Django Kills Softly (1968)

George Eastman plays Django, who arrives in Santa Anna and finds two reasons to hang around.

There’s a pretty blonde named Linda (Liana Orfei) in need of help. And a friend named Sanders and his family have been massacred.

A town boss named Thompson is keeping Linda captive. He wants to make her his own. He also wants the location of the gold vein her deceased husband discovered before being killed trying to keep the secret.

The Sanders family was slain by a bandit named El Santo and his henchmen. They control every pass out of town and require protection money from those wanting to transport goods through the area.

Sanders owed El Santo money that he never received. An older man who befriends Django thinks Thompson might have been behind that as well.

You see, he and Sanders were business competitors.

George Eastman as Django, taking stock of Thompson’s gunhands in Django Kills Softly (1968)

Liana Orfei as Linda, a girl with a dead husband, a goldmine and an unwanted admirer in Django Kills Softly (1968)

Review:

Director Pupillo keeps the action coming fast and furious, and the body count rising, but the plot is a bit of a muddled mess.

There’s a distracting sequence in which Django and friend Miguel agree to serve as guides for a gun shipment, but then are cheated out of their pay. Not to mention a prolonged barroom scene/fight that comes off as little more than filler.

Though he seems pretty much invincible whenever he pulls his gun, Django decides there’s no reason to face off against the entire Thompson and El Santo gangs.

His solution: Find a way to pit them against one another. Just like the original Django.

Shame this film isn’t as stylish.

Luciano Rossi as Thompson, the crooked town boss in Django Kills Softly (1968)

Mimmo Maggio as El Santo, the bandit who controls the area around Santa Anna in Django Kills Softly (1968)

Directed by:
Massimo Pupillo (Max Hunter)

Cast:
George Eastman … Django
Spartaco Conversi … Miguel
Liana Orfei … Linda
Luciano Rossi … J. Edward Thompson
Claudio Biava … Jack
Mimmo Maggio … El Santo
Peter Hellman … Rosson
Federico Boido … The Nervous One
as Rick Boyd
Paul Maur … Steve
Atonio Toma … Pedro
Giovanna Lenzi … Sue

aka:
Bill il taciturno
Django Kills Silently

Runtime: 94 min.

Score: Berto Pisano

Spartaco Conversi as Miguel, Django’s ally in Santa Anna in Django Kills Softly (1968)

Peter Hellman as Rosson, a gun-runner looking for safe passage in Django Kills Softly (1968)

Memorable lines:

Django: “That’s a long way for a girl to ride alone.”
Linda: “For a girl who’s running away, it’s even longer, mister.”

Miguel, showing Django a trap door: “You’re a brave man, I know. But look here. If you have to get out of here quick, just drop down to the tunnel. Just a short distance and you’ll wind up right in the cemetery. Alive that is.”

Linda: “But I told you I’m rich. Please, can I got with you?”
Django: “Gold brings bad luck.”

El Santo to Django: “If you pull any of your tricks you will feel the sting of 400 bullets of lead from the pistoleros of El Santo.”

Claudio Biava as Jack, Thompson’s fast gun in Django Kills Softly (1968)

Rik Boyd (Federico Boido) as Amos, the nervous gunman in Django Kills Softly (1968)

Trivia:

George Eastman’s character is named Bill in the Italian version of the film. The name was changed for the English, French and German versions to capitalize on the success of the original Django film.

Liana Orfei was born to circus life and was still working in one with her brother when Federico Fellini saw the show and convinced her to try movies. She wound up appearing in a host of sword and sandal films. This marked her only Spaghetti outing.

Suzy, the saloon singer who brings her girls to Santa Anna in Django Kills Softly (1968). Anyone know who the actress is?

Dolores, girlfriend of bandit leader El Santo and a woman with a stash of cash in Django Kills Softly (1968). Anyone know who the actress is?

Liana Orfei as Linda, held captive by Thompson in Django Kills Softly (1968)

George Eastman as Django, trying to gain the confidence of the bandit El Santo in Django Kills Softly (1968)