Black Jack

Django (aka "Black Jack" Murphy in the original dubbing) plans a bank robbery which is brilliantly executed, but when it comes to sharing the loot, his partners rape and kill his sister, almost kill Django and run with the money. You guess it: only "almost" killing him was a bad mistake. The injured Django - with a walking stick! - goes after them for revenge, killing them one by one in interesting ways and enjoying it more than he should.

For many years, I only knew a censored version with a different ending, and believed this was just another violent western. Now I had the opportunity to watch the uncut original version, and this has a lot more quality and impact to offer. Only a few westerns of that period went as far as 'Black Jack' in showing how revenge destroys a man. Jack/Django only lives for revenge like one of The Walking Dead, and from the sympathetic character at the beginning turns into a sadistic monster, laughing when his enemies die. And with the different ending (no spoilers here, of course) the uncut version makes a lot more sense than the old edit. Recommended (except for the squeamish).

Black Jack (1968), directed by Gianfranco Baldanello, who also made the interesting "This Man Can't Die" (1967) is one of those rare films: A movie where the main-character is a evil and sadistic being who wants total revenge on a group of bandits who double-crossed him over a bank robbery and then tortured him. Jack Murphy, known to his enemy's as "Black Jack" is a completely unlikeable anti-hero who would be the villain in any other movie. The fact that we care what happens is down to Robert Woods astounding performance as Murphy. His role in the picture is crucial: if he is weak, the film is weak. Anything but brilliant will do in a role like this. And he pulls it off with flying colours. Woods is fantastic: He doesn't make Jack a good guy, he makes him so totally horrible that we're strangely fascinated by his actions and fate. The direction, photography and music are all fine, but Robert Woods is the true stand out here.

There really is a nasty streak to the anti-hero played by Robert Woods, in this violent revenge tale. So many of these Italian Westerns are based on the revenge plot, it gets your attention when one like "Black Jack" separates from the crowded genre. After an ultra clever bank robbery, Woods is turned on by his gang, and left with none of the stolen money, a broken leg, and the strongest of revenge motives, after his Sister is raped and scalped. The rest of the film follows Woods as he tracks down his tormentors, and cruelly dispatches them with some creative kills. The musical score is quite good, and the Israeli locations are intriguing, including what appears to be a real mine of some sort. Definitely one of the better "Non Leone Westerns." MERK.

It took me a long time to find Black Jack and well worth it. Robert Woods played it like some raving mad version of Hamlet, a change of pace from the usual silent stranger role. The rocky, dry locations (Israel) and set design were unique and the ending a total change from the usual western.

I did not know a lot about this film when I finally got the chance to watch it on an old Dutch VHS tape. It turned out to be excellent.

The plot concerns a band of bank robbers who decide to betray their leader, Jack. They torture and nearly kill him while his sister gets brutally raped by one of the men and is subsequently scalped (!) and murdered by an Indian who was hired by the villains. But leaving Jack alive was a grave mistake because after getting better his saddles up and goes for bloody revenge.

I usually prefer Italian westerns to those from the US because most of the latter are too tame for my tastes. There is a nastiness about BLACK JACK that is quite powerful and disturbing. Even on the used VHS the cinematography was great and the same has to be said about the effective score. The acting is good for this kind of film, though Jack's grief and madness sometimes border on the comical - especially when he bursts out laughing like a loon during one fight. Still, this is powerful and effective cinema and should be of interest to anyone who likes the genre or revenge films in general. It's a pity that the film is near impossible to find at the time of this writing. I hope it will get a DVD release soon. This 35 year old gem is overdue for rediscovery.