Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Django Kill… If You Live, Shoot!
Collapse
X
Collapse
-
Django Kill… If You Live, Shoot!
Released by: 88 Films
Released on: September 25th, 2017.
Director: Giulio Questi
Cast: Tomas Milian, Ray Lovelock, Marilu Tolo
Year: 1967
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
One of over forty unofficial sequels, in name only, to Corbucci's 1966 masterpiece Django, Guilio Questi's bizarre 1967 spaghetti western Django Kill! is a tight and frequently very surreal film with a penchant for cruel violence and strange religious imagery.
Leading man Tomas Milian plays an unnamed stranger, who at the beginning of the film is part of a gang of thieves comprised of Mexicans and Americans. Together they steal a massive cargo of gold from a stagecoach, but soon the Mexicans are shot down and left for dead by the Americans, who take off with all the gold. Milian, known only as 'the stranger' in this film, is down but not out and with the help of a pair of mystical natives he tracks the gang to a small town, not far from where they abandoned him and left him to die.
He arrives to find all but one of the gang hung in the streets, and takes down the surviving member with his gun that he's loaded with gold bullets. But gold lust gets the better of the townspeople, and various corrupt factions within the small community erupt and start turning on one another with dire consequences.
Django Kill! is a strange film, with scenes of rapid fire editing that are unusual for a forty-year old film. It moves at a very quick pace and is periodically laced with some fairly shocking violence, even by the tolerant (at least in that regard) standards of the spaghetti western. Additionally, the film has some unusual scenes of veiled homo-eroticism - again, something you don't normally see in the genre, but not entirely out of place or out of context here in the story being told. Director Giulio Questi, probably best known for his surreal giallo Death Laid An Egg made the year after this film, shows a knack for strange set pieces, bizarre color combinations and odd camera angels highlighted by the movie's most famous scene that (not wanting to go into spoiler territory) involves the final acquisition of the gold which the plot is centered around.
Tomas Milian, every bit the anti-hero in this role, plays the character with more than a bit of a Christ complex, and turns in one of his better performances here. He's sympathetic enough that we can get behind him but at the same time believably tough as the cowboy who has to set things right. A supporting performance by Ray Lovelock, better known for his crime films than westerns, is also welcome and noteworthy and both men turn in fine work here.
The script was co-written by Franco Arcalli, who co-wrote Once Upon A Time In The West, and shows some interesting leftist leanings when you think about the political ramifications of what it lays out for us. It's a smart, heady, and trippy film, not at all like any other spaghetti western and feeling more at home with the films of Jodorowsky or Fellini than Leone or Corbucci.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Django Kill! arrives on Blu-ray from 88 Films in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer that seems to mirror the one used by Blue Underground for their 2012 Blu-ray release (reviewed here). The movie is presented in its original 2.35.1 widescreen aspect ratio. Compared to past DVD editions there's a nice upgrade in terms of color and both texture and detail are frequently much better as well. However, some noise reduction is obvious here and there and sometimes the grain looks odd. In terms of the colors specifically, the movie isn't concerned with realism in certain regards, so those bloods are supposed to look crazy bright and garish rather than dark and natural. Overall this is a pretty nice upgrade from the DVD but the transfer still leaves some room for improvement.
English and Italian DTS-HD Mono options are provided, with optional subtitles available in English only. The subtitles translate the Italian track, not the English track. Again, things are pretty much the same as what we get on the domestic Blue Underground release, but that's not a bad thing. Both tracks sound fine and offer clean, clear and well balanced dialogue. Both tracks sound quite good without a huge difference in quality between the two - take your pick, both offer clean, clear dialogue, properly balanced levels and a nice, strong sound mix overall.
The main extra on the disc is an eighteen minute long featurette entitled Django Kill And The Evolution Of Tomas Milian. Hosted by 'Spaghetti Western Historian' Eric Zaldivar this is basically a history lesson in the production of the film that covers the cast's work on the picture, Questi's unusual style, the locations featured in the picture and more.
Outside of that there's a theatrical trailer for the feature, menus and chapter selection. 88 Films has also supplied some nice reversible cover sleeve art for this release and the first 1,000 copies that are ordered off of their website do include a limited edition slipcover.
The Final Word:
Django Kill! is about as odd as a western can get but that doesn't take away from its entertainment value. Milian and Lovelock are great in their respective roles and Questi directs with style and a flair for the surreal. It may not appeal to those looking for only the most traditional of cowboy movies but for fans of oddball European cinema, it comes highly recommended. 88 Films' presentation seems identical to the Blue Underground release but those who don't already have that disc or those in the company's native UK who didn't want to import, this is a nice option.
Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (271)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4140)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2512)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (385)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (295)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (496)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Severin Films
Released on: April 30th, 2024.
Director: Lee Frost
Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
Year: 1969
Purchase From Amazon
Hot Spur – Movie Review:
Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:53 AM -
-
Released by: Mondo Macabro
Released on: April 9th, 2024.
Director: Max Pecas
Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
Year: 1985
Purchase From Amazon
Death Squad – Movie Review:
Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:46 AM -
-
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),...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:10 PM -
-
Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
Year: 1970
Purchase From Amazon
Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:
Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:07 PM -
-
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Saul Bass
Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Phase IV – Movie Review:
Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:02 PM -
-
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...-
Channel: Movies
03-13-2024, 11:30 AM -