Django the Bastard (1969) - from Synapse Films

[rbarb]

Synapse release August 13.

[DukeTogo84]

Watched my copy. Solid PQ and sound. However, no Italian audio which I thought it was to include. Not that I would have watched this in Italian, but for those that might have.

[rbarb]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Watched my copy. Solid PQ and sound. However, no Italian audio which I thought it was to include. Not that I would have watched this in Italian, but for those that might have.

I have read that the Italian version actually has flashback sequences in different areas than the English version, so most likely they would have had to include both cuts of the film to include the Italian dialogue.

[colinfreiberger]

Not sure if it's a result of the shrinkwrapping plus the flimsy case or just Amazon but mine arrived completely destroyed.

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by colinfreiberger

Not sure if it's a result of the shrinkwrapping plus the flimsy case or just Amazon but mine arrived completely destroyed.

It's probably just due to Amazon's crappy packaging. Mine arrived fine from them yesterday, but I've certainly received things from them that have arrived badly damaged.

[The Great Owl]

Django, a mysterious black-clad gunman played by Anthony Steffen, walks into town, stands in front of a saloon, plunges a wooden cross with a man's name and that day's date on it into the ground, and then shoots down the same man as he walks out of the saloon. During the hours that follow, this stranger proceeds to wreak havoc in the community by killing others in the same manner next to their own cemetery crosses. The wealthiest man in town, a crook played by Paolo Gozlino, senses that a reckoning has finally come 13 years after he and his recently deceased friends betrayed a Confederate unit. He assembles hired killers to face off against Django, but remains uncertain as to whether this gunfighter is a living person or a supernatural avenging angel.

The 1969 spaghetti western, Django the Bastard, which was released on American shores as The Strangers Gundown, and is uncannily prescient of the 1973 Clint Eastwood film, High Plains Drifter, was directed by Sergio Garrone, a competent mid-tier filmmaker who graced theaters with a handful of other offerings in this genre before veering off into exploitation territory. This movie, which exudes a gothic horror aesthetic that gives it the offbeat feel of an Italian western combined with a slasher film, is not quite on the same level as the classics from Sergio Leone or Sergio Corbucci, but, like its director, it holds its own wonderfully well in the middle of the road. Unlike most films that were inspired by the success of Corbucci's Django (1966) and merely commandeered the iconic character name for unrelated tales, this one succeeds as a spiritual sequel to the original.

Steffen, who appeared in several other spaghetti westerns, namely Sabata the Killer and Viva! Django, is not the most expressive actor in the world, but his brand of unnerving calm is ideal for the title role. Be on the lookout for Luciano Rossi (So Sweet, So Dead), who delivers an unhinged performance as the brother of the main villain, and Rada Rassimov (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) as his avaricious wife.

This Synapse Blu-ray delivers a great-looking transfer of the U.S. version of this film, complete with subtitles and an impressive audio presentation. Historian Troy Howarth gives us a fun audio commentary that fills in plenty of knowledge gaps for fans of the genre.