Viva Django

(1971) Viva! Django/ A Man Called Django!/ W Django!

DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN

It opens with a young blonde lady murdered in her own place and was shot and killed after a failed attempted assault. The next scene has Django (Anthony Steffen) coming into town with his saddle, and he notices that the entire town is almost empty other than gun men and a bar keep, Paco (Donato Castellaneta) at a saloon who lives with his cheating wife, Lola (Esmeralda Barros). Django also manages to get a sap, Sam to carry his saddle around for him as well. And just when a hanging begins, Django manages to set him free by disguising himself as a monk robe and all. When the man of the town, Jeff (Chris Avram) notices this, he then orders his gun men to go after him. A few unfunny comedy routines later with Django making fools out of Jeff;s gun men, he then manages to escape them, by loosening their saddles beforehand as each one of them fall off. By the time he goes and meets up with the guy he freed from the hanging, he then shoots and kills the rest of his men, before he cross examines him. We find out his name is Carranza (Glauco Onorato) and that he needs his assistance to pin point the people involve that has something to do with his wife's murder. It was at this point we are enlightened in terms of the young lady who was shot and killed at the opening, as it became Django's main objective. For the only assumption is that we saw is that four people were involved with one shooter. The first name is the gun runner, Thompson (Riccardo Pizzuti) and the leader of the gun running gang, Jeff, and Gomez (Chris Avram).

The comedy routines are flat and some of the gun scenes are nothing special. And then it is like after the 27 minute mark, viewers should be able to figure out that other person is way before the star does.

After his wife is murdered by a gang of cutthroats, Django (Anthony Steffen again) saves one of the gang's ex-associates from a hanging in order to identify the men responsible, finding them caught up in a gun smuggling scheme involving the Mexican revolution.

Although it steals ideas from about half a dozen other spaghetti westerns, this fake Django sequel is certainly fast-paced enough, with adequate production values and enough action to fill up it's running time. However, the comic relief is sometimes too pervasive and not very funny either. Way too often, it kills the tension and takes away from Steffen's hard-edged character.

Speaking of Django, as a justice/vengeance seeker, he sure is morally dubious here, gunning down a lot of people not responsible for his wife's death, including some men attempting to hang a condemned criminal (What a hypocrite!) and Mexican soldiers that just happen to be around when he kills one of the men that is responsible!

The "surprise" ending is fun, though you can see it coming a mile away.

This spaghetti western is yet another in the seemingly endless cycle of 'Django' movies. Like the vast majority, it only has a passing relevance to the original Sergio Corbucci classic and really the lead character is no more than a standard spaghetti western anti-hero who could essentially go under any moniker. But, I have seen quite a few of the Django movies now and I have also seen quite a lot of the more run-of-the-mill Italian westerns too and this effort is quite clearly better than most. In this one we have the title character hunting down a group of bandits who raped and killed his wife. He takes them out one by one with the help of one of their ex-gang members, whom he saves from execution in order to gain his trust and assistance.

This one has Anthony Steffen as Django and I reckon he is one of the better actors at playing this kind of role. He does elicit a certain hard-nosed cool throughout and its easy getting behind him on his bloody revenge mission. Steffen also has good chemistry with Stelio Candelli who plays the Mexican bandit who partners him. The nature of the plot with its emphasis on a series of villains taken down one at a time, means that the story is made up of individual segments and I think this helps pace the film quite well, which is a good thing given that many spaghetti westerns can get a bit tedious as they go on. The ending also was good here too, although I saw the twist ending coming a mile off I have to say – the clues are there and you have just got to spot them. All-in-all though, I was pleasantly surprised with this one and certainly found it to be one of the better movies from this sub-genre.

This spaghetti western has a typical but well executed storyline. The relationship between the two main characters is reminiscent of Blondie and Tuco from "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly." It also has pretty decent acting, an awesome music score from Piero Umiliani, and one of the coolest endings I have ever seen.

I probably would have rated it even higher if it was dubbed in English. I don't mind subtitles in other kinds of movies, but for some reason I prefer to watch westerns in English, even if the dubbing is bad.

Still, it's a really enjoyable flick, and I recommend it to all die-hard spaghetti western fans.

¨Ravioli¨ Western with two top-of -the range ¨Macaroni¨ players as Anthony Steffen and Chris Avram . Italian production full of action , exaggerated characters , shootouts and lots of violence . A good example of Latino western genre from Italy . For money, for pleasure, for revenge, he doesn't care why he kills or how . Django (Anthony Steffen) is on the trail of some renegade outlaws who raped and killed his spouse . En route, he saves a horse thief named Carranza (Stelio Candeli) from an impromptu hanging . He learns the man knows who committed the killing , as three bandits named Jeff (Chris Avram) , Ibanez (Benito Stefanelli) and Thompson (Riccardo Pizzuti) . The two men team up and head west for vendetta . Django goes out to avenge his wife battling murderous and executes a single-handedly revenge , as he shoots , ravages and kills each person involved in the killing .

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 . This moving Spaghetti packs noisy action , thrills , drama with exciting final . Ordinary Spaghetti Western follows the Sergio Leone 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 Anthony Steffen against the heartless Chris Avram , Riccardo Pizzuti and his underlings . Anthony Steffen is fine , he ravages the screen , hit and run and kills . This movie is a lot of fun to watch . It's an acceptable 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 home , a border little town and looks for vendetta against the wife's killers . 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 Riccardo Pizzuti : ordinary in Terence Hill-Spencer movies , Giovanni Cianfriglia or Ken Wood as a henchman , Benito Stefanelli , Fortunato Arena and Simone Blondell : Demofilo Fidani's daughter , known as the Italian Ed Wood . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Anthony Steffen is good in his usual tough role . The pic is well starred by Anthony Steffen-Antonio De Teffe- , 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 . photo) Anthony Steffen may be a name best remembered by Spaghetti Western aficionados, but in his day, from the mid-'60s to the early '70s, Steffen was one of the most popular actors of the genre — at the time cheap B movies, now revered cult classics . The handsome, Italian-born — actually at the Brazilian embassy in Rome — Antonio Luiz de Teffè von Hoonholtz began working in films as a studio messenger for Vittorio De Sica. From there, Steffen began acting in sword-and-sandal epics, later moving onto the Western genre, where he found his niche. Unlike fellow Spaghetti star Clint Eastwood, however, Steffen never became a top international box-office attraction. 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 . His others successes include well liked features as Seven Dollars to Kill, The last Mohican¨, ¨Train for Durango¨, ¨Gentleman Jo¨ , ¨Four dollars for Django¨, ¨Shango¨, ¨Arizona colt¨, ¨Apocalypse Joe¨ and several others .

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 . Good cinematography by Marcello Masciocchi , including a nice remastering . Great musical score by Piero Umiliani , furthermore a catching and emotive leitmotif . This motion picture was well and professionally directed by Edoardo Mulargia though with no originality. Edoardo Mulargia directed a lot of Spaghetti as ¨W Djianjo¨, ¨El Puro¨ , ¨Django Spara¨ Cjamngo¨ , ¨Shango¨ , ¨Vete con Dios , Gringo¨, most part starred by Robert Woods or Anthony Steffen . Rating : 6. Acceptable and passable Western that will appeal to Spaghetti fans .