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Released by: Timeless Media Group/Shout! Factory
Released on: December 11, 2012.
Director: Edoardo Mulargia/Demofilo Fidani, Diego Spataro
Cast: Anthony Steffen, Stelio Candelli, Glauco Onorato/Franco Borelli, Jack Betts
Year: 1971/1970
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The Movies:
With Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained on its way to theaters soon, we're seeing a resurgence in Spaghetti Western releases on DVD, particularly those with the name 'Django' in the title (of which there are many). Shout! Factory, through their recently acquired Timeless Media Group, has offered up two Django double features, here's a look at the second (the first one, for those keeping score, includes Django Kills Silently and Django's Cut Price Corpses).
A Man Called Django (1970):
The first feature, directed by Edoardo Mulargia, is also known as Viva! Django and stars Anthony Steffen as Django. When the movie begins, Django wanders into his home and finds that his wife has been raped and murdered by a gang of four hoodlums. Django, being Django, heads out to get revenge but soon gets tied up in the drama of a man named Carranza (Stelio Candelli) who is to be hanged at the neck for his involvement with the same gang that Django is hunting down.
Django frees him before his execution and the pair team up to hit the trail and bring in the nogoodniks before they cause anyone further harm. Along the way Django proves to be tough and smart while Carranza shoots his mouth off and causes trouble…
A well paced Spaghetti Western that makes the most of its low budget, A Man Called Django borrows heavily and rather obviously from the relationship that Sergio Leone developed between Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. Steffen borrows from Eastwood, Candelli from Wallach - the resemblance in tone and mannerism is pretty hard to miss.
Despite the fact that it's fairly derivative, however, Mulargia does a pretty solid job here of keeping the pacing tight and ensuring that the movie remains both fun and exciting. Some of the dialogue is pretty witty and genuinely funny while the shoot outs in the film are as frequent as you'd want them to be and, if not particularly bloody, fairly tense. Some nice camera work and good score helps add a bit of polish here and there. Steffen excels in the role, playing the tough guy rather convincingly. Look for a cameo from Esmeralda Barros of Kong Island and Devil's Wedding Night! Not the best Spaghetti Western ever made but plenty enjoyable and quite entertaining.
Django And Sartana's Showdown In The West (1971):
Making its DVD debut with this release is this 'team up' directed by notorious low budget Spaghetti Western director extraordinaire, Demofilo Fidani, occasionally credited under the all too awesome alias of DICK SPITFIRE (and more frequently the less AWESOME alias of Miles Deem)!
When the film begins, a merciless outlaw named Black Burt Keller (Cameron Mitchell) kidnaps a woman named Jessica Colby (Simonetta Vitelli). With their bounty in tow, Keller and his gang decide to cross the border into Mexico but of course, Django (Franco Borelli) is on the hunt and decides to head south to save her. Along the way he meets up with another gunslinger, Sartana (Jack Betts credited as Hunt Powers - another AWESOME alias), and the two of them team up to take on Black Burt and his gang.
What makes this low budget knock off worth watching isn't the two title characters or the actors who play them. They're fine in their respective roles and all but can't hold a candle to the original actors who played the characters and while they hardly embarrass themselves here, they're not all that memorable. Thankfully, we've got the mighty Cameron Mitchell to pick up the pace. As Black Burt, he gets to completely chew the scenery. If he's not playing cards against his image in a mirror he's screaming at people and punching people in the face more or less at random. Mitchell delivers a completely bizarre and seemingly unhinged performance from start to finish, keeping up this manic acting right through to the very end of the film.
A few out of place slow motion shoot outs add a bit of visual flair to the movie (it was shot by Joe D'Amato and generally it looks pretty good) and the score works in the context of the story and the settings. The camera work is fine, if not all that remarkable, and while there are logic gaps aplenty (why do Burt and his gang just sort of wait around to get attacked by the good guys instead of actually booking it to Mexico like they talk about?) and enough random zooms to keep Jess Franco happy this movie is nothing if not entertaining.
Video/Audio/Extras:
A Man Called Django is presented in 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen with Django's Cut Price Corpses presented in 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen. Both transfers are of decent quality if a bit on the soft side. Colors generally look good even if reds sometimes bleed just a little bit and black levels are sometimes a dark grey. There are no obvious compression artifacts nor is there much in the way of edge enhancement or filtering to note. These aren't super awesome high quality restorations but the movies look alright.
Both films are presented in Dolby Digital Mono in English with no alternate language options or subtitles provided. Levels are well balanced and dialogue is easy enough to understand. Things tend to be a bit flat but for older mono mixes, there's nothing to complain about here, the audio is perfectly satisfactory.
Extras are slim, limited to trailers for both features, one sheet images for both features, static menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Two really fun Spaghetti Westerns presented in nice shape and at a killer price. What's not to recommend?
