Django

I understand Tarantino. It’s impossible not to love a film in which a taciturn character in a long black coat pulls a machine gun out of a coffin and mows down thirty bad guys in a matter of minutes. (In addition to that, an “ear-cutting” scene appeared in this film long before Reservoir Dogs.) Cinephilic value wins out over craftsmanship here, but not by a wide margin. Corbucci knows how a spaghetti western was supposed to look, though he adheres perhaps too conscientiously to the advice that Leone gave him during shooting, and the story – like the earlier A Fistful of Dollars – is just another variation on Yojimbo. With his pragmatic goals in a one-horse town, where only a gravedigger has a steady job, the protagonist unleashes a miniature war between two clans. In the meantime, it suffices for him to fool around with the only “available” woman in the general area (a prostitute, naturally), get brutally tortured and throw out a few lines that are drier than the throat of a cowboy lost in the middle of a prairie. The extreme depth of some shots (often dolly shots) and the building of tension for the sake of tension are not exactly evidence of a distinctive creative signature. Likewise, the soundtrack is reminiscent of Morricone and Nero looks like Eastwood, but the film is still incredibly stylish and, for its time, an incredibly brutal treat for the eyes and ears of every viewer whose creed is cynicism. 75% (12/03/2012)

Of course, I couldn't resist watching the film that inspired Tarantino for his western epic Django Unchained. Well, he indeed took inspiration from it. He borrowed the character's name, the title song, and Franco Nero, whom he cast in a smaller role. There's no point in looking for narrative connections, except perhaps that both films contain a romantic storyline, which isn't always a necessity in a western. Franco Nero plays a taciturn killer who doesn't say much and doesn't show much emotion, but that's exactly where his beauty lies. He is definitely not a positive hero in the purest sense of the word. He behaves rather gruffly toward the woman who has clearly fallen for him, opting for gold instead of feelings. However, there is a fundamental reason for his behavior rooted in the past. But I won't reveal too much. Django is a hero who drags a coffin through a desolate landscape, and for a good half hour, you can imagine what he might have in there. Then you'll soon understand why QT drew inspiration from here and named his hero Django as well. By the way, it just dawned on me that there's a confrontation between Jamie Foxx and Franco Nero in Tarantino's film. It's clear that one must have a foundation in film to fully enjoy Tarantino's works. Django doesn't require much knowledge; you just have to accept that the hero standing against you can take out his enemies in style. He may be after gold, but in the end, he chooses the right side and wraps everything up stylishly in a cemetery. Yes, I love westerns, and no, I don't know why I avoided this one for so long. (03/05/2013)

Take the worst elements and genre clichés from westerns, add the innocent face of Franco Nero and his blue eyes, mix thoroughly, shake well, and you have Django. Corbucci's Django belongs to the category of films that would be very difficult to parody because it is so bad that it is an unintentional parody of itself. I understand the positive reactions as guilty pleasures, but any defense of Django as a significant western film is beyond reality and ordinary human judgment. To understand how terrible the film actually is, you only need about 2 minutes when you start seeing the overacting and desperate non-acting of the supporting actors, unfortunately including the main female role. For Django to be presented as fun entertainment, it would have to have purposeful work with parody elements. Django lacks a meaningful script, or any motivation explaining the characters' behavior - actually, it lacks everything. By the way, the spaghetti western in its essence was a purely consumable B-movie product of Italian cinema, lacking the ambitions of producers, and it is only thanks to the genius of Sergio Leone, who managed to cross the boundaries in several cases and give the spaghetti western a positive dimension, that we owe the fact that the spaghetti western is not synonymous with film rubbish. Overall impression: 20%. (04/01/2022)