Franco Nero plays Django, who trudges into Spaghetti Western lore hauling a coffin through the muddy streets of a nearly deserted town. He’s got a job to do, he tells pretty young Maria after rescuing her from sure death.

This is a troubled town. Mexican bandits under Gen. Rodriguez stop by frequently to get liquored up and use the ladies in Nathaniel’s saloon.

Then there’s Maj. Jackson and his red-hooded henchmen, a sadistic lot who gun down Mexican peasants for the fun of it and force those still living in town to pay protection money.

Django wreaks havoc on Jackson’s men with the contents of his coffin — a machine gun — but let’s the Jackson himself escape. Then he helps Rodriguez steal a small fortune in gold.

But an inescapable showdown is coming, and Django has an old score to settle. Someone in town was responsible for the death of the only woman he ever loved.

Franco Nero as Django, a stranger looking for gold and revenge in Django (1966)

Lorendana Nusciak as Maria, a woman growing numb to all the violence around her in Django (1966)

Review:

Sergio Corbucci introduces a new star in Franco Nero in a film so popular, it spawned dozens of unofficial sequels. Violent, gritty and filmed on mud-caked streets, it set the tone for many a Spaghetti to follow.

There are plenty of memorable scenes here, and not just Django dragging a coffin through town. There’s the scene in which Rodriguez cuts the ear off one of Jackson’s men, then shoves it in his mouth. And the one in which the coffin filled with gold accidentally slips into quicksand, Django leaping in after it.

Then, of course, there’s the classic ending, with Django, hands broken and mangled, using a cross in a cemetery to brace his gun as he prepares for the final showdown.

Jose Bodalo as Gen. Hugo Rodriguez, considering Django’s plan and a triumphant return to Mexico in Django (1966)

Eduardo Fajardo as Major Jackson, wondering about the stranger in town in Django (1966)

Directed by:
Sergio Corbucci

Cast:
Franco Nero … Django
Jose Bodalo … Gen. Rodriguez
Loredana Nusciak … Maria
Eduardo Fajardo … Maj. Jackson
Angel Alvarez … Nathaniel
Gino Pernice … Brother Jonathan
(as Jimmy Douglas)
Jose Terron … Ringo
Silvna Bcci … Mexican Saloon Girl

Also with: Also with: Simón Arriaga , Ivan Scratuglia, Remo De Angelis as Erik Schippers, Rafael Albaicín, José Canalejas, Lucio De Santis, Luciano Rossi, Guillermo Méndez, Attilio Severini, Gilberto Galimberti, Giulio Maculani, Rafael Vaquero

Score: Luis Bacalov
Song: “Django” sung by Rocky Roberts

Runtime: 93 min.

Angel Alvarez as Nathaniel, owner of the neutral saloon, in Django (1966)

Gino Pernice (Jimmy Douglas) as Brother Jonathan, Maj. Jackson’s spy in Django (1966)

Memorable lines:

Nathaniel, the bar owner: “What with all those Mexican renegades and the Rebels under Maj. Jackson fighting their own private war, this whole town’s been ruined. It’s a dead city. A regular ghost town.”
Django: “So, your girls are pleasuring phantoms?”

Saloon girl: “My girlfriends are afraid of that coffin, but it really doesn’t bother me. After all, a coffin’s a coffin. Is there someone inside?”
Django: “Yeah. His name is Django.”

Major: “I got my own private war going on. I reckon that’s a war you haven’t heard about. You sure are a smart hombre, carrying around your burial suit. I like that. Be handy. We can put you in it instead of leaving your body to poison the vultures like we do with the rest of your kind.”
Django: “Are you carrying on a war against the poor vultures too? Why don’t you leave them out of it?”

Nathaniel: “I sure never thought I’d end up grave digging, and not even getting paid at that. Oh, well, it’s better being above ground doing that than below ground doing nothing.”

Maria: “You didn’t have any right to hold me a prisoner.”
Rodriguez: “Every man has the right. If a woman pleases him enough.”

Rodriguez to Maria: “Watch it, Maria. You’re half-breed Mexican and Yankee. And you’ve got the worst blood of both of them in you.”

Major to Django: “Start praying if you want. I don’t mind. It’s a smart thing to do when you know death is coming for you.”

Remo De Angelis (Erik Schhippers) as Riccardo, one of the general’s men demanding Maria’s affection in Django (1966)

Jose Terron as Ringo, one of Jackson’s ruthless henchmen in Django (1966)

Trivia:

According to an interview with Franco Nero on the Anchor Bay video release, the part of Django had been promised to Mark Damon, but he was busy with another picture when Corbucci wanted to begin filming.

There was only one official Django sequel, “Django Strikes Again,” and it wasn’t made until 1987. But there were no fewer than 32 Spaghetti Westerns with Django in at least one version of the title. That includes, believe it or not, “Nude Django,” a soft-core sex Western made in 1968 with Peter Graf in the starring role.

Said Corbucci: “Ford had John Wayne. Leone has Clint Eastwood. I have Franco Nero.” The two made three fine films together. The others: “Companeros” and “The Mercenary.”