Django

Django (1966) is probably the most famous - or infamous - Spaghetti Western not directed by Sergio Leone. Its massive gundowns and gory violence set the standard for '60s graphic violence, and its coffin-wielding protagonist spawned dozens of unofficial sequels and rip-offs. Reputation and influence aside, Django works as a bit of inspired madness, even if it lacks the craft and artistry of the best Spaghettis.

A mysterious drifter named Django (Franco Nero) rolls into a small border town dragging a coffin and sporting a Union army uniform. After rescuing half-breed hooker Maria (Loredana Nusciak) from some toughs, Django finds himself caught up in a private war between Major Jackson (Eduardo Fajardo), an ex-Confederate with a gang of red-hooded Klansmen, and General Rodriguez (Jose Badalo), an egomaniacal "revolutionary" with a private army. Django has his own motivation for being in town, but it takes a lot of blood, bullets and double-crosses to sort things out.

Django seems calculated specifically to one-up Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, with a nearly-identical plot and set-pieces carried to cartoonish extremes. Where Clint Eastwood can simultaneously gun down four heavies in Fistful, Django shoots down fifty or so bad guys with a machine gun. Where Fistful's bad guys machine gun a company of Mexican troops for gold, Django's villains square off against the entire Mexican army. Where Clint endures a brutal beating by the Rojos, Django gets his hands crushed beneath horse's hooves. For fun, throw in ear mutilation, mud-wrestling hookers, a quick-sand pit and red-hooded Klansmen.

On more substantial levels, Django features an extremely thin plot and cartoonish characters. Django's given a shallow revenge motivation that doesn't inspire much empathy, and his actions are incredibly inconsistent. Django leaves Major Jackson alive after his first showdown, then goes gallavanting off with Rodriguez to steal some gold? Call me a mission creep but what exactly does this achieve? Other set-pieces are headscratchers: Django's attempt to sneak a coffin full of gold away from the bad guys is pretty silly, and the mud-wrestling scene is neither erotic nor funny.

What saves Django from being relegated to the Spaghetti scrap heap is Sergio Corbucchi's stylish direction. Corbucchi's better-suited for lightweight shoot-'em-ups than his The Great Silence and Companeros, which interject half-baked "social commentary" to no effect. Here, Corbucchi handles his action scenes with aplomb: Django's machine gun ambush and Rodriguez's raid on the Mexican fort are staged with excitement and creativity. This film is easily the goriest Western prior to The Wild Bunch and Corbucchi handily one-ups Peckinpah in sheer sadism. Carlo Simi's creative setwork also deserves mention, with one of the muddiest, most unappealing Western towns in film history. Luis Bacalov's score is pretty generic, complete with a cheesy Frankie Laine-style ballad.

Franco Nero runs a close second to Clint Eastwood as the quintessential Spaghetti hero. He's a bit more talkative than Clint but no more emotive, and just as badass in the clutch. Jose Badalo is ridiculously over-the-top, but Eduardo Fajardo gives an intense performance as Jackson, a hateful though underdeveloped bad guy. There's also Loredana Nusciak as Maria, an appealingly feisty love interest, and Angel Alvarez in the Jose Calvo role of kindly bartender.

Overall, Django is a nice piece of gore-splattered pulp. High art it is not, but it's unquestionably entertaining in its own twisted way.