Django (1966)

Sergio Corbucci’s ground-breaking DJANGO is one of the greatest and most important Spaghetti Westerns ever. Seminal, yet banned for decades, its aesthetics of visual cruelty transcended the genre and shaped today’s film-making language. Quentin Tarantino avows the deep influence of ‘DJANGO’ on his own films as epitomised by his ‘Django Unchained’.The modern action hero also began here, with the legendary Franco Nero as Django, the mysterious gunslinger who arrives in a bleak, mud-drenched town – dragging a coffin behind him – to face a group of sadistic marauding Mexican bandits and an army of Ku Klux Klan-like psychopaths.Presented here uncut, from new 4K-restored elements, this definitive version is pristinely faithful to the original filmmakers’ vision, as attested by Ruggero Deodato (of ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ fame) who shot several scenes of ‘DJANGO’ as the then-Assistant to Corbucci.DJANGO & DJANGO BONUS FEATURE - A riveting feature-length testimonial by Quentin Tarantino complements this edition: showing many clips, he explains how Corbucci’s ‘Django’ permeates his own films from ‘Reservoir Dogs’ to his resounding tribute ‘Django Unchained’. And whimsically Tarantino tells how, in his ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’, his fictional actor, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, ends up working for the real Sergio Corbucci. (By Steve Della Casa and Luca Rea. Directed by Luca Rea. 2021. 78 Mins).