Django et Sartana

The idea of a spaghetti western uniting the genre icons of Django and Sartana could have been really great, but this movie screws it up in every way you can think of. While there is a character named "Django" in the movie, the other lead character is not named "Sartana". Needless to say, this Django does not carry a machine gun, and the other character does not have a box of tricks with him. I was prepared to still enjoy the western despite this deception, but boy, did I find it a long and hard slog. It's really boring, with scenes going by at a slow and endless pace. Even the sporadic action (gunfights, fisticuffs) doesn't manage to liven things up. In fairness, the movie is directed with a little atmosphere and a little grit, but this doesn't manage to make this worth watching, even if you are a spaghetti western fan.

The word 'Django' is really irrelevant in many westerns, as most have nothing to do with the original Franco Nero film "Django". It's NOT the same character and producers tossed the word into titles hoping to lure unsuspecting folks to the theaters looking for a Django film. Now, it's even more confusing with the recent release of the Quentin Tarantino film "Django Unchained"--yet another film that really is not about Django! As for "Django Meets Sartana", it's yet another non-Django film! Confusing, huh?!

The film begins with a new sheriff arriving in a town that hasn't seen the law in years. Not surprisingly, the place is overrun by bandits and Jack Ronson (aka 'Sartana'; Fabio Testi) has his hands full. When a bounty hunter named Django (Jack Betts) arrives soon after, Ronson has a new ally to help him get rid of the thugs.

So is this Django film worth seeing? Well, probably not unless you absolutely adore Italian westerns which are poorly written. The fight between Sartana and Django makes no sense at all--nor does their dialog in this scene. Plus, with the big shootout with the final group of baddies, one of the men has a clear shot at the Sheriff--but runs up some stairs in order to give the guy a chance to shoot him! The film also seems to have little in the way of unique plot--just one killing after another after another. Sure, there are some decent moments, but the film itself has little to differentiate it from several hundred other Italian westerns. Well, that isn't 100% true--it IS the only western I've ever seen where the Sheriff and the leader of the baddies arm wrestle to show who's the toughest hombre!!

By the way, although Jack Betts may not be a name you recognize, this handsome actor later became quite famous in soap operas. The reason you might not recognize him as the same guy is that in "Django Meets Sartana", he had brown hair--not his signature silver hair. Also, note the one battle where it's six against Django. Django's gun CLEARLY shoots more than six shots without reloading (he shoots one guy, the boss, twice)!! Not only is he cool, but he apparently has the ability to defy physics!!

Why I did not adore the original "Django", it's sure a lot better than this tripe. Not one of Italy's finer moments in the film world.

This kind of western are too much accepted in Brazil, mainly because around the late sixties had a invasion from this Italian productions in ours theatres over the cheapest price allowed for fits in Brazilian pockets, another important thing to ad is about a strong violence available in those pictures a bit more than american productions, in this one a usual movie about endless Django against contless Sartana, nothing new just the same on bad image of course!!

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First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 4

Django and Sartana team up to fight back against two gangs of outlaws who are terrorising a lawless town.

The unique angle of this Italian western is in combining both the Django and Sartana characters together, both of whom had their own series of spaghetti westerns. Although it does have to be said that this distinctive aspect has to be set against the fact that both protagonists only resemble these characters in name and act decidedly differently than usual. Truthfully, it seems obvious that these names were only applied to the characters as an after-thought. Quite honestly, this is a very clichéd and derivative affair with stock characters such as an enigmatic bounty hunter and amoral villains aplenty. But despite all this, I found it overall to be slightly better than average for this kind of thing. It didn't descend into tedium too often and its sparse running time seemed like good manners on the part of the film-makers. So, while any seasoned fan of this kind of thing is highly unlikely to find anything new here, I still think it entertains more effectively than many others in the sub-genre.

ONE DAMNED DAY AT DAWN...DJANGO MEETS SARTANA! would have you believe it chronicles a meeting between those two icons of spaghetti western cinema, yet, as with so many others, the title is a misnomer and the names seem to have been added in post-production. That's particularly true in the case of Sartana (Fabio Testi), a rather weak and weedy sheriff who finds himself at the mercy of a criminal gang in this movie. At least Django is clad in black and thus looks the part...

This middling western involves the usual clichéd gang of criminals wreaking havoc in a western town and bumping off anybody who gets in their way. When Sartana arrives in town to clean things up he finds himself with his hands full, so the silent and brooding Django steps in to help out. ONE DAMNED DAY AT DAWN... is full of action, but none of it is particularly impressive, with non-existent choreography and a whole lot of familiarity in the events that play out. The storyline is straightforward at best.

Jack Betts (under the pseudonym Hunt Powers) successfully conveys Django's brooding persona, but Fabio Testi is a disappointment in this. His character is irritating and he only comes into his own at the climax. None of the others in the cast stand out. Director Demofilo Fidani made a career in cut-rate westerns but I suspect most of them are of second-rate quality, like this. Only a few scenes, like the bit with the arm wrestling and the candles, are memorable.