"Django" is a very stylish western, though the script occasionally falls apart due to serious brain lapses by the writers--really serious brain lapses--but more about them in a moment.
The film starts with a group of Mexican sadists capturing and whipping a woman in what appears to be the American Southwest desert (though I assume this was really filmed in either Spain or Italy like the rest of the films of this genre). Suddenly, a group of non-Mexicans arrive-- killing the sadists. Unfortunately, they, too, are sadists and plan on killing her as well! Just before they can do so, however, the anti-hero, Django, arrives--killing all the baddies.
Once Django and the woman arrive in the muddiest town I have ever seen (seriously, folks--though this begs the question "how is the town so muddy when there's bone-dry desert everywhere?"). Soon there is a confrontation between Django and the big boss-man--and Django kills all the bad boss-man's hired guns--though, inexplicably, Django deliberately lets the boss-man go (this makes no sense at all).
Soon, a group of Mexican bandits now arrive in town. I expected to see Django kill these guys, but apparently they were all friends. There's a gratuitous fist fight and a lot of drinking. During the drinking and partying, Django steals the gold belonging to the bandits and runs out of town with the woman he saved earlier in the film.
Apparently, Django is an idiot, as the gold isn't secured too well on his wagon and the coffin containing it falls into quicksand. Now the fact that there is quicksand twice in this film which is SUPPOSED to be around the bone-dry US-Mexican border makes no sense at all. It simply should NOT be there and it's fortuitous how it just happens to be there at the perfect time! The Mexican bandits arrive and shoot the lady and decide NOT to kill Django--though why bandits would only maul him made no sense at all. I'm no bandit, but I sure would have killed him! No matter, as the big bad boss-man arrives AGAIN with a new group of henchmen and kills the Mexicans. Now, it's up to a horribly mangled Django to face the boss-man--even though his hands have been smashed horribly (actually, it looks like they covered them in raw hamburger). Can Django pull out a miraculous victory or is this it for our very handsome hero?
Aside from some of the dumb story elements I mentioned above (conveniently located quicksand in the desert, Django leaving the bad boss-man alive, the Mexicans leaving Django alive, etc.), there are many other impossible to believe moments--such as when Django somehow has found a machine gun (during an era when only hand-cranked Gatling guns were available) and arranged for it to fire non-stop on its own for an interminably long period (it should have run out of bullets long before it did). Plus, apparently a coffin filled with gold, at least according to this film, looks and weighs the same as gravel. Seeing Django lifting a coffin that SHOULD have weighed a ton or more made me laugh. Heck, even if it had been gravel, he never should have been able to lift it. Clearly, the writers never thought out ANYTHING in the film.
Despite the many, many serious problems with the plot, the film apparently has a HUGE cult following and sparked sequels. I can see why this could be, as Franco Nero was super-handsome and cool. And, the music and direction were excellent as well--making up for a lot of the deficits. Not a brilliant film in any sense, but very watchable.,,and dumb.
The film starts with a group of Mexican sadists capturing and whipping a woman in what appears to be the American Southwest desert (though I assume this was really filmed in either Spain or Italy like the rest of the films of this genre). Suddenly, a group of non-Mexicans arrive-- killing the sadists. Unfortunately, they, too, are sadists and plan on killing her as well! Just before they can do so, however, the anti-hero, Django, arrives--killing all the baddies.
Once Django and the woman arrive in the muddiest town I have ever seen (seriously, folks--though this begs the question "how is the town so muddy when there's bone-dry desert everywhere?"). Soon there is a confrontation between Django and the big boss-man--and Django kills all the bad boss-man's hired guns--though, inexplicably, Django deliberately lets the boss-man go (this makes no sense at all).
Soon, a group of Mexican bandits now arrive in town. I expected to see Django kill these guys, but apparently they were all friends. There's a gratuitous fist fight and a lot of drinking. During the drinking and partying, Django steals the gold belonging to the bandits and runs out of town with the woman he saved earlier in the film.
Apparently, Django is an idiot, as the gold isn't secured too well on his wagon and the coffin containing it falls into quicksand. Now the fact that there is quicksand twice in this film which is SUPPOSED to be around the bone-dry US-Mexican border makes no sense at all. It simply should NOT be there and it's fortuitous how it just happens to be there at the perfect time! The Mexican bandits arrive and shoot the lady and decide NOT to kill Django--though why bandits would only maul him made no sense at all. I'm no bandit, but I sure would have killed him! No matter, as the big bad boss-man arrives AGAIN with a new group of henchmen and kills the Mexicans. Now, it's up to a horribly mangled Django to face the boss-man--even though his hands have been smashed horribly (actually, it looks like they covered them in raw hamburger). Can Django pull out a miraculous victory or is this it for our very handsome hero?
Aside from some of the dumb story elements I mentioned above (conveniently located quicksand in the desert, Django leaving the bad boss-man alive, the Mexicans leaving Django alive, etc.), there are many other impossible to believe moments--such as when Django somehow has found a machine gun (during an era when only hand-cranked Gatling guns were available) and arranged for it to fire non-stop on its own for an interminably long period (it should have run out of bullets long before it did). Plus, apparently a coffin filled with gold, at least according to this film, looks and weighs the same as gravel. Seeing Django lifting a coffin that SHOULD have weighed a ton or more made me laugh. Heck, even if it had been gravel, he never should have been able to lift it. Clearly, the writers never thought out ANYTHING in the film.
Despite the many, many serious problems with the plot, the film apparently has a HUGE cult following and sparked sequels. I can see why this could be, as Franco Nero was super-handsome and cool. And, the music and direction were excellent as well--making up for a lot of the deficits. Not a brilliant film in any sense, but very watchable.,,and dumb.