.

Seven out of 10.

The first time I watched this spirited spaghetti western, I was somewhat disappointed after a promising opening thirty minutes of a certain eerie quality. Watching it again the story soaked in a bit more, but I didn't find it all that captivating even with its oddly sprawling and grim nature that ends with poetic justice. It's rather an unconventional effort into Gothic territory, but I found it to go on for too long and completely drag and flounder about after the half-way mark. I was really into it until Tomas Milan's character 'the stranger' made himself at home with the town's occupants. There it seemed to stall, not knowing which way to go and being disorienting. Nothing against Milan's turn, as he was astounding (even if most of the time he feels like nothing more than a passenger), but I guess I expected way too much from this highly regarded genre film. It's weird and unbalanced, as the atmosphere is quite tripped out (wait for the hallucinatory torture scene involving bats) and the maniac violence is sadistically graphic (the restored scalping scene comes to mind) and underneath the surface is a homoerotic edge. It's a boundless and at times wicked mixture. The structure of the psychedelic story is solid (a melodrama leaning on greed, corruption, religion and retribution) and the script squeezes out a morbid sense of humour, while director Guilio Questi infuses some striking images (hanging corpses) and modestly staged shoot-outs. What it seemed to lack though, was a real kinetic edge to its violence. Ivan Vandor's saucy score and Franco Delli Colli's elastic photography shape up well.

Italian/Spanish production full of action , excessive characters , shootouts and lots of violence . For money, for pleasure, for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how . Mexican outlaw Django (Tomas Milian) is part of a gang of robbers that steal a cargo of gold from an army stagecoach . However, the Americans led by Oaks (Piero Lulli) in the group betray him, and shoot all the Mexicans . Mestizo Django is not completely dead though, and crawls his way out of his shallow grave , being saved by some Indians , going on his chase of the gold, and exacting a bloody vendetta . The stranger teams up with two Indians and head west for vengeance . The Stranger or Django is on the trail of some renegade outlaws and en route he arrives in a little town . There are various factions including a Mexican Bandit , a gang of Homosexual Cowboys (Sancho Gracia , among others) led by Mr Sorrow (Robert Camardiel) , a saloon owner (Milo Quesada) , a preacher (Francisco Sanz) feud over stolen gold in the surreal town . Django goes out to avenge his former colleagues , battling murderous and saved from an impromptu hanging . The stranger executes a single-handedly revenge , as he shoots , ravages and kills each person involved in the treason.

This meaty Western contains an interesting but twisted plot , violence , shoot'em up and results to be quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . A good example of Latino western genre from Italy and Spain ; it is daring , surreal and notoriously violent Spaghetti , so extreme in every way , it is one of the handful of great Italian Western . This moving Spaghetti packs noisy action , thrills , crossfire , rare events , twists and turns with exciting final . Offbeat Spaghetti Western and it is proceeded in violent style and unusual narration . The film packs violence , gunplay and high body-count ; it's fast moving and quite entertaining . It's a thrilling western with breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist Tomas Milian against the heartless Milo Quesada , Francisco Sanz , Robert Camardiel and his underlings as Sancho Gracia . Tomas Milian is fine , he ravages the screen , hit and run and kills . The Cuban Tomas Milian plays splendidly , he had got fame and fortune with his character ¨Cuchillo¨ from the trilogy directed by Sergio Sollima . Tomas created his own image and propelled himself to stardom in likewise fashion with such important Spaghetti as ¨The Bounty Killer¨ (1966) ¨The Big Gundown¨ (1967) with Lee Van Cleef, ¨Face to Face¨ (1967), ¨Django Kill!¨ (1967) and ¨Run, Man, Run¨ (1968) , ¨Sonny and Jed¨, ¨Tepepa ¨ and ¨Compañeros¨ , getting maxim popularity with his hippie cop character , Nico Giraldi , from ¨Cop in Blue Jeans¨ ,"Squadra Antimafia" ¨Squadra Antigangsters¨ and sequels . He nowadays continues acting in secondary as well as prestigious roles such as in ¨Traffic¨, ¨ The Yards ¨, ¨Amistad¨, ¨The burning season¨, ¨Nails¨, ¨JFK¨, ¨Havana¨, among others . Strange and twisted screenplay from an idea by Maria Carmen Martinez Roman , a notorious writer who wrote a lot of Spaghetti such as ¨Requiem for a gringo¨, ¨Winchester Bill¨ , ¨fury of Johnny Kid¨ , "In a Colt's Shadow" , ¨Dynamite Joe¨ and "Sheriff Won't Shoot" . The screenplay is filled with outlandish issues as suicide , gays , non-sense hanging , a closed woman and many other things . According to the actors and director, the producers decided to release the movie in countries outside Italy as "Django, Kill!" as a way to take advantage of the success of a prior release, Django (1966) starring Franco Nero. In reality, "Django" had nothing to do with "Se sei Vivo Spara." This is predominantly an Italian film rather than a Spanish one , but the Spaniard participation is important , as here appears a lot of Spanish secondaries , ordinary players in Spaghetti/Chorizo or Paella Western such as : Roberto Camardiel , Milo Quesada , Francisco Sanz or Sancho Gracia (800 bullets) . Furthermore , being produced by Hispamer , Sergio Newman and Alex Rascal, who produced many Spaghetti . Well set in a little town in Hoyo De Manzanares (Madrid) with sets by Jaime Perez Cubero and Jose Luis Galicia , today sadly disappeared ; the village was called ¨Golden City¨ where filmed several Western as the classic ¨Fistful of dollars¨ and ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨ ; furthermore there was shot : ¨Welcome Padre Murray¨ , ¨Brandy¨ , ¨Cabalgando Hacia Muerte¨ , ¨Three good men¨, ¨Quien Grita vengeance¨, ¨Two crosses in Danger Pass¨, among others .

There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some violence , shoot'em up or stunts every few minutes. There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as the film approaches its climax , as in the final and the unusual conclusion . The movie gets the usual Western issues, such as avenger antiheroes , violent facing off , exaggerated baddies, soundtrack with Morricone influence , among them . The sense of pacing is such that his film can be counted on to move quickly and smoothly . Good production design creating an excellent scenario with luminous outdoors, dirty , deserts under a shinning sun and fine sets . Good cinematography by Franco Delli Colli , including a nice remastering . Great musical score by Ivan Vandor , furthermore a catching and emotive leitmotif . The motion picture was originally directed by Giulio Questi in his directorial debut . He is a director and writer, known for "Death Laid an Egg" , ¨Arcana¨and especially this ¨Django kills¨ .