Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Stranger's Gundown, The

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Stranger's Gundown, The

    Click image for larger version

Name:	cover.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	15.9 KB
ID:	383574

    Released by: VCI Entertainment
    Released on: 4/29/2003
    Director: Sergio Garrone
    Cast: Antonio De Teffe, Luciano Rossi, Paolo Gozlino, Rada Rassimov
    Year: 1969
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Sergio Garrone's (who would later go on to make a plethora of trashy women in prison movies in the 70s and 80s) 1969 Spaghetti Western effort, Django Il Bastardo, was released in the U.S. in 1974 as The Stranger's Gundown and is widely acknowledged as the basis for Clint Eastwood's second directorial effort, High Plains Drifter.

    Brazilian born Antonio De Teffe plays Django, one of a troupe of Confederate soldiers that were betrayed during the Civil War by their three commanding officers, Hawkins, Howard and Murdoch. All of the soldiers in the division are slaughtered by the Northerners and left for dead.

    Thirteen years later, Django, one of the soldiers from the aforementioned massacre, turns up in a small town and starts putting cross markers down with the names of those who had earlier betrayed him etched into the wood. One by one he hunts them down and exacts his own revenge on the men who may or may not have taken his life years before.

    The influence of Garrone's film on Eastwood's masterpiece is undeniable, but I wouldn't go so far as to call High Plains Drifter a remake like many others have. There are quite a few differences not only in the characterizations but in the actual story as well (going into much more detail, however, would surely spoil the twists in the film for those who haven't seen it yet).

    While The Stranger's Gundown is very much a low budget affair, Garrone makes the best out of what he has to work with. Gino Santini, the film's cinematographer, uses all sorts of interesting and unusual camera angles to draw you into the story, and it's interesting to note just how many times Django comes into and out of the frame simply by walking in or out from the right hand side of the picture. Adding to the spectral quality of De Teffe's Django are certain gothic touches: the use of crosses to foretell a characters death, the method of disposal Django uses for certain characters, the vengeance from beyond the grave theme that runs throughout the film, all add up to give the movie a creepy and at times, quite unsettling atmosphere that makes the film well worth seeking out not only for Spaghetti Western fans but for ghost story buffs as well.

    Note: VCI has issued the US version of the film on DVD, not the Italian version. The main difference is that the scene where the confederate soldiers are killed, which is the entire reasoning behind Django's motive in the film, is presented roughly half way through the film, rather than before the credits, which is how it is presented in the Italian version, Django Il Bastardo.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    VCI's anamorphic 2.35.1 transfer is a bit grainy with some minor print damage here and there and fairly soft colors. That being said, it's watchable and the definition and detail on screen is decent. Most of the damage occurs around the reel changes, though a nasty scratch does appear vertically on the print from time to time. The transfer could have been better, but it could have been worse.

    The English dubbed Dolby Digital Mono track is the weakest part of the disc. The dubbing is poorly done, but if you're able to look past this as most Euro Cult fans are (myself included), you've still got to contend with the tinniness of the track, as well as the hissing and popping that crop up and become particularly towards the end of the film. You can understand what's going on and it's not hard to follow, but I wish VCI had cleaned the track up a bit for us. What's here is serviceable, but just barely.

    There are a couple of trailers for two VCI Spaghetti Western titles (A Bullet For Sandoval and Any Gun Can Play) and a couple of unrelated titles, and scene selection.

    The Final Word:

    While the presentation of The Stranger's Gundown isn't perfect, it's great to see this film on DVD in widescreen and the movie is a must own for Spaghetti Western fans.
      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    • Nemesis (MVD Rewind Collection) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: MVD Rewind Collection
      Released on: January 8th, 2019.
      Director: Albert Pyun
      Cast: Olivier Gruner, Jennifer Gatti, Tim Thomerson
      Year: 1992
      Purchase From Amazon

      Nemesis – Movie Review:

      Albert Pyun's 1992 film Nemesis takes place in the future of 2027. Here it's common for criminals and cops alike to ‘upgrade' themselves using cybernetic bits and pieces in an effort to make themselves more than human. In this world
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:22 AM
    • Bloodmoon (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: February 1st, 2024.
      Director: Alec Mills
      Cast: Leon Lissek, Christine Amor, Helen Thomson, Ian Williams
      Year: 1990
      Purchase From Amazon

      Bloodmoon – Movie Review:

      The directorial debut of Alec Mills, the cinematographer on such films as Polanski’s MacBeth and Return Of The Jedi, 1990’s Bloodmoon, a later period slasher film, is set around St. Elizabeth’s, an all-girls Catholic School
      ...
      03-07-2024, 03:55 PM
    • The Shining (Scream Factory) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Scream Factory
      Released on: March 12th, 2024.
      Director: Mick Garris
      Cast: Steven Weber, Rebecca De Mornay, Melvin Van Peebles, Courtland Mead
      Year: 1997
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Shining – Movie Review:

      Stephen King somewhat famously didn’t like Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of his novel, The Shining, so he signed on to work with Director Mick Garris on this three-part TV mini-series take which hit the airwaves
      ...
      03-07-2024, 03:50 PM
    • Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny (Shout! Factory) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Shout! Factory
      Released on: February 13th, 2024.
      Director: Liam Lynch
      Cast: Jack Black, Kyle Gass
      Year: 2006
      Purchase From Amazon

      Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny – Movie Review:

      Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny opens with a prologue where we meet a young man named Jables (JB, played by Jack Black) who, despite his strict religious upbringing, only wants to rock n roll. When his father tears down all of his posters
      ...
      02-29-2024, 06:17 PM
    Working...
    X