Bravo Django

This is said to be Enzo Castellari's debut film and it's for that reason I tracked it down. Sadly, it doesn't quite become a great film, but does have it's saving graces.

There's a town in Montana where ranchers and farmers are having a land dispute which about to become all out war, and while on his way there bounty hunter Regan (Antony Steffen) happens across the murdered body of the town's sheriff. Adopting his persona, Steffen breezes into a town that has got a whole heap of warring factions going on...and he's caught right in the middle.

On one side are the farmers, reluctantly led by Frank Wolff, who believes he can settle the business peacefully. Frank's problems are plentiful - his daughter is getting harrassed in town by ranchers, his land is being threatened by ranchers, the farmers want to go to war and there's the slight problem that Frank may well be a hunted criminal with a bounty on his head who is impersonating his own twin brother. That's what Steffen thinks is going on, but then he's impersonating a sheriff so it's a case of pot calling the kettle black.

The head of the ranchers just wants to wipe the farmers off the face of the Earth and get on with, so he brings in some outlaws who reckon that the fake Frank might be the real Frank too, and after a lot of talky bits, we do get an all out gun battle at the end, but is it too little too late?

Possibly. The film is almost devoid of Enzo's patented crazy camera angles, so the dramatic scenes (where Steffen falls in love with Frank's daughter, and there's a lot of talk about taking land, people threatening each other, that sort of thing) drag on a bit, but then there's a good chemistry between Steffen and Wolff, because you're not quite sure if Frank is impersonating his own brother, or if he is, whether or not he's a reformed character or still a violent outlaw.

Things do kick into gear when the action arrives. Maybe it just took a film or two to realise where his strengths lay.

Enzo himself turns up as a gunman who gets a cap popped in his ass. I wouldn't put this anywhere near the top of a 'must-see' list.

A bounty killer (Anthony Steffen aka Antonio De Teffè) gets caught in a cattle war, when he is searching for the last member of a gang of robbers in a small Montana town, where the twin brother (Frank Wolff) of the bandit lives.

This is one of the countless westerns baring The Django handle - and it's an unofficial one. Anthony Steffen is called Regan, and he's at his usual tough guy best. His hard edged performances are great. It's has the usual shootouts with a loaded plot, however it's a run of the mill SW- not bad but not great either. Story and style is more attuned to the typical Hollywood western than the spaghetti westerns.

The first Django sequel has very little Django in it. While the main character is mostly called Regan, he is sometimes credited as Regan/Django due to the movie's title, and the fact that the actor plays Django in many sequels. But this film is much worse than the first, because it is very cliche and there's very little interesting about it. Regan/Django lacks the cool yet intense personality he donned in the first film back when he was played by Franco Nero. It's not a terrible film, but it pales in comparison to the original and there just isn't anything memorable about it.

The film takes a standard western plot in a very boring and uninteresting direction. There are hints of entertaining moments, but they are sadly overcome by the overall mediocrity of the movie. Not worth watching unless you are a fan of Django.

And what's the difference?

Bounty hunter Anthony Steffan is sent to Montana to investigate a bank robbery. It's supposed to have been done by a man who has been dead for some time. However, his brother, Frank Woolf, is farming in the area with his dead brother's daughter, Gloria Osuna. On the way, Steffan finds a dead man with a sheriff's badge and papers. He pockets them and heads to town, where he is acclaimed as the sheriff. Unfortunately for him, the ranchers are fighting with the homesteaders.

Clearly it's meant to be the Johnson County War, except that it's about fifteen years early. Ignoring that, it's a nicely told story, with some beautiful wide-screen cinematography by DP Aldo Pinelli -- he knows how to recompose the frame with miscellaneous items -- and a very nice, swaggering performance by Wolff. The title of the movie and the opening sequence may make you think you're in another Man With No Name ripoff. However, everyone seems to have at least two names. While the body count is impressively high, it's a nice little spaghetti western.

Although this one is not a real Django entry - Steffen plays a gunfighter named Reagan here - it's a typical Italian western of the sixties with all the touches that gives a special and cult atmosphere for this genre nowdays. A good fun for nostalgic addicts of western spaghetti but not a great movie.

I give this a 6 (six) because I'm a nostalgic guy too.