Viva Django!

A gunfighter (Terence Hill) forms a gang of "deceased" execution victims to get revenge on the politician and outlaw who killed his wife.

This film is unique among the plethora of films which capitalized on Corbucci's hit "Django" in that it is not only a semi-official, legitimate follow-up, but was also originally meant to star Franco Nero. Of course, it ultimately involved none of the same cast or crew from the original. But when it comes to spaghetti westerns, this is as close as you're going to get. Personally, my knowledge of spaghetti westerns is limited, so I would not be able to rightfully say whether this is among the best or the worst... but it is certainly an enjoyable film.

What makes the film interesting today (2017) is its role in a relatively recent pop song from Gnarls Barkley. Though the score was probably not praised by many people over the last few decades, when someone hears it now, they are bound to recognize the sounds of "Crazy". It might be interesting to know where the musicians stumbled upon the film's score.

The Blu-ray from Arrow Video is excellent, as always, though not their finest work. The picture is cleaned up very nicely (the 2k transfer was created from a 35mm interpositive), so this is easily the definitive version to own. But the special features are lacking. Other than a very brief (10 minute) run-down of the Django films from author Kevin Grant ("Any Gun Can Play"), there are really no bonus materials. No commentary, no interviews, nothing that really provides insight into this film. So a must for spaghetti western fans, but maybe not a must for the casual film buff.

Django, you are a gullible one. Haven't you seen all them Spaghetti Westerns starring Horst Frank? He's not a good employer! Django finds this out the hard way when, following a successful election for Frank, Django gets ambushed transporting gold, his wife gets killed, and he gets turned into a vigilante killer! Worse still, he ends up taking a job as the hangman, but with motives! His motives involve not actually hanging folks as they are being framed by Horst Frank and sidekick giant George Eastman. So Django is forming his own little army of not-dead guys to get revenge on Frank and Eastman. Can he trust them? There's a gigantic amount of double crossing in this film which almost threatens to derail the entire film. Some of Django's guy double cross him, and then each other, until you stop caring about what's happening on screen and hope that at some point people will stop double crossing each other and you can just get to the big fight at the end.

George Eastman is good in this one and has a memorable death. Terence Hill in non-comedy mode is pretty good (He's basically Franco Nero with a pointier nose) and I'm watching too many of these films now as Horst Frank seems to be in most of them and it's hard to separate what he does in one film from the other.

This one plays out like an average Spag Western but there are enough quirks in there to make worth watching once. I love the way Arrow DVD have very slyly packaged the film so that unsuspecting folks would be it thinking they've bought Django Unchained!

Ferdinando Baldi's "Preparati La Bara!" aka. "Viva Django" of 1968 with Terence Hill in the lead is a great Spaghetti Western, and, in my opinion, Baldi's second best film after "Blindman" of 1971. After Sergio Corbucci's 1966 masterpiece "Django", quite a bunch of Spaghetti Westerns were given a 'Django'-title, although most of these cash-ins had little to nothing to do with the original. Out of all these unofficial sequels, however, "Viva Django" is maybe the only one that can really be described as a sequel, and Terence Hill's Django-character in "Viva Django" has by far the strongest resemblance to the original character played by Franco Nero. I would personally refer to "Viva Django" as the third best film with a Django-title after Corbucci's brilliant original, and Giulio Questi's surreal "Django Kill... If You Live Shoot" (aka. "Se Sei Vivo Spara"), which is not really a Django movie, and which was only marketed as a Django-film in the German and English language versions, in order to make more cash. Therefore, out of all films that were actually meant to be Django films, "Viva Django" is my second favorite after the original.

Django (Terence Hill) is employed as a hangman by corrupt politician somewhere in the old West. Django does not really hang the delinquents, however, but just makes it look like he does, and thereby saves the lives of a bunch of innocently convicted men. He then founds a gang of seemingly hanged men in order to avenge the death of his wife, who was killed in the robbery of a money transport guided by Django years ago.

"Preparati La Bara!" is a great and very entertaining Spaghetti Western, and, although in some parts quite humorous, not the usual comedy many would expect from Terence Hill. I am personally also a fan of the Bud Spencer/Terence Hill comedies, their serious Spaghetti Westerns, however, are in my opinion their best films, and 'Viva Django' is definitely one of the best films Terence Hill has ever starred in. Hill's performance as Django is excellent from the beginning to the end, and out of all the unofficial Django-sequels his character is definitely the closest to the great Franco Nero's character in Corbucci's original. José Torres fits into the role of hangdog Garcia very well, and lovely Barbara Simon is worth mentioning as beautiful Mercedes. The supporting cast furthermore contains Spartaco Conversi in a small role. The rest of the performances are also quite good, but most of them are not mind-blowing. The score by Gianfranco Reverberi is very good and the movie is photographed very well on great locations.

As I mentioned above, out of all sequels, the 'Django' character in "Viva Django" is the closest to the original character. Terence Hill's character is not exactly the same as Franco Nero's of course, and in some parts even very different, but in comparison to most of the other sequels, the resemblance is much stronger.

All things considered, "Viva Django" is a very good Spaghetti Western, and probably the only one of the unofficial 'sequels' that can actually be regarded as a sequel to the original.

One of my favorite Spaghetti westerns is "VIVA DJANGO". Terence Hill plays Django, a man who's wife was murdered by his best friend. Django becomes a hangman, who doesnt kill his victims, he gives them a harness, with a big hook, to wear so they wont be strangled. Django does this so they will help him get revenge on David Berry for murdering his wife. Excellent Spaghetti Western that never gets boring, full of guns and action! Terence Hill does a good job imitating Franco Nero. I think this movie is slightly better than the origanal DJANGO made in 1966. Get a bootleg of this movie off of Ebay, you wont be dissapointed!

This moving Spaghetti packs noisy action , thrills , emotion , gun-play with exciting final . It deals with a strange gunslinger named Django (Terence Hill) is hired by a political wealthy man (Horst Frank) and his hoodlum (George Eastman) as a hangman to execute innocent villagers accused by the local crooked boss , who wishes their land . What the governor doesn't know is that Django isn't hanging the inmates at all , just making it look like he is, and using the prisoners he saves from the gallows to create his own band (Jose Torres , among others) in order to take revenge on the governor , but he then is caught up in a struggle against them . As mysterious Django looks for vengeance against the spouse's murderers and ultimately takes the law on his own hands .

This meaty Western contains an interesting but well known plot , violence , shoot'em up and results to be quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . Above average Spaghetti Western follows the Sergio Leone/Sergio Corbucci wake and it is proceeded in violent style . The film packs violence , shootouts , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining . It's a thrilling western with breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist Terence Hill against the heartless Horst Frank , George Eastman or Luigi Montefiori and his underlings who caused the death of his wife years before . Terence Hill is fine , he ravages the screen , hit and run and kills . This movie is a lot of fun to watch . It's an agreeable story with a touch of peculiarity , some particular characters, and an amazing music score . The picture is a tale of justice and revenge, as a man returns to carry out a relentless vendetta . The basic plot is typical spaghetti western fare , but what makes this movie stand out is its style . This is an exciting film, plenty action , thrills, fights , gun-down and breathtaking outdoors from Lacio , Rome , and interiors in Elios Studios . In the picture appears Spaghetti habitual secondaries playing brief interventions such as Guido Lollobrigida or Lee Burton , Gina Lollobrigida's brother , Spartaco Conversi , Luciano Rossi ,Giovanni Ivan Scratuglia or Ken Wood as a henchman , Remo De Angelis and Andrea Scotti . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Terence Hill is good in his usual tough role . The pic is well starred by Mario Girotti or Terence Hill , he began playing secondary roles into typical examples of popular Italian films of the late 50s as sword and sandal epics, comedies, adventures and was with spaghetti westerns that renamed achieved worldwide stardom . His acting is often accused of being wooden, but in many manners is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the genre . Since then he has concentrated on action/adventure films starring himself and often working with long time partner Bud Spencer. He appeared in 18 films with frequent co-star Bud Spencer , both of whom starred Spaghetti , Fagioli Western , comedy ,adventure and police stories .

There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some 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 gunfights and the customary showdown 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 and rocky landscapes under a shinning sun and fine sets shot in Monte Gelato Falls, Treja River, Lazio, Italy . Brilliant cinematography by Enzo Barboni who subsequently directed to Terence Hill and Spencer in Trinity and Bambino saga . Great musical score by Gianfranco Reverberi , furthermore a catching and emotive leitmotif , including enjoyable song in main titles .

¨Viva Django¨ was compellingly realized by Ferdinando Baldi . Direction by Ferdinando Baldi is well crafted, here he is less cynical and more inclined toward violence and packs too much action . Baldi makes a nice camera work with clever choreography on the showdown , fighting , stirring shootouts and bemusing scenes . Baldi was a craftsman who directed all kind genres but especially Western such as "Carambola's Philosophy: In the Right Pocket" , "Blindman" , ¨Il Pistolero dell'Ave Maria" or USA original title "Forgotten Pistolero" , ¨Adios Texas¨ , ¨Rita in the West¨ and of course ¨"Django Sees Red" at his best . "Django, Prepare a Coffin" ¨ is an outlandish , surprising and uneven story that will appeal to Western aficionados . Rating : 7 , riotous Western in which there's too much action and violence and excitement enough . ¨El Mio Nome e Django¨ (1969) is an acceptable Western to enjoy the Spaghetti fans .

After successful original ¨Django¨ by Sergio Corbucci with Franco Nero , it was followed by several imitations , rip offs and cheesy copies , such as : ¨Pochi dollar per Django¨ or ¨Alambradas De Violencia¨ (1966) by Leon Klimowsky starred by Anthony Steffen , Gloria Osuna , Frank Wolff ; ¨Django Le Bastard¨(1969) by Sergio Garrone with Anthony Steffen , Paolo Gozlino ; ¨¨Django defies Sartana¨(1969) by Pasquale Squitieri with George Ardisson and Tony Kendall ; ¨Ein Pressen Fur Django¨ or ¨Barro en Ojos¨(1971) by Edoardo Mulargia with Anthony Steffen ; and the official sequel titled ¨Il Grande Ritorno¨(1987) by Nello Rossati with Franco Nero , Christopher Connolly and Donald Pleasence .