Review of Django (1966) by Jens T — 23 Jan 2013

Since Quentin Tarantino once again made a movie tribute, that has a stolen the name "Django Unchained" it was of course my job to see how "original" Tarantino is. But once again, it's just the title that he stole. But that's also a great, because it creates a link for most film nerds to actually look these movie up.

Sergio Corbucci's Django is not the story about a slave, but a white man named Django (Franco Nero), a former union soldier, who's now a lonesome drifter, dragging a coffin that he's gonna use to bury "old Django" but until then, there's nothing much but a machine gun, which he uses to shoot down armies. He also makes bargains with Mexican revolutionaries. He's another tragic double-crossing as Clint Eastwood, but with a haunted past.

Django is another great spaghetti western, with great action scenes, a machine gun, a mysterious stranger, a hot senorita, a great villain and a deep symbolic plot. I also liked the dark tone of the movie. And specially the opening scene were Django drags his coffin while the famous intro song "Django!" plays in the background. There's also some great imaginary and christian symbolism. Specially the very last shot.

If I had to chose between Tarantino's Django Unchained or the original one, I would probably chose the original one, because it's shorter, is less boring dialogues, no DiCaprio.