Django 2-Disc Limited Edition

This film definitely has my vote for best non-Leone spaghetti western. It's got it all: gritty camerawork, a tough as nails, lone wolf protagonist, grimy people/locations that make Deadwood look like The O.C., post-Civil War anarchy, corrupt Mexicans, racist fanatics, corpses galore, and one of the best theme songs in the history of cinema. From those opening credits with Django walking across the slimy, muddy terrain, carrying his own coffin -- I'm pretty sure Robert Rodriguez stole the whole machine gun in a decoy box bit from this film -- behind him, you're absolutely hooked.

Django is a loner. A rebel, Dottie (bad Pee-Wee joke). He fucks, kills, steals, and looks really good doing it. Django is the epitome of cinematic excess, walkin', talkin', and killin' with such over-the-top efficiency that it's always entertaining and entirely captivating.

Before the movie begins, there is a statement by the makers of the DVD claiming that every effort was made in order to assure the best visual presentation of the uncut film. They found a damaged negative in a vault in Rome and went through painstaking efforts to restore it to their satisfaction. What results is a faintly flawed yet completely watchable transfer which looks great more often than not.

Thankfully, the audio comes in both laughably dubbed English and a superior Italian track with English subtitles. Both are in original Mono, naturally. What's so odd about the English dubbed track is that if you listen to it with the English subtitles on, you often get a completely different translation. The dubbed track is usually curt and less vulgar, not to mention terribly delivered. A lot of good stuff is missing. I'd suggest watching the film in Italian with subs and then go back and have a good laugh at the silly English track. It is entertaining, I'll give it that much.

In terms of extras, we get a brilliant trailer that's almost as good as the film itself. Why? Because it perfectly exploits the film's kick-ass theme song and highlights most of the action sequences. Plus, the narrator and title cards are a hoot. On the DVD we also get a poster and still gallery, talent bios, and a 13 minute interview session called "Django: The One and Only." It features interviews with Franco Nero (a.k.a. Django) and assistant director Ruggero Deodato. An interesting highlight: the interview reveals that Nero was only 23 years old when he played Django and the crew actually had to draw wrinkles on his face, in order to make him look older and more experienced.

All of the extras, audio, and video I've mentioned was previously available in Blue Underground's impressive Spaghetti Western Collection. For this 2-disc release, they've added an additional mini-DVD that contains The Last Pistolero, an 8-minute, silent, short film in beautiful black-and-white, starring Franco Nero. It's actually pretty cool and well worth having.

This is another great release from Blue Underground, The Criterion Collection of subversive cinema (sorry Subversive Cinema). The bonus disc is a nice addition but probably doesn't warrant purchasing this if you already have the previous BU release. If you don't own a copy of Django then I'd suggest that you step away from the computer and drag yourself to a local DVD retailer. You know what to do from there. Now where can I get that soundtrack? -- Neil Karassik