Django il bastardo aka Django the Bastard/Stranger's Gundown (1969)

[DJIMBO]

Hi guys, anyone seen this film, is it any good ive heard conflicting opinions of it. Is it worth acquiring on DVD?

[The Smoker]

Don't even waist ya time... Great idea. but horribly realised. 'High Plains Drifter' is arguebly a US remake, A Phantom gunslinger back for revenge. Its only testiment, the later being the better film.

Watched it once at a mates house after a big night out.  Very very cheap movie.. this word gets used alot around here when spag is discussed. but this is the real deal.

Im not the biggest Anthony Steffen fan anyway, wooden, not your stoic 'less is more theory', The Brazilian is wooden.
His films tend to crop in the UK on VHS, DVD for quite some time now. The Strangers Gundown is another one, i have know idea who buys em.  

[DJIMBO]

well, well if it isnt the smokie. Cheers mate for ur advice good 2 know im not the only brit who only enjoys a good spag western after a night on the piss, its great being a student.

Just a shame when those spaghettis r shit. sounds like Django the Bastard is. Just doin my research on IMDB and apparently The Stranger's Gundown is the same film but the yankee title. Ho hum....doesnt make it any better

[spag fan]

Wow, bummer. I heard some pretty good things about this one as well. Oh well, I'll probably still get it one day. You never know... one man's trash...
Hell, some folks even like Keoma!

[Nobody]

I wasn't very impressed when I saw it, and I love most spaghetti westerns, even Ace High. Go figure.

Pretty dull and uninteresting. Anthony Steffen is no Clint Eastwood. High Plains Drifter is a superior film in every possible way.

[Hippieoddball1]

it's funny but the strangers gundown is the only spaghetti that i like apart from leone's of course.
i mean it's cheap, yeah, steffen is no clint eastwodd, true, but who is, and the story is simple, yeah.
thats what i like about it, all the other spaghettie that i have seen try and be different and are just plain shite, because the directors are shit, all spaghettie are cheap and nasty, but at leats tis one is straight down the line action adventure, with a nice twist on the revenge theme, the fact that he might be a ghost, etc.
i mean django is appauling, the great silence has a couple of nice scenes, thanks to morricone, run man run is just plain boring, and the others that i've seen such as ace high,a ns some lee van cleef ones are just disgraceful, even though death rides a horse isn't too bad, again tthanks too morricone and cleef is good as well
if you like spaghetties you'll like the strangers gundown, but if you have taste and don't like spaghetti's then you'll you probably enjoy this as being nothing more than an action romp

[KERMIT]

Wow, bummer. I heard some pretty good things about this one as well. Oh well, I'll probably still get it one day. You never know... one man's trash...
Hell, some folks even like Keoma!

i liked django. don't want go to into why.
same w/ ace high.

[boardwalk_angel]

Stranger's Gundown (Django Il Bastardo) (1969)
Directed by
Sergio Garrone
                                                         
Original Music by
Vasili Kojucharov   
Elsio Mancuso


With:
Antonio De Teffè (Anthony Steffen)
Luciano Rossi
Paolo Gozlino
Rada Rassimov



A tall, gaunt figure...wearing  black...face hidden by a wide brimmed hat..places a cross bearing a name & date of death in the ground.......a creepy opening that is almost completely silent except for the howling wind.......so begins director Sergio Garrone’s  The Stranger's Gundown, better known in Europe as Django The Bastard (Django Il Bastardo).
Obtaining an "X" rating on its initial Italian release....it was released in the U.S. in 1974 as The Stranger’s Gundown ....& has no connection to Corbucci's original "Django"....none..zip...zilch..nada...bupkis.

Here's a rather traditional revenge plot ....but.....revenge, whose origin lies in a dark secret...............
& constructed w/ elements of a horror movie as well as a SW tale of vengeance.

Steffen portrays the title character... a character  popularly considered to have inspired the one Clint Eastwood played in High Plains Drifter...not so much a remake..but the latter film clearly derived  inspiration from it.
 He is a man of few words - & when he does speak, manages to say very little. He walks slowly - ... His expression doesn't change much, if at all. 
Steffen co-authored the  screenplay with director Sergio Garrone....who directed 6 other SW...then 'graduated' to a bunch of 'captive women in prison' movies. ....the visual style is unique & effective with its appearance and disappearing appearances of 'Django'..................in one particularly interesting scene 'Django' becomes a shadow, or melts into a shadow..becoming part of it.........it's quite well done.
......The innovative camera angles, which vary from overhead shots to close-ups to fade-in's to handheld shots contribute to the creepy atmosphere.

The original version of this film has a precredits explanatory scene. The version released in the UK & the US places this scene, the entire reasoning behind "Django"’s motives in the film in a flashback later in the film..........,  roughly half way through the film, rather than before the credits, which is how it is presented in the Italian version. I prefer the US edit.... the prehistory of 'Djangos' revenge campaign, spells it all out for you..& detracts from the air of mystery & "who is this guy?" that supports & sustains the movie's mood. In a rare case...a US/UK edit of an original Italian Western actually improves the film.

I'm not suggesting that Strangers Gundown will find a place among the top non Leone SW...or jump to the top of anybody's list...but this little low budget affair is a pretty good one to take in...interesting, entertaining...& a little different.

Recommended.

[Marco Leone]

I really like this one - definately the best of the Steffen SWs that I have seen.  It would be clawing there or there abouts at my Top 20.

Angel, would you have any objections to me posting your review up at my Eurowestern site?  Actually, together with the Gunfight at Red Sands one you did a while back?

 

[boardwalk_angel]

Angel, would you have any objections to me posting your review up at my Eurowestern site?  Actually, together with the Gunfight at Red Sands one you did a while back?

 

I would be honored, sir.

[Marco Leone]

Cheers m'dears 

[Banjo]

Yeau,ignore Shobarys review-this movie is excellent!!

[Leone Admirer]

Thanks for the great review boardwalk! Looks like I'm definatly going to have to check this release out.

[HEX]

Yeau,ignore Shobarys review-this movie is excellent!!

yeah sometimes it is shocking to see how absurdly wrong SHOBARY'S reviews are.  but he has his own tastes i guess.

[boardwalk_angel]

yeah sometimes it is shocking to see how absurdly wrong SHOBARY'S reviews are.  but he has his own tastes i guess.

Yeah...there's nothing wrong w/ a differing opinion...what bothers me about this particular review is that he gives away 'Django's' motive for revenge...which, as I pointed out...is not revealed (in the US/UK cut) until well on in the movie.