Thanks to Quentin Tarantino, we all know the D is silent. But if his is the only Django you know well, friend, you dont know Django.
For one thing, hes not African-American, but Italian. Hes not a slave, but a Civil War vet. Hes now 47 years old and drags a coffin behind him provided were talking about 1966s Django, which, outside of Sergio Leones Dollars trilogy, is arguably the granddaddy of Italys so-called spaghetti Western subgenre. The first of untold dozens of films to feature the gunslinger, Django plays Thursday at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art as part of its Italian Auteurs of the 1960s series.
We say untold dozens because nailing down the exact number is difficult. Since copyright law in Italy is as solid as ricotta cheese, the Django name has been appropriated read: stolen and slapped upon at least 30 titles and retitles, whether or not the character was even part of the script. Only one of them is an official sequel: 1987s belated Django Strikes Again.
Thus, like Sherlock Holmes or Dracula, Django has become as malleable as a meatball; although the first Django film marks an iconic role for Franco Nero (otherwise best-known for his Die Hard 2 villain), more than a dozen other actors have played him. Tarantino winked at the theft of the franchise in borrowing the moniker for last years Oscar-winning epic Django Unchained, yet also paid due homage by giving Nero a small role. (Hes the guy at the bar who asks Foxxs Django, Whats your name? thus prompting the now-famous line referenced three paragraphs above.)
As the strong, silent, scruffy antihero of the 66 Django, Nero is a big reason Sergio
Corbuccis movie made waves that still ripple today. Another:
good-ol-fashioned violence an element Tarantino made damn sure to
duplicate. If you liked Unchained, give the real Django a try; if you like that, plenty of other adventures await, including but certainly not limited to the following:
Django, Kill! (If You Live Shoot!) (1967)
Tomas
Milian stars in easily the series most strangely punctuated title. To
paraphrase another Tarantino film, he wants his scalps!
Django and Sartanas Showdown in the West (1970)
The subject of about 20 flicks himself, Sartana is like the Robin to Djangos Batman, except with too-similar costumes.
Viva! Django (1971)
In
his fifth turn as Django, Anthony Steffen hunts for his wifes killers,
the Four Leaf Clover Gang. Think theyll be lucky when they meet him?
Spoiler: No.
Djangos Cut Price Corpses (1971)
In
which Django (Jeff Cameron) is so confident hell hunt down all four
wanted Cortez brothers, he preorders their coffins: Regular size. Ill
make em fit.
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Django, Kill! (If You Live Shoot!) Blu-ray review